Amsterdam to Terrigal. A banded Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross gets photographed in Australian waters

The banded Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross off Terrigal, photograph by Carey Devey

An Endangered Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri with leg band W23 was photographed in “shelf waters” from a Terrigal pelagic tour operating off the central coast of New South Wales, Australia on 19 July.

Based on information from the Australian Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS), the albatross was banded as an adult in December 2011 in the Entrecasteaux study colony on France’s Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean.  It was visually sexed as a female and has been regularly observed at the colony during the breeding season since 2011.

Albatross studies on Amsterdam Island are undertaken in the framework of the project “Seabirds and Marine Mammals as Sentinels of Global Change in the Southern Ocean” (Project: 109 ORNITHO2E), supported by the French Polar Institute Paul Emile Victor (IPEV).

Information from the Seabirds and Pelagics Australia Facebook group. With thanks to Karine Delord.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 26 July 2024, updated 01 August 2024