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According to the Australian Antarctic Division's "This Week at Macquarie" on-line newsletter, all six pairs of Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans breeding this year on the island have hatched their eggs.

This is good news for what is the smallest breeding population of this globally Vulnerable species, but one which is regarded as Critically Endangered within Australia.  Only five pairs bred on Macquarie in 2008, according to the ACAP Species Assessment for the Wanderer.  Numbers of annually breeding pairs on the island have fluctuated considerably since the 1960s, with a maximum of 28 in 1968 and minimum of only two in 1985.  Breeding success information has been collected continuously since 1964 and has varied from 29-100% (mean 63.5% 1964-2006), so we can hope that all six chicks will fledge from the 2012 cohort.

Wandering Albatrosses on Macquarie Island are very well-protected, their breeding sites being off limits to all without special permit.  During last year's poison bait drop to remove the rabbits and rodents, pellets that fell near the nests were collected by hand in case the curious chicks ingested any.

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Wandering Albatross and chick
Photograph by Aleks Terauds

Selected References:

Garnett, S.T., Szabo, J.K. & Dutson, G. 2011.  The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010.  Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing.  456 pp.  ISBN 9780643103689.  Paperback.  AUD 49.95.

Terauds, A., Gales, R., Baker, G.B. & Alderman, R. 2006.  Population and survival trends of Wandering Albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) breeding on Macquarie Island.  Emu 106: 211-218.

With thanks to Rosemary Gales for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 March 2012