ACAP Breeding Sites

Introduction

In February 2013, ACAP Latest News commenced posting a series of brief accounts describing breeding sites of ACAP-listed species.  In considering what constitutes a breeding site, differences in conservation management procedures have been taken into account.  However, with some exceptions, the usual defining unit has been an individual island.  Extinct and translocation sites are also being covered.

A breeding site account usually give information on the following:

The accounts are illustrated with photos usually depicting an overall view, habitat at the breeding site, a breeding colony and close-ups of individual birds.

ACAP Latest News.  To date 96 site accounts have been posted.  The series is not yet complete with 25 or so sites still to be written up as collaborators can be found.  No attempt has yet been made to update existing accounts, although information received will be incorporated on an individual site basis.

McDonald Islands in the Southern Ocean, perhaps the least known ACAP Breeding Site, photograph by Phil Moors

Argentina

ACAP Breeding Site No. 7. Isla Arce, Argentina and its Southern Giant Petrels

ACAP Breeding Site No. 50. Islas de los Estados and Observatorio, Argentina each support colonies of Southern Giant Petrels

ACAP Breeding Site No. 55. Isla Gran Robredo, Argentina where Southern Giant Petrels breed without shade

Australia

ACAP Breeding Sits No. 18. Albatross Island, Bass Strait, home of Australia’s endemic Shy Albatross

ACAP Breeding Site No. 66. Bishop and Clerk Islets: Australia’s southernmost albatross colony

ACAP Breeding Site No. 21. Heard Island, the only sub-Antarctic island with an active volcano

ACAP Breeding Site No. 19. Macquarie Island, a recovering sub-Antarctic World Heritage Site

ACAP Breeding Site No. 42. McDonald Islands: Australia’s least known and visited sub-Antarctic locality

ACAP Breeding Site No. 28. Mewstone, where Shy Albatrosses get vertical

ACAP Breeding Site No. 29. Pedra Branca, where Shy Albatrosses compete for space with Australasian Gannets

Chile

ACAP Breeding Site No. 60. Isla Diego de Almagro, Chile’s northernmost breeding locality for Black-browed Albatrosses

ACAP Breeding Site No. 13. Islas Diego Ramírez, Chile, the World's most southerly mollymawk breeding locality

Ecuador

ACAP Breeding Site No. 22. Isla Española, Galápagos Islands, home of the Waved Albatross

 ACAP Breeding Site No. 25: La Plata, Ecuador. “A poor person's Galapagos” for Waved Albatrosses

France

ACAP Breeding Site No. 35. île Amsterdam, only home of the Amsterdam Albatross

ACAP Breeding Site No. 38. îles Kerguelen: 300 islands supporting 10 ACAP species

ACAP Breeding Site No. 54. Île de la Possession, Îles Crozet, home of l'Albatros hurleur

ACAP Breeding Site No. 36. île Saint-Paul, with its spectacular flooded crater

Japan

ACAP Breeding Site No. 93. Mukojima, Ogasawara Islands: a Short-tailed Albatross translocation site

ACAP Breeding Site No. 72: Nakodojima, where Black-footed and now Short-tailed Albatrosses breed

ACAP Breeding Site No. 65. Torishima, where Short-tailed Albatrosses have survived both feather collectors and an active volcano

Mexico

ACAP Breeding Site No. 6. Clarion Island, Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico, where snakes prey upon albatrosses

ACAP Breeding Site No. 33. Isla Guadalupe, Mexico supports an increasing population of Laysan Albatrosses despite predation by feral cats

ACAP Breeding Site No. 61. Rocas Alijos, Mexico support a tiny, recently-established population of Laysan Albatrosses

ACAP Breeding Site No. 62. San Benedicto Island, Mexico, has a small, growing population of Laysan Albatrosses

New Zealand

ACAP Breeding Site No 57. Adams Island, Auckland Islands: home of the Antipodean Albatross

ACAP Breeding Site No. 23. Antipodes Island, New Zealand supports seven ACAP-listed albatross and petrel species

ACAP Breeding Site No. 82. Auckland Island, where albatrosses are at risk to feral pigs

ACAP Breeding Site, No. 1. The Bounty Islands of New Zealand

ACAP Breeding Site No. 40. Enderby Island, Auckland Island group

ACAP Breeding Site No. 12. Campbell Island, New Zealand supports nine ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels

ACAP Breeding Site No. 69. Disappointment Island, Auckland Islands, home of the White-capped Albatross

ACAP Breeding Site No. 91. Black Petrels breed within the Kotuku Peninsula’s Glenfern Sanctuary on New Zealand’s Great Barrier Island

ACAP Breeding Site No. 24: Great Barrier/Aotea and Little Barrier/Hauturu Islands, New Zealand: only breeding sites of the Black Petrel

ACAP Breeding Site No. 95. Motuhara supports Buller’s and Northern Royal Albatrosses and Northern Giant Petrels

ACAP Breeding Site No. 96. A single pair of Antipodean Albatrosses breeds on New Zealand’s Pitt Island

ACAP Breeding Site No. 48. Punakaiki, South Island, New Zealand: forest home of the Westland Petrel

ACAP Beeding Site, No. 9. The Pyramid, Chatham Islands, New Zealand, with its spectacular albatross colony

ACAP Breeding Site No. 94. Rosemary Rock, New Zealand’s northernmost albatross colony

ACAP Breeding Site No. 15. Snares Islands, New Zealand, home of Buller’s and Salvin’s Albatrosses

ACAP Breeding Site No. 41. Solander Islands, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand

ACAP Breeding Site No. 5. Taiaroa Head/Pukekura, New Zealand, an albatross colony on the mainland

Norway

ACAP Breeding Site No. 78. Bouvetøya: the World’s most remote island, once supported breeding Southern Giant Petrels

South Africa

ACAP Breeding Site No. 27. Sub-Antarctic Marion Island, a research laboratory for albatrosses and petrels

ACAP Breeding Site No. 26. Prince Edward, South Africa’s alien mammal-free sub-Antarctic island

Spain

ACAP Breeding Sites No. 46. The Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park supports Balearic Shearwaters in the absence of introduced predators

ACAP Breeding Site No. 77. Formentera, Balearic Islands still supports a population of the once-exploited Balearic Shearwater

ACAP Breeding Site No. 83. Las Malgrats, Mallorca, where Balearic Shearwaters breed free from rats

ACAP Breeding Site No. 3. Sa Cella, Mallorca, Balearic Islands: cave home of the Balearic Shearwater

ACAP Breeding Site No. 84. Tagomago and the western islets off Ibiza – cliff homes of the Balearic Shearwater

United Kingdom

ACAP Breeding Site No. 10. Gough Island, South Atlantic: hanging on against the onslaught of its “Killer Mice”

ACAP Breeding Site No. 2. Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha Group

ACAP Breeding Site No. 56. Middle and Stoltenhoff Islands, the least modified habitats in the Tristan Group

ACAP Breeding Site No. 4. Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic

ACAP Breeding Site No. 34. The main island of Tristan da Cunha: inhabited by both albatrosses and islanders

United States of America

ACAP Breeding Site No. 14. Kaena Point, Oahu, Hawaii protects its Laysan Albatrosses and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters behind a predator-proof fence

ACAP Breeding Site No. 63. Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, home of a Laysan Albatross population

ACAP Breeding Site No. 59. Kuaokala Game Management Area where Laysan Albatrosses breed at altitude

ACAP Breeding Site No. 73. Kure, World’s most northerly coral atoll, supports Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses

ACAP Breeding Site No. 68. Laysan Island and its albatrosses form part of USA’s Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

ACAP Breeding Site No. 58. Lehua Island, Hawaii supports Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses

ACAP Breeding Site No. 37. Midway Atoll: Black-footed, Laysan and Short-tailed Albatrosses within a World Heritage Site

ACAP Breeding Site No. 75. North-east Kauai, where Laysan Albatrosses breed on private lands - and a webcam has made one pair and its chick famous with two million hits

ACAP Breeding Site No. 11: Princeville, Kauai: where Laysan Albatrosses breed in gardens and on golf courses

ACAP Breeding Site No. 74. Wake Atoll, at the edge of the breeding range of North Pacific albatrosses

Antarctic Treaty area

ACAP Breeding Site No. 90. The Southern Giant Petrels of Admiralty Bay, King George Island, South Shetland Islands

ACAP Breeding Site No. 67: Ardley Island, where a small population of Southern Giant Petrels breeds within an Antarctic Specially Protected Area

ACAP Breeding Site No. 85. The Southern Giant Petrels of Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands

ACAP Breeding Site No. 71. Diomedea Island in Antarctica supports a few Southern Giant Petrels – but no albatrosses despite its name

ACAP Breeding Site No. 39. Frazier Islands, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica

ACAP Breeding Site No. 53. Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands: Southern Giant Petrels in the cold

ACAP Breeding Site No. 31. Giganteus Island, Mac.Robertson Land, East Antarctica

ACAP Breeding Site No. 86. An increasing population: the Southern Giant Petrels of Hannah Point, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands

ACAP Breeding Sites No. 17. Hawker Island, East Antarctica, an Antarctic Specially Protected Area

ACAP Breeding Site No. 53. Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands: Southern Giant Petrels in the cold

ACAP Breeding Site No. 70. North Foreland, King George Island, Antarctica where Southern Giant Petrels breed on ice-free ground

ACAP Breeding Site No. 88. Penguin Island, South Shetland Islands supports Southern Giant Petrels

ACAP Breeding Site No. 47: Pointe Géologie, Terre Adélie, western Antarctica

ACAP Breeding Site No. 32. Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, where both white- and dark-phase Southern Giant Petrels breed  UPDATED

ACAP Breeding Site No. 87. Stinker Point, Elephant Island, South Shetland Islands supports a healthy population of Southern Giant Petrels

ACAP Breeding Site No. 89. Southern Giant Petrels at Turret Point, King George Island, South Shetland Islands

Disputed Territories

Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)*

ACAP Breeding Site No. 8. Beauchêne Island in the South Atlantic supports over 100 000 pairs of Black-browed Albatrosses

ACAP Breeding Site No. 76. Bird Island, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)*

ACAP Breeding Site No. 92. Bleaker Island, Southern Giant Petrel home in the South Atlantic, has its Norway Rats poisoned

ACAP Breeding Site No. 44. Elephant Jason Island in the South Atlantic

ACAP Breeding Site No. 49. Grand Jason Island and its Black-browed Albatrosses and Southern Giant Petrels

ACAP Breeding Site No. 80. Kidney Island supports White-chinned Petrels and shearwaters

ACAP Breeding Site No. 20. New Island, a wildlife sanctuary in the South Atlantic

ACAP Breeding Site No. 79. Sandy Cay and the World’s largest colony of Southern Giant Petrels

ACAP Breeding Site No. 30. Saunders Island, where Black-browed Albatrosses co-exist with sheep

ACAP Breeding Site No. 45. South Jason Island – at risk to fires

ACAP Breeding Site No. 43. Steeple Jason Island, a major home of Black-browed Albatrosses in the South Atlantic

ACAP Breeding Site No. 81. Top and Bottom Islands, where White-chinned Petrels breed among Tussac Grass

South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)*

ACAP Breeding Site No. 64. Albatross Island, a monitoring site for Wandering Albatrosses and giant petrels in the South Atlantic

ACAP Breeding Site No. 16. Bird Island, South Atlantic, where albatrosses and petrels have been studied for decades

ACAP Breeding Site No. 51. Prion Island, where tourists can view Wandering Albatrosses from a boardwalk

South Sandwich Islands (Islas Sandwich del Sur)*

ACAP Breeding Site No. 52: Candlemas and Zavodovski Islands support Southern Giant Petrels among Antarctic fire and ice

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all those who authored or co-authored accounts and submitted information and photographs.

*A dispute exists++ between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

Last updated 13 May 2021