At-sea tracking of Northern Royal Albatross fledglings from Taiaroa Head/Pukekura

Update from NZ DOC Royal Cam Ranger Sharyn Broni (Nov 20):

Today's GPS tag update of juvenile toroa [Northern Royal Albatroses Diomedea sanfordi] from Pukekura tagged 25th of September and 5th of October 2024.  They fledged between the 27th of September to the 14th of October 2024.

Thanks to the generous donations on the Otago Peninsula Trusts give-a-little page we can share the tracking of 10 juveniles including the orphaned Top of Bluff Track. The orphan is now well over 4000 km from Pukekura in the mid Southern Pacific Ocean.

The starting point was at Pukekura, Dunedin, New Zealand and they have travelled across the south Pacific Ocean to the waters of South America.  They will not make landfall until they return to Pukekura in 4 to 10 years’ time.  The five males and five females were 230 to 264 days old at fledging.  The distance across Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa | Pacific Ocean, is over 9000 km.

Taken from the Albatross Lovers Facebook page.

20 November 2024

A White-chinned Petrel at its burrow entrance on New Island, trail cam photograph by Falklands Conservation

White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis (Vulnerable) are once again attempting to breed on New Island in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)*.  Historically, the population on New Island ranged between 30-50 pairs, but numbers have dropped to just five or six pairs in recent years, with no confirmed breeding success.  This (2024/2025) season at least five occupied burrows have been confirmed.

“Hopefully we can bring them back from the brink of local extinction on New Island with careful management, and ultimately by removing the invasive mammals which eat their eggs and chicks and threaten their survival.”

Read about artificial burrows for White-chinned Petrels on the island by the New Island Restoration Project (NIRP)  here.

News from the Facebook page of Falklands Conservation.

Reference:

Reid, T., Lecoq, M, & Catry, P. 2007.  The White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis population of the Falkland Islands.  Marine Ornithology 35: 57-60.

19 November 2024

 Out of its burrow and ready to go. The first Newell’s Shearwater fledges from within the Nihoku fence.  Trail camara photograph by Pacific Rim Conservation

In October this year the “first ever wild” Newell's Shearwater Puffinus newelli or ‘A‘o  chick fledged from the Nihoku exclosure on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, according to the Facebook page of the environmental non-profit organisation Pacific Rim Conservation.

“From 2016-2020, 87 NESH were translocated to the predator-free Nihoku exclosure at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.  Late last season, a translocated male and socially attracted female NESH paired up and were observed sharing an artificial burrow during several burrow checks.  This season was the pair's first nesting attempt, and we are so excited that they were successful in raising and fledging a healthy chick!  This ‘A‘o fledgling represents a major milestone for the project - establishing Nihoku as a breeding site for this listed species”.

The Nihoku Ecosystem Restoration Project aims to create a new breeding site safe from introduced predators for two threatened seabirds on the Hawaiian island on Kauai.  The construction of a predator-fence within the Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge allowed for the translocation and hand-feeding to fledging of chicks of the Endangered Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandwichensis and Critically Endangered Newell’s Shearwater.  Successful breeding by the petrel at Nihoku with fence has already taken place.

View photos of the downy chick and access previous articles in ACAP Latest News about the erection of the predator-proof fence and the translocation and hand-rearing of the two threatened burrowing procellariiforms from here.

Reference:

Young, L.C., Kohley, C.R., VanderWerf, E.A., Fowlke, L., Casillas, D., Dalton, M., Knight, M., Pesque, A., Dittmar, E.M., Raine, A.F. & Vynne, M. 2023.  Successful translocation of Newell’s Shearwaters and Hawaiian Petrels to create a new, predator free breeding colony.  Frontiers in Conservation Science 4. doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2023.1177789.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 18 November 2024

 Ready to fledge: a healthy Wandering Albatross chick on Marion Island in December 2008, photograph by John Cooper

A Media Statement by the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has announced  that the High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus is suspected to have reached Marion Island, one of South Africa’s two sub-Antarctic islands in the southern Indian Ocean, and is possibly responsible for causing mortalities in at least three breeding seabird species.

After an initial suspected case in a Brown or Subantarctic Skua Catharacta antarctica in mid-September 2024, another five suspected cases were found in early November 2024, involving three Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans chicks and two Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus adults.

“The situation is being closely monitored by the 11-field personnel overwintering on the island, who have been trained to recognise possible HPAI signs in birds and seals, and in the necessary monitoring and mitigation methods.  They will be taking all precautions to ensure they do not spread the virus, and they are collecting information to assist with decisions about the appropriate response.  The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, the management authority for the Prince Edward Islands, has developed a Protocol for the Management of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza in Seabirds together with the Western Cape Veterinary Services, marine ornithologists, marine mammal biologists, disease experts and colleagues overseas with similar experience, and will continue to work to monitor and hopefully limit the spread of the virus on the island,”

At least 58 Wandering Albatrosses, along with other seabird species, succumbed to avian flu on Bird Island in the South Atlantic during the 2023/24 austral summer (click here and here and references below).  The new field observations from Marion Island, once confirmed, expand the spread of the virus a year later to ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels breeding in the southern Indian Ocean.

References:

Banyard, A.C., Bennison, A., Byrne, A.M.P. et al. 2024.  Detection and spread of high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 in the Antarctic Region.  Nature Communications 15, 7433.  doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51490-8.

Bennison, A., Adlard, S., Banyard, A. C., Blockley, F., Blyth, M., Browne, E., … Phillips, R.A. 2024.  A case study of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 at Bird Island, South Georgia: the first documented outbreak in the subantarctic region.  Bird Study, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2024.2396563.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 15 November 2024