Safe behind a fence and from sea level rise: a Laysan Albatross pair in the Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve in December 2022, photograph by Pacific Rim Conservation

Lindsay Young (Pacific Rim Conservation, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA) and colleagues have published in the journal Pacific Science giving population details collected from 2004 to 2023 for Laysan Phoebastria immutabilis and Black-footed P. nigripes Albatrosses on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) fledged the first chick on the island of O‘ahu in 1947, but did not begin regularly breeding until 1992, followed by Black-footed Albatross (P. nigripes) who [sic] began breeding in 2022.  Laysan Albatross have attempted to breed at nine locations on O‘ahu since 1979 and have established colonies at four sites: Ka‘ena Point, Kuaokala, Kahuku Point, and James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge.  We monitored Laysan Albatross colonies on O‘ahu weekly from 2004 to 2023; all individuals were censused, banded, and identified to gender.   There was a population of 875 adults on O‘ahu in 2023, 490 of which were active breeders. The annual growth rate up to 2015 was 26%, but the growth rate slowed to 20% after human vandalism in 2015 that resulted in the destruction of 17 nests and at least 17 adults.  The advent of predator exclusion fencing at Ka‘ena Point (2011) and Kuaokala (2021) resulted in increased reproductive success (from 0.37 to 0.43) driven by a 25% increase in chick fledging success (from 0.60 before fencing to 0.80 after) which resulted in an estimated additional 69 chicks fledging compared to if the fence had not been constructed.  Black-footed Albatross visits increased to O‘ahu from 3 in 2017 to 317 in 2023, coinciding with the disappearance of East Island in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument which displaced 2,000 breeding pairs.  These new colonies are at higher elevations and will continue to serve as refugia against sea level rise and as such, are conservation priorities.

Reference:

Young, L.C., VanderWerf, E.S., Dittmar, E.M., Kohley, R., Goodale, K., Plentovich, S.M. & MacPherson, L. 2024.  Status of Laysan and Black-Footed Albatrosses on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i.  Pacific Science 78: 103-117.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 19 December 2024

Issue No. 12 of the Mouse-Free Marion Project’s Quarterly Newsletter for December 2024 is available to download and read.

“In this issue:

We look back at the MFM Project's highlights, successes and challenges of 2024

An Ode to Marion Island: three overwintering personnel share their favourite memories and cherished photographs from the island.

What will the Mouse-Free Marion Project be doing aboard the Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 voyage?  We break down all our planned activities and events.”

All 11 previous issues of the MFM’s Quarterly Newsletter are available online.

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

Wandering Albatross at sunset, Champs des albatross, Possession Island, Crozets, photograph by Franck Theron

Following on the news that High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus is suspected to have reached South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean (with samples requiring analysis in South Africa for confirmation), a French press release of 3 November states that  HPAI has reached the Crozets and Kerguelen Island to the east of Marion.

The press release (issued by Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, in French) states that the HPAI clade 2.3.4.4b has been identified in samples taken in October from Possession Island in the Crozets.  Samples from the east coast of the Courbet Peninsula on Kerguelen collected in November are to be analysed this month.  Species affected are reported to be Southern Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina (several hundred, mainly juveniles), King Penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus (several dozens), Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans and Sub-Antarctic Skuas Catharacta antarctica.

"Since the beginning of the epizootic, the French Southern and Antarctic Lands have implemented, with the support of the French Polar Institute (IPEV), reinforced measures for the protection of personnel and biosecurity in the two districts, in particular: access to the colonies limited to epidemiological monitoring operations and operations related to the security of the bases, wearing of personal protective equipment and reinforced protocols for disinfecting equipment" [translation by Google Translate].

Close to fledging.  A Wandering Albatross chick on Marion Island. December 2008, photograph by John Cooper

The TAAF press release adds that the virus has not as yet been reported from Amsterdam Island or from Terre Adelie on the Antarctic Continent  To date, there have been no public reports of HPAI cases on Australian and New Zealand sub-Antarctic islands.  Prior to the Marion Island report, HPAI has resulted in the deaths of birds, including Wandering Albatrosses, on Bird Island in the South Atlantic (click here).

Read the TAAF press release here. With thanks to Karine Delord.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 17 December 2024

 Figure 1 from the paper: Foraging tracks of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans tracked during the study. Possession Island indicated with a black triangle. Grey tracks show individual bird movements; shaded polygons indicate 90% (lightest), 75% (mid), and 50% (darkest) utilisation distributions for all females (yellow polygons) and males (blue polygons). Pink dotted line shows approximate location of Antarctic Polar Front (Orsi and Harris 2019). Map and GPS tracks displayed in a Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection, centred on Possession Island.

Natasha Gillies (School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Ecology and Evolution on how Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans breeding in the southern Indian Ocean adapt their foraging behaviour to climatic variations.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Climate change has marked effects on global weather patterns and oceanic systems, impacting animal behaviour and fitness in potentially profound ways. Despite this, we lack detailed information about species' responses to climatic variation. Using an 11-year tracking dataset of over 300 individual birds, we explore the consequences of variation in the southern annular mode (SAM) and southern oscillation index (SOI) for individual behaviour and fitness in wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans breeding in the Southern Indian Ocean. Our results reveal distinct responses between males and females to climatic variation that align with the impacts of each climatic index on the distinct foraging ranges of each sex. In positive SAM phases, linked to poorer foraging conditions in female ranges and better conditions in male ranges, females exhibited behaviour consistent with reduced foraging success: that is, fewer prey capture attempts and more movement between feeding patches. Males, on the other hand, showed no behavioural change. During positive SOI phases, associated with good foraging conditions in both male and female foraging ranges, both sexes showed evidence of more successful foraging, with birds engaging in more search behaviour, and taking shorter trips with fewer prey capture attempts, together indicating increased food intake per unit time. We found limited evidence for a role of individual variation, as measured through differences in personality, suggesting that plastic responses to climate are sufficiently important so as to obscure inter-individual variation. Supporting this was the finding that individual breeding success was unaffected by climatic variation, suggesting that plastic foraging behaviour allows albatrosses to mitigate climate impacts and maintain reproductive output.”

Reference

Gillies, N., Thorley, J., Weimerskirch, H., Jenouvrier, S., Barbraud, C., Delord, K. & Patrick, S.C. 2024.  Plastic behaviour buffers climate variability in the Wandering Albatross.  Ecology and Evolution 14: e70631. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70631

16 December 2024