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The chick has now left its nest, crossed the island on foot and was filmed on the beach and photographed in the water.  Looks like George and Geraldine's second chick will fledge successfully.  Go the to the Friends Of Midway Atoll NWR Facebook page for more photos and short video.

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The 2019/20 Short-tailed Albatross chick gets plastic Red AA09 and metal USGS Bird Banding Laboratory bands

George and Geraldine are a pair of globally Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatrosses Phoebastria albatrus that breeds on the USA’s Midway Atoll in the North-Western Hawaiian Islands.  Last season they successfully reared their first chick to fledging.  Now it seems they are well on their way to repeating the success, with their 2019/20 chick being banded on 28 April.

Geraldine (left) and George on Midway Atoll in 2018, photograph by Madalyn Riley

“The almost four-month-old Short-tailed Albatross chick is now the size of the nearby adult Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses.  Its legs are fully developed which allowed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff to band the chick.  It became the second successful chick banded on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge from the parents George and Geraldine.  The remote camera has revealed that the chick is still being fed by both parents, but the times between feeding visits will become longer until the time the chick will fledge, probably by the end of May - early June.”

The birds were seen back on Midway on 23 October last year, laid their egg on 28 October, which then hatched on 2 January.

Banding photographs by Narongkorn Thatsanangkun

Read more about George and Geraldine here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 May 2020, updated 31 May 2020

Pacific Rim Conservation is a non-profit organization based on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.  Founded in 2006, it undertakes and supports research-based management on native species, particularly birds.  The PSG’s mission is to maintain and restore native bird diversity, populations, and ecosystems in Hawaii and the Pacific Region.  With a current staff of 10, the PSG is headed up by Lindsay Young (Executive Director) and Eric Vanderwerf (Director of Science).  Husbandry work falls under the Director of Aviculture, Robbie Kohley, supported by a team that includes an annual intake of up to 10 interns.

“To stem the loss of nesting habitat for seabirds, whose primary nesting islands in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are being lost to sea level rise, we are creating new, safe nesting sites for them on high-islands by creating 'mainland islands'.  Our two current flagship projects are the Nihoku Ecosystem Restoration Project at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on the island of Kaua‘i and the Albatross Translocation Project at the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu.  Both projects involve full-scale ecosystem restoration from predator proof fencing, to predator removal, habitat restoration and seabird translocation to restore the avifauna of the area.”  As part of the PRC’s “No Net Loss” programme, chicks of seven procellariiform species have been or are being translocated, including two ACAP-listed and globally Near Threatened albatrosses, Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis to the James Campbell NWR.

Earlier in the year ACAP Latest News reached out to Pacific Rim Conservation with a request for it to support next month’s inaugural World Albatross Day with a banner.  Once again, COVID-19 restrictions have got in the way, requiring a change of plan from the communally designed and displayed ‘WAD2020’ banners that ALN has been featuring from other albatross breeding sites – such as on Midway Atoll.  With no accommodation on site the aviculture team has been commuting daily to the national wildlife reserve to hand feed the translocated Black-footed Albatross chicks, as much as possible practicing social distancing in separate vehicles.  Five of the 2020 intern cohort then continued the practice of keeping apart by posing for individual photographs holding up their artwork commemorating World Albatross Day - as illustrated here.

Carly Kano

Emily Reichard

Glenn Meador

Liliana Tobar

Madison O'Brien

 With thanks to Lindsay Young, Pacific Rim Conservation.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 31 May 2020

From left at back: Aude Boutet, Jaime Catry, Paulo Catry; at front: Tash Gillies, Amanda Kuepfer, Martin Beal, Francesco Venture & Lisa Gouck in the 'The Bowl' colony

This last austral summer a research group led by the Atlantic Migrants Group based at MARE-ISPA in Portugal travelled to New Island, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)* to undertake research on breeding Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris.

New Island was first established as a private nature reserve in 1972.  The island is owned and managed by the New Island Conservation Trust.

Led by MARE-ISPA’s Paulo Catry, albatross research conducted on New Island included annual population monitoring for long-term demographic studies, tracking of breeding birds for foraging studies, and observational work looking at pair-bonding behaviour within the colony.  Colleagues from the Oxford Navigation Group, Oxford University and from elsewhere contributed to the field work.  Two members of the field team, Martin Beal and Amanda Kuepfer, found time to make a World Albatross Day banner, using a wooden board and marker pens.  Not to be outdone, Aude Boutet made an ‘Albatross Christmas Tree’, which was first used for the team’s Christmas celebrations.

From left:  Tash Gillies, Francesco Ventura, Martin Beal, Jaime Catry, Paulo Catry, Brendon Lee; in front: Amanda Kuepfer & Aude Boutet

In addition to the albatross work by MARE-ISPA, other researchers present on the island monitored populations of Thin-billed Prions Pachyptila belcheri, Southern Rockhopper Penguins Eudyptes chrysocome and Imperial Cormorants Phalacrocorax atriceps.  One of the last WAD2020 banner photos to be submitted, Martin informs ACAP Latest News that the researchers were fortunate to get back to their respective homes before international travel restrictions due to COVID-19 kicked in.

With thanks to Martin Beal & Paulo Catry, MARE-ISPA.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 May 2020

*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.

Alex Dodds with her WAD2020 Banner and downy Wandering Albatross chicks on Bird Island

Bird Island in the South Atlantic has already contributed twice to the ‘banner challenge’ issued by ACAP to support the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June (click here).  Come a new research team and a new breeding season on the island and Zoological Field Assistant Alex Dodds has made a new WAD2020 banner and ventured afield for a few more photographs.

BirdLife International’s Albatross Task Force has commented on Alex’s field work:

“Alex Dodds is well accustomed to the hiking life as she spends each day trekking across the rugged terrain of Bird Island … conducting fieldwork.  With mostly just the albies for company, Alex’s days are marked by the changes in her surroundings: the depth of footprints in the snow, the fog that hangs over the water, the early morning sun on the horizon and the iconic mountain tops rising steeply from the sea, covered in a fresh dusting of powdery snow.”

Social media star chick Nova marks this month’s inaugural World Albatross Day

“Alex covers on average three miles [5 km] every single day, including at least 200 metres of ascent!  This totals a whopping 91 miles [146 km] a month and over 1000 miles [1600 km] a year! There are not many paths on Bird Island so she has to hike up streams, jump between huge tussac grass mounds and dodge bogs along the way.”

Alex’s efforts in support of albatross conservation will now be entered into the ‘WAD2020 Banner Competition’ with the chance of winning a prize.  Best of luck!

Both field assistant and albatross leave their footprints in the snow

With thanks to Alexandra Dodds, Zoological Field Assistant – Albatross, Bird Island Research Station, British Antarctic Survey.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 May 2020