---
title: "COVID-19 gets in the way of the World Albatross Day Banner Challenge at New Zealand’s Pukekura/Taiaroa Head"
---

# COVID-19 gets in the way of the World Albatross Day Banner Challenge at New Zealand’s Pukekura/Taiaroa Head

![WAD Royal Albatross Centre](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Logos/WAD_Royal_Albatross_Centre.jpg) 

 *A pair of Northern Royal Albatrosses on their nest on Pukekura/Taiaroa Head mark World Albatross Day, 19 June 2020*

 As part of its efforts to raise awareness of this year’s inaugural [World Albatross Day](https://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/world-albatross-day/introduction-to-world-albatross-day) on 19 June, *ACAP Latest News* contacted New Zealand’s Department of Conservation ([DOC](https://www.doc.govt.nz)) which manages the Northern Royal Albatross colony on South Island’s [Pukekura/Taiaroa Head](https://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1307-acap-breeding-sites-no-6-taiaroa-head-pukekura-new-zealand-an-albatross-colony-on-the-mainland) with a request to join in the ‘[WAD2020 Banner Challenge](https://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/world-albatross-day/images-and-artwork/78-wad2020-banners)’ by making and photographing a suitably-worded banner in the field.

 Pukekura/Taiaroa Head is the only locality on New Zealand’s mainland where albatrosses breed.  The carefully managed population of [globally Endangered](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/northern-royal-albatross-diomedea-sanfordi/text) and [nationally Naturally Uncommon](http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/northern-royal-albatross) Northern Royal Albatrosses *Diomedea sanfordi* can, under normal conditions, be viewed through large one-way glass windows in the visitor’s observatory run by the [Royal Albatross Centre](https://albatross.org.nz/) of the [Otago Peninsula Trust](http://otagopeninsulatrust.co.nz/).  However, movement restrictions and social-distancing requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in the centre being closed and has thus thwarted DOC’s plan to display and photograph a banner with a breeding albatross within the frame.

 No problem for Kiwi ingenuity, as DOC Biodiversity Ranger, Sharyn Broni, who ordinarily works closely with the birds, regularly weighing the chicks and supplementary-feeding those deemed underweight, has come up with the first virtual WAD2020 banner.  In sending in her ‘banner’ Sharyn has commented:

 “The Northern Royal Albatross has only four breeding sites in the entire world and they spend 85% of their time away from these sites circumnavigating the Southern Ocean searching for food.  Here at the mainland site of Pukekura/Taiaroa Head, New Zealand we manage a 250+ population but it is up to humanity to look after the world's oceans and fish stocks.”

 ![Taiaroa Head Junichi Sugushita shrunk](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Taiaroa%20Head%20Junichi%20Sugushita%20shrunk.jpg)

 *A view of Pukekura/Taiaroa Head from the sea, photograph by Junichi Sugishita*

 A sentiment supported by *ACAP Latest News*!

 A live-streaming ‘[royalcam](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/royal-albatross/)’ operated by DOC in conjunction with the USA’s [Cornell Lab of Ornithology](https://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/latest-news/3610-the-usa-s-cornell-lab-of-ornithology-endorses-world-albatross-day-2020?highlight=WyJjb3JuZWxsIl0=) allows on-line visitors to view a breeding pair of albatrosses on a 24-hour basis in both COVID-19 and ‘normal’ times.

 With thanks to Sharyn Broni, Wildlife Ranger, Taiaroa Head, Department of Conservation

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 May 2020*