First record of an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross in Suriname waters

Marijke de Boer (Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands) and colleagues have published in the e-journal Academic Journal of Suriname on pelagic seabirds observed in Suriname waters off the north-eastern Atlantic coast of South America, including the ACAP-listed Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The pelagic seabird fauna inhabiting the waters offshore Suriname has hardly been described.  Here we provide records for the occurrence of 18 pelagic seabird species.  At least three of the observed seabird species represent new state records: Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma castro and Red-footed Booby Sula sula.  Another previously undocumented seabird in Suriname observed during this survey was Bulwer’s Petrel Bulweria bulwerii, although this species was not verified by photographic evidence.  An additional four seabird species represent the first verified at-sea photographic records for Suriname: Audubon’s Shearwater Puffinus lherminieri, Red-billed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus, Masked Booby Sula dactylatra and Pomarine Jaeger Stercorarius pomarinus.  The seabird temporal distribution and foraging concentrations of seabirds are presented for the period 20 May – 24 July 2012.  Strip-transect seabird counts 13 June to 24 July 2012 revealed that the offshore seabird community in Suriname is best described as primarily a surface-feeding community, dominated by plunge-diving shearwaters.  The overall seabird abundance was low 0.59 birds/km which is consistent for tropical equatorial offshore waters.  The results highlight an increase both in the relative abundance and diversity of seabirds and the mortality amongst shearwaters in late June/early July.  We recommend that more monitoring be carried out in order to gain a better understanding of the status of the different seabird species that occur in this tropical equatorial offshore region.”

Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses on stamps from Tristan da Cunha

Reference:

de Boer, M. Williams, A. & Saulino, J. 2014.  Observations of pelagic seabirds in the waters offshore Suriname.  Academic Journal of Suriname 5: 474-491.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 May 2014