Juvenile Wandering Albatrosses from two different oceans meet up off Australia

The South Atlantic Ocean bird

Participants on a 'pelagic' (seabird watching) trip out of Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania, Australia on 28 May observed two juvenile Wandering Albatrosses at a berley (chumming) point, both carrying leg bands.  “Thanks to the raft of excellent photographers on board, clear band details were obtained”.

Enquiries confirmed both birds are Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea. exulans.  Bird R63 corresponds with metal band 4012558 and is from Bird Island, South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* in the South Atlantic.  It was banded on its nest on 27 August 2021.  The parent bird laid the egg on 23 December 2020, egg weighing 515 grams.  The egg hatched on 11 March 2021 and the chick fledged on 16 December 2021.  The parent birds of this bienially breeding species had previously bred over 2018/19.

The bird carrying BS34819 was banded close to fledging on 20 September 2021 on its nest on France’s Île de la Possession, Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean by the CNRS Banding Organization.

The southern Indian Ocean bird

With thanks to Karen Dick.  Photographs from Richard Webber, details from the Seabirds and Pelagics Australia Facebook page.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 June 2022

*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.