The ‘Royal Cam’ at Taiaroa Head‘s Northern Royal Albatross colony gets going again for its ninth season

The 2023/2024 Royal Cam pair at its nest, photograph by Sharyn Broni

The new Royal Cam pair of globally Endangered and Nationally Vulnerable Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi in the mainland colony at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head on New Zealand’s South Island for the 2023/24 season has been chosen. Colour banded LGK and LGL, the female laid her egg on 7 November and the pair is currently sharing incubation duties. The birds, which successfully raised Royal Cam chicks in 2019 (Karere) and again in 2021 (Tiaki), are also sharing cam duty with another pair, BOK and WYL, breeding just a few metres away.

Follow the live-streaming video from the Royal Cam here

The ACAP Species Infographic for the Northern Royal Albatross has been sponsored by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, Download it from here

Meanwhile, Moana, the the first ever Royal Cam chick, was colour banded with yellow A55 on 15 December 2023. She returned to Taiaroa Head for the first time in January 2023 after fledging seven years earlier in 2016, so this is the second season she is visiting as a pre-breeder (click here).

Moana, after being colour banded, photograph by Leon Chu

The Northern Royal Albatross is a biennially breeding species, as are all six great albatross species in the genus Diomedea, with essentially two cohorts breeding in alternate years.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 11 January 2024

The ‘Royal Cam’ at Taiaroa Head‘s Northern Royal Albatross colony gets going again for its ninth season

The Agreement on the
Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

ACAP Secretariat

The ‘Royal Cam’ at Taiaroa Head‘s Northern Royal Albatross colony gets going again for its ninth season

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

ACAP Secretariat

The Agreement on the
Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels