Time to ring the bells! The first Northern Royal Albatross for the new breeding season at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head has been sighted

Yellow A50 is in the foreground with a chick of the 2025/26 season close to fledging behind, photograph by Sharyn Broni, Department of Conservation

Every year around this time, Department of Conservation rangers keep a look out at the mainland colony of Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi in the Pukekura/Taiaroa Head Nature Reserve on New Zealand’s South Island for the first bird to return for the 2026/27 breeding season.

This year the first sighting is a bird bearing the colour band Yellow A50.  “A50 is eight years of age and has just arrived back from a winter off the coast of South America and has now returned to search for a mate and begin breeding.”  A50 is a female, identified by its yellow band, according to the Royal Cam Albatross Group New Zealand Facebook Page, and has not yet bred, although “she has been looking for a mate over the past three seasons.  Only time will tell if she breeds during the 2026/27 season.  With only one bird back so far, it will be several weeks before all the breeders have arrived from their year off.”

To mark the first return, city churches and schools in nearby Dunedin will ring bells at 13h00 NZST on Friday 25 September.  “We’d love lots of bellringers throughout Dunedin and afar to join in and ring their bells to help us celebrate.  Don’t have a bell?  Maybe you could set your phone to ring, sing a song or clap!  We love original ideas and lots of fun!”

John Cooper*, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 24 September 2026

*Not certain to be ringing his bell at 03h00 SAST in Cape Town!