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title: "Where do Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses from Prince Edward Island go to at sea?"
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# Where do Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses from Prince Edward Island go to at sea?

Azwianewi Makhado (Department of Environmental Affairs, [Oceans and Coasts Branch](https://www.environment.gov.za/branches/oceans_coast), Cape Town, South Africa) and colleagues have published in the journal [Emu – Austral Ornithology](https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/temu20/current) on the at-sea movements of [globally Endangered](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22728372) Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses *Thalassarche carteri*breeding on Prince Edward Island.

 The paper’s abstract follows:

 “Demographic parameters of wild animals are often closely associated with their foraging distribution and behaviour, and understanding these attributes can assist in identifying causes of population changes. The Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross (*Thalassarche carteri*) is endangered but little information is available on its at-sea distribution and behaviour. It breeds only in French (Iles Amsterdam, St Paul, Kerguelen and Crozet) and South African (Prince Edward Island, PEI) territories in the south-west Indian Ocean, with PEI supporting about 20% of the global population. This study aimed to investigate the at-sea distributions of adult Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses provisioning chicks at PEI and to compare them with distributions of Yellow-nosed Albatrosses breeding at other localities. Using satellite transmitters, we identified two areas that were particularly favoured for foraging. Parents whose partners were brooding small chicks frequently moved north-east of PEI to shallow, productive waters where cold, nutrient-rich water upwells and results in enhanced levels of chlorophyll-a. By contrast, parents with older chicks that could be left unattended often foraged along the Agulhas Bank where eddies and shear forces promote vertical mixing. The at-sea distribution of birds breeding at PEI was located between those reported for Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses breeding at Ile Amsterdam and Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses (*T. chlororhynchos*) breeding at Gough Island, so that birds from these localities may face different threats at sea. Our study is the first to highlight key feeding areas for Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses from PEI and to demonstrate partitioning of foraging grounds by Yellow-nosed Albatrosses from different localities.”

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/I/Indian_Yellow_nosed/Indian_Yellow_nosed_Albatross_Prince_Edward_Island2_by_Peter_Ryan.jpg)

 An Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross broods its chick on Prince Edward Island, photograph by Peter Ryan

 **Reference:**

 Makhado, A.B., Crawford, R.J.M., Dias, M.P., Dyer, B.M., Lamont, T., Pistorius, P., Ryan, P.G., Upfold, L., Weimerskirch, H. & Reisinger, R.R. 2018.  Foraging behaviour and habitat use by Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses (*Thalassarche carteri*breeding at Prince Edward Island.  [*E**mu - Austral Ornithology* 118: 353-362](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01584197.2018.1469959).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 April 2019*