Lyndon Perriman is the New Zealand Department of Conservation Head Ranger for the mainland breeding colony of Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi at South Island’s Taiaroa Head.  His latest report on the 2016/17 season now underway shows the careful hands-on management this mainland colony receives.

Lyndon Perriman (left) and Junichi Sugishita get hands on with a Northern Royal Albatross at Taiaroa Head, photograph by Keith Payne

“35 nests and I think that is all we can expect for the 2016/17 season (we generally get around the mid 30's each year, a number that is growing, albeit slowly).  This includes two female-female pairs, each have laid one egg giving us a total of 37 eggs laid.

Today I candled many of the eggs with a torch and could see that almost all the eggs I looked at today were fertile, including our webcam pair (BK/RBK nest)  The only infertile eggs that I've found (from the 30 candled today) were three of the four laid by the two female-female pairs.

These extra eggs were in the incubator until they were old enough to determine fertility and one of these in the incubator was fertile so it has been placed back under one of its mums at the nest (as she was still present incubating their other egg).  Their other egg was infertile so it was removed before the fertile egg was placed back at the nest.

Both eggs from the other female-female pair were infertile so they too have been removed from the incubator.  They failed to make an actual proper nest this season, so that pair can't be used as foster parents this season, but they have raised foster chicks in previous seasons.  I think the problem this year was choosing a nest site very close to another pair and while these two females were out at sea the male of the next pair has taken guard of the area, not allowing the female-female pair actually to get back to their site.  One laid the egg on a sloping hill, the other nearby in a poorly formed nest that she started making the day before she laid her egg.

On a sadder note, we have seen an albatross dead at the bottom of the cliff, presumably an accidental clipping of the cliff or sudden loss of wind as it was coming in or leaving the headland in recent days.  It is in an area that requires boat access and that won't occur for some time as it is also in a fur seal breeding colony, making recovery of the body more problematic (fur seals become very territorial of their breeding grounds over November and December and charge people rather than flee when in full breeding mode).

We have spied a green band on its leg, so we have narrowed it down to one of 14 birds seen this season with a green band, that we haven't seen over the last few days (seven breeding birds and seven adolescent birds), so if you see any bird with a green band via the webcam, take a screen shot of it (if the webcam plays nicely) and let us know, thanks.

While it is a loss, it is a natural event and populations can withstand these events.  It’s all the other non-natural things like introduced predators and pests that cause major issues for this and other species.

Today we saw bird number 100 and 101 for the 2016/17 season.  The remaining eggs will be candled next week.”

Watch a recent video clip featuring Lyndon Perriman discussing the current breeding season and read more in ACAP Latest News about Taiaroa Head’s albatrosses here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 November 2016

The US Fish and Wildlife Service seeks volunteers for a six-month period from late March to September 2017 in the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

Volunteer work emphasizes habitat restoration including native plant propagation and planting, seed collection and processing, removal of invasive plants both by hand and through chemical application of herbicide, and monitoring plant populations.  Other work includes seabird and Laysan Duck Anas laysanensis monitoring, marine debris removal, data entry and equipment maintenance, along with other tasks depending on current projects and refuge needs.  Volunteers must be physically fit and be willing to handle albatrosses and other seabirds for banding and monitoring studies.

Preference will be given to those with an educational or professional background in biology, conservation science or botany.  Habitat restoration, plant propagation, weed control, remote field and/or bird-handling experience is preferred.

Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis breeding to the horizon on Sand Island, Midway Atoll

Applications are due by 31 December 2016 with selections to be made by the end of January 2017.  Read more here, including how to apply.

Read regular news about the island’s albatrosses and petrels (and other wildlife) in the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge’s bi-annual on-line newsletter Gooney Gazette.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 November 2016

Skomer Island is located off the coast of the Pembrokeshire Peninsula, Wales, and is one of the United Kingdom’s most important seabird colonies.  The island supports roughly 50% of the World’s Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus population (around 316 000 pairs) along with internationally important numbers of Atltantic Puffins, Common Guillemots, Razorbills and gulls.  The island is open for up to 250 visitors a day, with up to 16 staying overnight.

Manx Shearwater, photograph by Nathan Fletcher

An opportunity exists for a Seabird Monitoring Volunteer on Skomer for the period 25 May until 30 June 2017 (click here).

“This volunteering position will be to help out with our busiest period of the year, which we start by counting gull nests and then continue on to counting every nesting seabird on the island from land and boat, twice.  There will also be a large proportion of time spent recording responses from Shearwater census plot burrows across the island.”

Separately, three Long Term Volunteer positions are available, two of which run from 1 April to 15 July 2017 and the third from 15 July to 30 September 2017.

 “The Long Term Volunteers will become an integral part of the island team and will be involved in all aspects of the running of the National Nature Reserve.  They will be welcoming guests and giving welcome talks, conducting various species surveys (including seabird monitoring and seal monitoring in the appropriate seasons), helping to keep the visitor accommodation clean, carrying out general maintenance all over the island and undertaking their own research project whilst on the island.”

Find the Long Term Volunteer advert here.

Note that the application forms for the Seabird Monitoring position and Long Term Volunteer positions are different.  The closing date for applications is 16 January 2017, with shortlisted candidates to be interviewed in the week commencing 30 January.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 November 2016

The United Kingdom’s Minister of State in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Right Honourable Sir Alan Duncan, MP, has announced significant increases in the UK's Overseas Territory Marine Protected Area coverage with new MPAs to be declared around the Pitcairn Islands and St Helena and planned for Ascension Island in the South Atlantic in 2019.  He further stated:

“And to those I can add Tristan da Cunha, which is aiming to establish a regime for protecting the waters across its entire maritime zone.  It’ll be driven by the community, it will be science-led and will meet both local economic and community needs.  Indeed this proposal would provide more than three quarters of a million square kilometres of protected ocean, which would make it the largest in the South Atlantic.  It could also surround Gough Island - which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to some of the world’s finest bird life, like the Rockhopper Penguin and the Tristan Albatross” (click here).

A Critically Endangered Tristan Albotross Diomeda dabbenena on Inacessible Island, photograph by Brad Robson

The Minister made the announcement in a speech to the 2016 Our Ocean Conference in Washington, DC, USA on 15 September this year.  The Tristan MPA is slated to be proclaimed in 2020 (click here).

Territorial waters (to 12 nautical miles) around Gough and Inaccessible Islands in the Tristan group are already protected as part of their status as nature reserves, Ramsar Wetlands of International Significance and as a combined World Heritage site, although fishing for Tristan Rock Lobster Jasus tristani continues around both islands.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 November 2016