The ACAP Species Infographic series is designed to help inform the general public, including school learners, of the threats faced by albatrosses and what is being and can be done to combat them. They serve to complement the more detailed and referenced ACAP Species Assessments, the concise and illustrated ACAP Species Summaries and the ACAP Photo Essay series.

To date, 10 species infographics have been produced. Sponsored by the Australian Antarctic Program, the most recent, for the Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris, was released last month in its English version.  All the infographics are being produced in ACAP’s three languages, and today ACAP is releasing the French and Spanish versions for the Black-browed Albatross. In addition, a Portuguese version takes note that the species visits the waters of Brazil (a Party to the Agreement). Previously, a Portuguese version was produced for the Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbeneena. Other ACAP-listed species that regularly visit Brazilian waters will also have infographics produced in Portuguese.

The 10 infographics produced to date may be freely downloaded at a high resolution to allow for printing professionally in two poster sizes (approximately A2 and A3). English and Portuguese language versions of infographics are available to download here, whilst French and Spanish versions can be found in their respective language menus for the website under, Infographies sur les espèces and Infographía sobres las especies.

Please note they are only being made available for personal use or when engaging in activities that will aid in drawing attention to the conservation crisis faced by the world’s albatrosses and petrels – when ACAP will be pleased to receive a mention.

The infographics are created by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim from Bangkok. Namo, is a graduate of the School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design.

With thanks to ‘Pep’ Arcos, Karine Delord and Patricia Serafini for their providing or for their careful checking of texts in their home languages.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 20 April 2023

Three Light-mantled Albatrosses were counted over the duration of the Great Backyard Bird Count; photograph by Jaimie Cleeland

The results of the 2023 Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) are in and the number of ACAP-listed birds spotted was more than double the total counted in 2022’s event. Last year 628 individual birds were spotted, whereas in this year’s count a total of 1477 individual birds were reported. The event took place Friday 17 February to Monday 20 February 2023.

Checklists containing bird species listed under the Agreement were submitted by birdwatchers from across the globe including Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Chile, the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)*, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States of America. 21 of ACAP’s 31 listed species were accounted for: 15 of 22 albatross species, five of seven petrel species, and one of the two shearwater species. The results can be found in the table below.

Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, and joined by Birds Canada in 2009, the GBBC project marked its 26^th anniversary this year. It has become the world’s largest citizen science project related to biodiversity, providing researchers with a valuable snapshot of global bird populations. 

An estimated half a million bird enthusiasts took part in this year’s count, identifying an impressive 7,538 species of birds. To dig deeper into the results of the 2023 event, head to birdcount.org where a comprehensive review can be found.

Missed this year’s GBBC? Get ready for 2024’s by marking February 16 – 19 in your calendar, or take part in bird counting events still to come this year, including: 

• Global Big Day - 13 May 2023
• Aussie Bird Count - 16-22 October 2023

*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.

19 April 2023

Cigarette lighters, bottle tops, a toothbrush and a toy soldier. A Black-footed Albatross and chick on Midway Atoll, after a photograph by Wieteke Holzhausen

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement has chosen the theme “Plastic Pollution” to mark the fourth World Albatross Day, to be celebrated on 19 June 2023 (WAD2023). The featured albatross species for this year are once more the North Pacific Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and the Laysan P. immutabilis, along with the globally Endangered Northern Royal D. sanfordi endemic to New Zealand, and the abundant and widespread Black-browed Thalassarche melanophris. For the first three months of the year ACAP has once more been collaborating with Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) on its 43rd Project to produce artworks that will help increase awareness of the conservation plight facing the world’s albatrosses and support WAD2023. This the fourth collaboration with ABUN, resulting in 75 artworks by 31 artists, including no less than seven by Brazilian amateur artist Flávia Barreto - five of which are illustrated here.

A colour-banded Black-browed Albatross guards its chick on Bird Island in the South Atlantic, after a photograph by Erin Taylor

Flávia, who paints in watercolour, gouache and acrylic, lives in Nova Friburgo in south-eastern Brazil. She describes herself as an amateur artist and a retired civil servant. After retirement she decided there was still time to learn more and to dedicate her life to art. Being a lover of nature and animals, her art and interests have gradually evolved to drawing and painting threatened species.

Two Northern Royal Albatrosses interact at sea off New Zealand, after a photograph by Hadoram Shirihai

She writes to ALN: “Plastic pollution in the oceans is a global and urgent crisis threatening marine wildlife, food safety and human health. Albatrosses are direct victims of human conduct, as they may die or get injured by ingesting or getting entangled in plastic waste. We can help to raise awareness of governments, organizations and communities by contributing to conservation initiatives such as those of ACAP. As a member of ABUN I am glad to be able to contribute through my work to World Albatross Day once again and join the fight against plastic pollution.”

A Black-footed Albatross is surrounded by washed-up plastic bottles and fishing floats, after a photograph by Matthew Chauvin, The Ocean Cleanup

View Flávia Barreto’s art in support of last year’s World Albatross Day with its theme of “Climate Change” here.

Squid, but also plastic? A Laysan Albatross regurgitates a meal to its chick, photograph by Hob Osterlund

With grateful thanks to Flávia Barreto, Kitty Harvill and Marion Schön of Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature and to Matthew Chauvin, Wieteke Holzhausen, Hob Osterlund, Hadoram Shirihai and Eric Taylor for the use of their photographs.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 18 April 2023

A Manx Shearwater; photo by Nathan Fletcher

Clare Alley (School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, UK) and colleagues have published in the journal Seabird on plastic ingestion in Manx Shearwaters on Skomer Island, Wales.

The paper’s abstract follows, 

“Plastic debris is ubiquitous in the marine environment, and seabirds are among the most impacted marine vertebrates. Plastic ingestion was investigated in an internationally-important breeding population of Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus on Skomer Island, Wales in 2018–19. Opportunistic necropsies were carried out on a total of 34 birds to collect contents of the gastrointestinal tract: 13 adults from April to July 2019 and 12 fledglings during September 2019, and a further nine opportunistic necropsies carried out from adults from July to September 2018. The presence, quantity, size and colour of plastic in the gastrointestinal tract was investigated. Plastic was found in 71% of Manx Shearwater stomachs (68% of adults, 75% of fledglings). Adults were found to have larger plastic pieces in their gastrointestinal tract than fledglings, and lighter birds had larger pieces of plastic in their tracts than heavier birds. This study shows that Manx Shearwaters on Skomer Island are vulnerable to plastic ingestion, and that adults are likely to pass plastic to their chicks.”

Reference:

Alley, C.L., Arkless, S., Ames, E., Abrahams, M., Gentle, L.K. & Wood, M.J. 2022. Plastic ingestion in adult and fledgling Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus on Skomer Island, Wales. Seabird 34: 33-44

17 April 2023