Following on from a recent report in ACAP Latest News of a colour-banded Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris being photographed in Namibian waters, Chrissie Madden (Albatross Task Force, BirdLife South Africa) photographed a Black-browed Albatross with a white-on-red colour band numbered 554 on its left leg and a metal band on the right beside a demersal trawler on 13 May 2014 off the southern coast of Cape Town, South Africa at 35° 24’S; 18° 48’E.

Red 544 comes into for a landing, photograph by Chrissie Madden

Andy Wood of the British Antarctic Survey reports to ACAP Latest News that Red 554 was banded at Bird Island in the South Atlantic:

“It was ringed as an adult bird in 2007/08 with the red darvic [=plastic] and metal ring number 1434093.  It was a breeding bird in 2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10, then seen as a non-breeder in 2010/11 and again this season (2013/14).  The partner in the earlier three breeding seasons was the same bird 1425800/Red 943, and none of the breeding attempts [was] successful, all failing at the late chick stage.  1425800 has not been seen in the colony since 2009/10 - possibly the reason why Red 554 has not bred since then.”

With thanks to Chrissie Madden and Andy Wood for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 June 2014

The island of Sa Conillera, in Spain’s Balearic Archipelago supports a breeding population of the ACAP-listed and Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus.

Sa Conillera, the lighthouse is just discernable above the cliffs on the right of the island

Plans to use the lighthouse as a hotel on the uninhabited 100-ha island have raised concern for the island’s shearwater population.  The Sociedad Española de Ornitología (SEO/BirdLife) and the Ibiza Preservation Fund have concluded in a recent discussion meeting that “the highest level of precaution is needed to avoid irrevocable damage to the island’s biodiversity” (click here).

"The meeting sends a strong message to the developers and to the Balearic government," stated Iván Ramírez, Head of Conservation at BirdLife Europe. "Although many in society see moneymaking opportunities in our last wild places, it is encouraging to see that the people of the Balearic archipelago recognise the area’s intrinsic value" (click here).

Balearic Shearwater, photograph from the Ibiza Preservation Fund

The website of the magazine Birdwatch reports: “[t]he island is a protected national marine area and is safeguarded by EU law for its seabirds through the Natura 2000 network.  But this is all about to change when the only building on the tiny island, the lighthouse, will be converted into an exclusive boutique hotel.  The development and running of touristic infrastructure will disrupt the breeding seabirds, many of which nest right next to the building."

“The hotel will also increase the risk of introducing predators such as cats and mice, which would prey on seabird eggs and chicks," said Pep Arcos, Marine Coordinator at SEO/BirdLife Spain, "with devastating impacts on the population of Balearic Shearwater, a species which is already on the brink of extinction."

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 June 2013

Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris are quite regularly recorded as vagrants in the North Atlantic having crossed the Equator, with records of birds seen at sea and even holding nest sites in Northern Gannet Morus bassanus colonies over a number of years (click here).

An adult Black-browed Albatross was photographed flying past Skagen, Denmark’s most northerly point that separates the Skagerrak from the Kattegat at the entrance to the Baltic Sea on 26 May this year.  The bird was seen flying over land as well out to sea and had also been seen the previous day in the vicinity (click here).

The Skagen Black-browed Albatross, photograph by John Larsen

Two days later, on 28 May an adult Black-browed Albatross, quite possibly the same bird, was photographed flying south from the Heligoland Islands, 46 km off the Atlantic coast of Germany (click here).

The Heligoland Black-browed Albatross - the same bird?

Photograph by Felix Jachmann

Black-browed Albatrosses have been reported for both countries previously.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 June 2014

The Gough and Inaccessible Islands World Heritage Site is made up of two of the four Tristan islands in the South Atlantic, themselves part of the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.  Both Gough and Inaccessible (and their surrounding waters) are nature reserves and since 2008 Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance, reflecting their high conservation values.  The islands support breeding populations of six species of ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels, including Critically Endangered Tristan Diomedea dabbenena and Endangered Atlantic Yellow-nosed Thalassarche chlororhynchos Albatrosses and the Vulnerable Spectacled Petrel Procellaria conspicillata, all endemic to the island group.

Spectacled Petrel - endemic to Inaccessible Island

Photograph by Peter Ryan

A single management plan for the World Heritage Site available on-line from the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) - that replaced earlier individual plans for each island - has now been joined by a series of 19 appendices that include a Description and Resource Inventory, Management Policies and Prescription Guidelines, applicable legislation and a Scientific and Historical Bibliography, along with species lists and other documents (click here).

Reference:

RSPB and Tristan da Cunha Government 2010.  Gough and Inaccessible Islands World Heritage Site Management Plan April 2010 – March 2015.  32 pp. & 19 Appendices.

With thanks to Clare Stringer for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 June 2014