A Grey-headed Albatross guards its downy chick on Marion Island’s Grey-headed Albatross Ridge – site of a long-term monitoring colony

NOTE:  This post continues an occasional series that features photographs of the 31 ACAP-listed species, along with information from and about their photographers.  Here, Kim Stevens, currently on Gough Island in the South Atlantic, writes about her PhD research on the globally and regionally Endangered Grey-Headed Albatrosses Thalassarche chrysostoma of South Africa’s Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean.  See species so far covered in the series in the Photo Essays section on this website.

Kim Stevens carefully restrains a Grey-headed Albatross.  All research on seabirds on Marion Island is conducted under a research permit issued in terms of the island’s management plan; photograph by Jess Berndt

My journey with seabirds began in 2013 when I hopped on to South Africa’s Antarctic research and supply ship, the S.A. Agulhas II, and headed south for a year-long expedition as a member of the M70 Overwintering Team to sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  Unbeknownst to me, this adventure would turn into a deep love for seabirds and the special places they inhabit.  Before this I did my undergraduate degree in Marine Biology and Ocean and Atmosphere Science, followed by a BSc (Hons) specialising in Zoology, at the University of Cape Town (UCT).  Upon seeing a job advertised to work as a seabird field assistant in the sub-Antarctic, I could not resist applying.

Not always good weather for both bird and researcher: incubating Grey-headed Albatrosses in a snowstorm

At Marion Island I spent the year working on several albatross, petrel and penguin species, with a specific focus on the Grey-headed Albatrosses – deploying geolocation and GPS tracking devices on them to understand where they go at sea during and outside of their breeding season.  I used these data towards an MSc on returning to South Africa, whcch I later upgraded to a PhD with UCT’s FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology to incorporate an analysis of the species’ long-term population dynamics.  A few months after upgrading I returned to Marion Island for a second expedition over 2016/17 (M73) to collect more data.  It was on this second expedition that I was unfortunately greeted by many a Grey-headed Albatross chick with large wounds inflicted by introduced House Mice Mus musculus and it was part of my job to record and monitor them.  It was difficult to see these chicks, so close to fledging and so badly affected by mice.

Right between the eyes: a Grey-headed Albatross chick has been badly wounded by House Mice at night

Post-guard stage: a healthy - and - curious chick regards the photographer; eggshell fragments litter the nest bowl

Since then, I have continued my PhD journey grappling with data, with some short sea-birding stints in between, including volunteering as a seabird observer for BirdLife South Africa’s Atlas of Seabirds at Sea (AS@S) on a winter research cruise to the Antarctic sea ice.  I also assisted researchers from the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) counting and deploying tracking devices on Snow Petrels Pagodroma nivea and Emperor Penguins Aptenodytes forsteri in Antarctica.

Icicles frame a Grey-headed Albatross on its nest

When the exciting opportunity arose to play a role in the Gough Island Restoration Programme (GIRP) to rid that island of its albatross and petrel-attacking House Mice and protect its many threatened seabird species, I put my PhD on hold.  I am currently working – for a two-year stretch - as the Senior Field Assistant for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on Gough.  And now that the project is in its final phases, we wait with bated breath to see how the seabird populations recover and for the final call on the success of the project which will be at least two years from now.  It has been an invaluable experience and the knowledge learned through this project will inevitably help the seabirds of Marion Island, which include the wonderful Grey-headed Albatross.

A study animal one can easily love.  A Grey-headed Albatross stands proudly on its cliff-side home
Photographs by Kim Stevens

Selected Publications:

Beal, M., Dias, M.P., Phillips, R.A., Oppel, S., Hazin, C., Pearmain, E.J., Adams, J. , Anderson, D.J.,  Antolos, M., Arata, J.A.,  Arcos, J.M., Arnould, J.P., Awkerman, J., Bell, E., Bell, M. Carey, M., Carle, R., Clay, T.A., Cleeland, J., Colodro, V., Conners, M. Cruz-Flores, M., Cuthbert, R., Delord, K., Deppe, L., Dilley, B.J., Dinis, H., Elliott, G., De Felipe, F., J. Felis, M.G. Forero, A. Freeman, A. Fukuda, J. González-Solís, J.P. Granadeiro, A. Hedd, P. Hodum, J. M. Igual, A. Jaeger, T.J. Landers, M. Le Corre, A. Makhado, B. Metzger, T. Militão, W.A. Montevecchi, V. Morera-Pujol, L. Navarro-Herrero, D. Nel, D. Nicholls, D. Oro, R. Ouni, K. Ozaki, F. Quintana, R. Ramos, T. Reid, J.M. Reyes-González, C. Robertson, G. Robertson, M.S. Romdhane, P.G. Ryan, P. Sagar, F. Sato, S. Schoombie, R.P. Scofield, S.A. Shaffer, N.J. Shah, K.L. Stevens, C. Surman, R.M. Suryan, A. Takahashi, V. Tatayah, G. Taylor, D.R. Thompson, L. Torres, K. Walker, R. Wanless, S.M. Waugh, H. Weimerskirch, T. Yamamoto, Z. Zajkova, L. Zango & P. Catry 2021.  Global political responsibility for the conservation of albatrosses and large petrels.  Science Advances 7(10).  DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd7225. [click here].

Carneiro, A.P.B., Pearmain, E.J., Oppel, S., Clay, T.A., Phillips, R.A., Bonnet-Lebrun, A.-S., Wanless, R.M., Abraham, E., Richard, Y., Rice, J.,  Handley, J., Davies, T.E., Dilley, B.J., Ryan, P.G., Small, C., Arata, J., Arnould, J.P.Y., Bell, E., Bugoni, L., Campioni, L., Catry, P., Cleeland, J., Deppe, L., Elliott, G., Freeman, A., González-Solís, J., Granadeiro, J.P. Grémillet, D., Landers, T.J., Makhado, A., Nel, D., Nicholls, D.G., Rexer-Huber, K., Robertson, C.J.R., Sagar, P.M., Scofield, P., Stahl, J.-C., Stanworth, A., Stevens, K.L., Trathan, P.N., Thompson, D.R., Torres, L., Walker, K., Waugh, S.M., Weimerskirch, H. & Dias, M.P. 2020.  A framework for mapping the distribution of seabirds by integrating tracking, demography and phenology.  Journal of Applied Ecology  doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13568.

Carpenter‐Kling, T., Reisinger, R.R., Orgeret, F., Connan, M., Stevens, K.L., Ryan, P.G., Makhado, A. & Pistorius, P.A. 2020.  Foraging in a dynamic environment: response of four sympatric sub‐Antarctic albatross species to interannual environmental variability.  Ecology and Evolution doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6766.  [click here].

Dilley, B.J., Davies, D., Stevens, K., Schoombie, S., Schoombie, J. & Ryan, P.G. 2019.  Burrow wars and sinister behaviour among burrow-nesting petrels at sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  Ardea 07: 97-102.  [click here].

Dilley, B.J., Schoombie, S., Stevens, K., Davies, D., Perold, V., Osborne, A., Schoombie, J., Brink, C.W., Carpenter-Kling, T. & Ryan, P.G. 2018.  Mouse predation affects breeding success of burrow-nesting petrels at sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  Antarctic Science 30: 93-104.  [click here].

Reisinger, R.R., Raymond, B., M.N., Hindell, M.A., Bester, M.N., Crawford, R.J.M., Davies, D., de Bruyn, P.J.N., Dilley, B.J., Kirkman, S.P., Makhado, A.B., Ryan, P.G., Schoombie, S., Stevens, K., Sumner, M.D., Tosh, C.A., Wege, M., Whitehead, T.O., Wotherspoon, S. & Pistorius, P.A. 2018. Habitat modelling of tracking data from multiple marine predators identifies important areas in the Southern Indian Ocean. Diversity and Distributions 24: 535-550. [click here].

Schoombie, S., Schoombie, J., Brink, C.W., Stevens, K.L., Jones, C.W., Risi, M.M. & Ryan, P.G. 2019.  Automated extraction of bank angles from bird-borne video footage using open-source software.  Journal of Field Ornithology 90: 361-372.  [click here].

Kim Stevens, Gough Island Restoration Programme. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK, 07 October 2021, updated 08 October 2021

 
Second sighting: an Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross on Gough Island; photograph by Amy King

ACAP Latest News has previously reported on the first record of an Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri (Endangered) on Gough Island in the South Atlantic, photographed ashore in January 2019.

Members of the Gough Island Research Programme based on the island have now made the second sighting on 17 September 2021 of an Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross as reported on the project’s Facebook page.  The vagrant albatross was seen and photographed in the same area where the first bird was observed, suggesting it could have been the same individual (noting that both birds were in adult plumage and that neither was banded).  Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses breed only on islands in the southern Indian Ocean.

The second Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross on Gough; photograph by Vonica Perold

Read about the genetics of the two yellow-nosed albatross species here.

With thanks to Amy King and Vonica Perold, Gough Island Restoration Programme.

Reference:

Ryan, P.G., Dilley, B.J., Risi, M.M., Jones, C.W., Osborne, A., Schofield, A., Repetto, J. & Ratcliffe, N. 2019.  Three new seabird species recorded at Tristan da Cunha archipelago. Seabird 32: 122-125.[click here].

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 October 2021

 
The Royal Cam chick Tiaki in September 2021, a few weeks before fledging; photograph by Sharyn Broni

The 2020/21 breeding season of globally Endangered and nationally Naturally Uncommon Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi in the mainland colony at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head on New Zealand’s South Island has been a record one with 30 chicks now having fledged.  The last chick took flight on 03 October 2021; the first having left around 6 September.  A total of 41 eggs (the second highest number of eggs recorded) had been laid of which 36 hatched, giving a hatching success of 87.8% (click here), and an overall breeding success of 73.2%.

Tiaki spreads her wings, exposing the back-mounted satellite tracker; Royal Cam photograph

The second-last chick to fledge was the one that has been under observation by the live-streaming ‘Royal Cam’.  Named Tiaki, the female bird has been fitted with a GPS satellite tracker, the first chick to be tracked from the colony.   Those interested can follow her at-sea movements here.

Information from Sharyn Broni, the Royal Albatross Centre Facebook Page and from previous posts to ACAP Latest News.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 October 2021

 
Northern Royal Albatross beside its chick, watercolour by Shary Weckwerth for ACAP

 The Conservation Services Programme of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation works to reduce the impact of commercial fishing on protected species in New Zealand fisheries waters.  At regular meetings of the CSP’s Technical Working Group (TWG), reports on ongoing projects are considered, many of which deal with aspects of the biology and conservation of ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels.  Two final reports tabled at last month’s meeting of the TWG dealt with counts of breeding Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi (globally Endangered and nationally Naturally Uncommon) conducted in the Chatham Islands in 2020.

The reports’ overall summary follows:

“Aerial photographic surveys were carried out in September and December 2020 to provide estimates of the numbers of northern royal albatross (Diomedea sanfordi) fledglings and biennial breeding species nest on these islands, the other location being Taiaroa Head on the Otago Peninsula, Dunedin. The population has been assessed sporadically since the 1970s through a mix of ground counts of nesting birds and counts of adults from aerial photographs. Assessments of breeding success have been equally sporadic, typically involving aerial surveys carried out just before the chicks start fledging.

The 2020 trips were timed to coincide with fledging (September) and the start of incubation next breeding season (December). Because individuals breed biennially, two surveys are required to obtain the most accurate overall population estimate. The 3,994 pairs occupying nests in December 2020 (the start of the 2020/21 breeding season) can be added to the 2,043 pairs considered to have fledged a chick the previous year, derived from the September 2020 survey, to give an estimated current adult breeding population of 6,037 pairs. This is similar to the 5,908 pairs estimated by Bell et al. (2017) using the same method. This is ~37% lower than the average recorded in the late-1980s to mid-1990s and 24% lower than that estimated for the mid-1970s. The reasons for this are briefly discussed.

Northern giant petrels (Macronectes halli) were also counted in September 2020, just after the start of this species’ annual breeding season. The counts were highly uncertain: 1,799–2,251 individuals. Comparison of this count with previous ones are complicated by differences in their seasonal timing and difficulties of distinguishing individuals from their backgrounds. Overall, however, they suggest a broadly stable trend. The Chatham Islands populations constitute around 17.5 % of this species’ global population.

To enhance image quality and reduce uncertainty in image interpretation and therefore in future population estimates, several recommendations are made on amending survey features and procedures.”

References:

Frost, P.G.H. 2021a.  Numbers of Northern Royal Albatross chicks on the Chatham Islands, September 2020.  Whanganui: Science Support Services.  17 pp.

Frost, P.G.H. 2021b.  Status of Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi nesting on the Chatham Islands, December 2020.  Whanganui: Science Support Services.  20 pp.

Access both reports from here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 October 2021