The wounded Tristan Albatross, still brooding its chick, photograph by Peter Ryan

During regular monitoring of nests of the Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena within a long-term study colony in Gonydale on the UK’s Gough Island in the South Atlantic two nests observed recently had adults carrying wounds.  At one nest the female of the pair with a deep wound on her back was brooding a chick. This wound was much worse than one seen on a different adult in 2018 which was suspected at the time (though not proven) to have been caused by the island’s introduced House Mice.  On a return visit the wound of the female seen sitting on her chick had proved fatal, with her body lying a little way from the nest.  Later the island’s Subantarctic Skuas Catharacta antarctica were observed scavenging from the corpse.

 The female has succumbed to its wounds (left); the male on the nest with its dead partner behind (right); photographs by Rolf Daling

The female bird was banded as a chick with metal number J-04145 on 27 September 1986 in Gonydale by a research team from the FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town.  On 10 January 2008 the bird was found incubating in Gonydale by a team led by ACAP’s Information Officer when a yellow colour band E80 was added as part of settimg up the long-term study.  Since then records show it bred successfully six times in eight attempts, with at least one partner change.

"As for what is left of these two nests… With only one parent now providing food, the chick of the dead adult might take longer to fledge and is likely to be in a weaker state, multiplying the threat from the mice and making it less likely to survive at sea. At our last check at the other nest, there was no sign of the wounded adult and the nest had failed." (click here).  There are published cases of single parents (of either gender) of the closely-related Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans raising a chick to fledging, so the Tristan Albatross chick may yet survive without its female parent.

Watch a short video of the male brooding the chick while its dead partner lies nearby surrounded by skuas.

An attempt to eradicate the mice is due to be made this austral winter by the Gough Island Restoration Programme.

With thanks to Steffen Oppel, Antje Steinfurth and Kim Stevens, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Reference:

Brown, C.R. & Adams, N.J. 1984.  Female Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans raising a chick on its own on Marion Island.  Cormorant 12: 103-104

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 May 2021

Balearic Shearwater at sea, photograph by Pep Arcos

Rute Costa (Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal) and colleagues have published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research on coastal strandings and rehabilitation of seabirds in Portugal. The stranded seabirds included 62 ACAP-listed and Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwaters Puffinus mauretanicus. of which 46 were categorized as due to “Entanglement/Bycatch”, defined as birds “presenting fishing related material (hooks, lines, nets and cables) and other marine debris such as non-fishing lines or ropes”.  All but two of the 46 were dead on arrival at a rehabilitation centre or did not survive when under care.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Thousands of marine animals are injured and killed each year across Europe. Wildlife rehabilitation centres play an important role to rehabilitate sick and injured animals and return them to the wild. This study aims to assess seabird rehabilitation outcomes and causes of mortality of stranded seabirds in the central Portuguese coast. During a 7-year period (2010–2016) a total of 2042 admissions were registered, including 1135 live and 907 dead seabirds. The main causes for live admissions were trauma (30%) and toxicity (29.5%) and the main cause of all admissions (dead and alive) was entanglement/bycatch representing 42.5% of all seabirds. Large gulls, auks, gannets, and shearwaters and petrels were the most admitted seabird groups. A total of 445 seabirds (39%) were [sic] released to the wild following rehabilitation, 346 (31%) died during the rehabilitation process and 344 (30%) were considered untreatable after diagnosis and were euthanised. Considering the rehabilitation success rate and the high number of individuals admitted due to causes associated with human activities (entanglement/bycatch, trauma), marine animal rehabilitation centres and stranding networks are important to seabird conservation. These data also contribute to monitor the impacts of human activities on seabird populations outside their breeding areas.”

With thanks to Janine Dunlop, Niven Librarian, University of Cape Town.

Reference:

Costa, R.A., Sá, S., Pereira, A.T., Ferreira, M., Vingada, J.V. & Eira, C. 2021.  Threats to seabirds in Portugal: integrating data from a rehabilitation centre and stranding network. European Journal of Wildlife Research doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01483-5.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 May 2021

The Short-tailed Albatross chick gets its bands from Jon Plissner and Chris Forster

George and Geraldine make up the sole pair of Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatrosses Diomedea albatrus that breed on Midway Atoll’s Sand Island.  They commenced breeding on the island in 2018 after first meeting up on the island in 2016 and have attempted breeding every year since.  Their third chick, which was thought to have hatched on 1 January has grown to a size when it could be banded with metal and colour bands as reported recently by the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge on its Facebook page.

On go the metal and colour (Red AA10) bands, photographs by Jon Brack

“The 2021 Short-tailed Albatross chick on Midway Atoll within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is now banded!  Last week, FWS biologist Jon Plissner decided that it was time to band the chick because its leg was now big enough to handle the numbered metal and aux [colour] bands that it will wear when we expect it will be able to take flight out to sea in about a month.  These bands will help this bird be identifiable as it matures to adulthood and hopefully has offspring of its own some day.  The chick is already surprisingly huge, larger than an adult Laysan Albatross and still mostly fluffy in its down plumage.  Adult Short-tailed Albatrosses weigh about twice as much as an adult Laysan."

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 May 2021

 Flesh-footed Shearwater, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Vincent Yap (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia) and colleagues have published in the open-access journal Marine Ornithology on longevity of the Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes (Near Threatened), based on band recoveries.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Longevity records for seabirds are vital to understanding population demography but are often limited due to the relatively short duration of many monitoring programs.  Here, we present new longevity records for two seabird species: 32.2 years (Queensland, Australia) for the Brown Booby Sula leucogaster and 33.9 years (New Zealand) for the Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes, alongside existing longevity data.  While these new records represent the oldest known birds to date, we suggest that they reflect typical adult lifespans of these species, i.e., 25–30 years, and reinforce the need for ongoing monitoring efforts.”

Reference:

Yap, V.H.S., Stewart, L.G., Stuckenbrock, S., Fidler, A.L. & Lavers, J.L. 2021.  Longevity records for the Brown Booby Sula leucogaster and Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes. Marine Ornithology 49: 167–170.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 April 2021