D23 (band readable on expanding) in Chilean waters, photograph by Dan Mosher

Dan Mosher has reported on Facebook of photographing an Endangered Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi off the coast of Chile.  The bird carried a black plastic band on its left leg engraved with D23.

He writes “I recently returned from a cruise [aboard the] Oosterdam from San Antonio, Chile to the Antarctica Peninsula to Buenos Aires and back again.  I’m a deck-watcher and enjoy seeing and photographing the pelagic seabirds we encounter along the way.  On the return trip from Puerto Montt Chile going [north] toward San Antonio, we came across a tagged royal albatross that was quite close to the ship.  The tag clearly reads D23”.  He adds in a comment that the date was 21 February 2026.

Following enquiries posted to his page, the bird was confirmed to be a Northern Royal Albatross from the Taiaroa Head/Pukekura mainland colony near Dunedin in New Zealand, and that it is a male, hatched in 2023, one of 33 chicks to fledge from the colony that [2022/23] season.

Let’s hope it will return to the colony and eventually commence breeding.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 12 March 2026

Big Ben on Heard Island, photograph by Barbara Wienecke

ACAP Latest News has previously reported on the presence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Southern Elephant Seals on Australia’s Heard Island, following a summer 2025/26 expedition.  New information on the HPAI virus now comes from its detection in a Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua on Heard.

“Scientists onboard the research vessel RSV Nuyina have returned from a second expedition to Australia’s Heard Island in the remote sub-Antarctic and have confirmed that H5 bird flu is spreading among the island’s wildlife.  The virus was detected in samples from Southern Elephant Seals, Antarctic Fur Seals and Gentoo Penguins. 

At this stage we don’t know how many Gentoo Penguins are affected or whether other bird species on the island have also contracted the virus, owing to the difficulties associated with monitoring species on remote sub-Antarctic islands.   Expedition scientists have reported that they didn’t observe any signs of mass mortality in mammals or birds while they were on the island.  Data from aerial surveys is [sic] currently being analysed by scientists and may reveal a clearer picture about the extent of the outbreak.”

The avian flu has yet to be reported from the three ACAP-listed Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris, Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses Phoebetria palpebrata and Southern Giant Petrels Macronectes giganteus that breed on Heard Island.

Read the full account here.  Read the Australian Government’s media release here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 11 March 2026

An adult Black Petrel with its downy chick, photograph by George Hobson

“High on the slopes of Hirakimata [Mount Hobson] on Aotea Great Barrier Island, something remarkable is happening.  In burrows tucked beneath forest roots and moss, tākoketai Black Petrel chicks are hatching.  These downy youngsters, born in January and February 2026, represent both hope and uncertainty for one of Aotearoa’s most threatened seabirds.”A Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni fledgling on Great Barrier Island in May 2019, photograph by ‘Biz’ Bell

“With only around 5000 breeding pairs remaining, the tākoketai is one of our most at-risk seabirds, facing threats from fishing bycatch and habitat loss.  In April, as part of the largest Black Petrel tracking study ever undertaken, satellite trackers will be placed on fledglings before they leave Aotea, revealing where young birds spend their crucial first few months at sea.

Read the whole article from Live Ocean’s Impact Director Hannah Prior and Project Manager Elaine Harris here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 10 March 2026

Sooty Shearwater, photograph by the West Coast Penguin Trust

The Kapiti Island Nature Reserve lies off the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island.  It is open to the public via organized tours and is free of introduced predators (rats were eradicated in 1996).  However, its small population of Near Threatened Sooty Shearwaters Ardeanna grisea is threatened by the Vulnerable (and equally protected) Weka Gallirallus australis that preys on its eggs and chicks, leading to a conservation quandary.  Now, Information from the December 2025 online newsletter of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand and a video show that plans are afoot.

Saving the Titi Colony from Extinction on Kapiti Island

“We are incredibly excited to announce our partnership with @kapitiicecream to support the @docgovtnz's project to Save the Titi Colony from Extinction on Kapiti Island, New Zealand. Titi or Sooty Shearwater are a taonga (treasure) to local iwi and are under threat from another Taonga (and native species), the weka bird.  The Department of Conservation is working on a 3-year project to save the colony which is on the brink of collapse.  This project will identify ways to reduce predation by weka and experiment with novel exclusion methods, supported by robust monitoring of nesting success over several seasons.  At the same time, it explores the indigenous knowledge about each of these species, their history on Kāpiti and how that Mātauranga Māori can guide long term management.”

Read an earlier article in ACAP Latest News on the conservation problem on Kapiti here (and see details of an earlier exclusion fence with escape ramps here).

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 04 March 2026