One of the very first two photographs known of Wandering Albatrosses (together they form a panorama).  Taken by Frederick Hodgeson on Marion Island on 26 December 1873 during the visit of the HMS Challenger.  Photograph courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London

Over a six-year period I managed the Antarctic Legacy of South Africa (ALSA) project, which I co-founded at the University of Stellenbosch in 2011.  A major aim was, and still is, of the project is the collection and archiving of historical photographs that reflect aspects of the South African National Antarctic Programme and its progenitors, going back to South Africa’s annexation of the Prince Edward Islands in early 1948.

An outcome of my involvement with ALSA was an interest in early photographs of sub-Antarctic birdlife as pictures came to light in private and museum collections, newspaper articles and in articles in often obscure publications.  In this ACAP Monthly Missive, I look at some of the earliest photographs of Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans taken on the sub-Antarctic island groups where they breed.

Despite the valuable help of colleagues it is quite likely some early photographs have been missed.  This applies especially to Macquarie Island where the first photograph known of live Wandering Albatrosses ashore is from 1956 (see below).  Notification of any earlier photographs from “Macca” will be much appreciated.

The exact site of the historic 1873 photograph on Marion Island, on the lower slopes of Long Ridge, a short distance inland from the HMS Challenger landing site in Blue Petrel Bay, taken on 08 April 2014 on my 31st (and sadly last) visit to Marion Island

The 1873 photo was used to make this engraving of a Wandering Albatross that can be found in a book by the botanist on the Challenger Expedition, Henry Nottidge Moseley FRS

A Wandering Albatross on its nest on Kerguelen Island during January-February 1898, photograph by Robert Hall, published in the journal Ibis

Wandering Albatrosses, Possession Island, Crozets, by Anders Harboe-Ree, Captain of the sealer Solglimt, seen in the background, November 1907-January 1908

Robert Cushman Murphy photographed these Wandering Albatrosses on Albatross Island, Bay of Isles, South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* in December 1912

From Robert Carrick's publication in Nature

A couple of Wandering Albatrosses were recorded with nests (and one was collected) on Macquarie Island in 1911/13 by Douglas Mawson's party, according to Robert Falla's BANZARE Report (p. 121), but it seems no photographs were taken then. The earliest photograph found so far for "Macca" was taken much later. It depicts an adult feeding a chick on 26 July 1956.  It appears in a paper by Robert Carrick and colleagues in the journal Nature. The island has been occupied by ANARE since 1948, so there may well be unpublished pictures taken in the first decade.

A Wandering Albatross on Macquarie Island in the 1959/60 summer, from a book by Mary Gillham

 
An early colour photograph of Wandering Albatrosses ashore on Macquarie Island sometime between 1959 and 1968, from a book by Isobel Bennett

The only known Wandering Albatross, an incubating/brooding male, known to have bred on Heard Island, and the first to be photographed ashore, by Gavin Johnstone in 1980.  It had been banded as a non-breeding adult on Macquarie Island in April 1967.  It was later seen ashore with a female, but not breeding, during January-February 1988

With thanks to Maëlle Connan, John Croxall, Janine Dunlop, Bob Headland, Richard Phillips and Peter Shaughnessy.

References:

Bennett, I. 1971.  Shores of Macquarie Island.  Adelaide: Rigby Ltd,  76 pp.

Brunton, E.V. 2004.  The Challenger Expedition, 1872 – 1876: A Visual Index – Second Edition.  London: The Natural History Museum.  243 pp.

Carrick, R., Keith, K. & Gwynn, A.M. 1960. Fact and fiction on the breeding of the wandering albatross. Nature 188 (No. 4745): 112-114.

Falla, R.A. 1937.  Birds.  British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition, 1929-31, Reports, Series B 2: 1-304.

Gilham, M. 1967.  Sub-Antarctic Sanctuary; Summertime on Macquarie Island.  London; Victor Gollancz Ltd.  223 pp.

Hall, R. 1900.  Field-notes on the Birds of Kerguelen Island.  Ibis Seventh Series No. 21: 1-34.

Harboe-Ree, C. 2023.  The Unlucky Viking. A Saga of Sealing & Shipwrecks in the Southern Ocean.  North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing.  241 pp.

Mathews, E. 2003, Ambassador to the Penguins.  A Naturalist's Year aboard a Yankee Whaleship.  Boston: David R. Godine.  353 pp.

Moseley, H.N. 1879 (1944).  Notes by a Naturalist.  An account of observations during the voyage of H.M.S. “Challenger” round the world in the years 1872 – 1876, etc.  London: T. Werner Laurie Ltd.  540 pp.

Murphy, R.C. 1936.  Oceanic Birds of South America. New York: McMillan.  Vol 1.

Terauds, A. & Stewart, F. 2008.  Crows Nest: Jacana Books.  176 pp.

Woehler, E.J. 1989.  Resightings and recoveries of banded seabirds at Heard Island 1985-1988.  Corella 13(2): 38-40.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 27 February 2026 [updated same day]

*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.

At risk to the onslaughts of the introduced mice: an adult male Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans (Vulnerable) on Marion Island, photograph by Alexis Osborne

The Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project has announced that it has secured a pledge of US$10 million from a Swiss-based international foundation towards ridding the island of its albatross-killing House Mice.  This commitment represents the most significant contribution received to date and marks a major milestone in the journey towards restoring Marion Island to its former ecological condition.

This Grey-headed Albatross Thalassarche chrysostoma chick has been scalped by House Mice at night on Marion Island; it was not expected to survive, photograph by Kim Stevens

With this pledge, the MFM Project has now secured approximately 60% of its overall funding target, bringing it significantly closer to delivering one of the most ambitious island eradication operations undertaken in the sub-Antarctic, and to safeguarding Marion Island’s globally important seabird populations for generations to come.

The MFM Project writes “Beyond its financial significance, the pledge carries considerable symbolic weight.  It signals clear recognition by a major international philanthropic foundation that the MFM Project is robustly designed, responsibly led, well governed, and positioned to deliver meaningful and lasting conservation impacts.  Such endorsement provides powerful validation of the years of careful planning, partnership-building and due diligence that underpin the initiative.  The MFM Project presents a rare conservation opportunity: the ability to address a severe biodiversity threat through a single, decisive, once-off intervention.”

By eradicating invasive House Mice from the island, the project aims to secure extraordinary and enduring conservation gains, restoring ecosystem functions and protecting internationally significant seabird colonies, preventing the local extinction of 19 of the 29 bird species breeding on the island.

The MFM Project concludes “Few conservation initiatives offer the prospect of achieving outcomes that are both profound and permanent at this scale”.

Endangered Grey-headed Albatrosses, seen here during a snowfall on Marion, are also at risk to the island’s mice, photograph by Kim Stevens

The latest pledge follows on from one of US$ one million made late last year by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, and more recently R1 million from the Lewis Foundation.

The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean.  The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.  Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate.  For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 26 February 2026

A Laysan Albatross lies dead below a warning sign aimed to protect breeding seabirds

ACAP Latest News has previously reported on the depredations of Layan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis by stray and unleashed dogs on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in the past (click here) but the problem still continues.

The latest reported victim of a dog attack is of a seven-year old bird  found at Pila Beach on Kauai's north shore that was banded as a chick in 2019 and thought to be a non-breeder, according to Hob Osterlund.

Jeanine Meyers, who lives in nearby Princeville on the island, has written on Facebook about the incident: “I am at the site of a dead albatross report we got this morning [17 February 2026].  I found this beautiful soul right under the Seabird Nesting Area sign which states “Keep dogs on leash at all times.”  This is the reason why!  It only takes a few seconds for a dog to grab it by the neck and shake it, thus snapping the neck and killing the bird.  It is the dog’s instinct, but it’s human responsibility to leash your pet.  Don’t be a donkey, leash your dogs!”

Kauai is one the few places where albatrosses breed on an inhabited island, placing them at risk to free-roaming pet dogs, and their chicks to feral cats and pigs, the latter which also take eggs.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 25 February 2026

A Laysan Albatross rests under a tree in the Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, photograph by the Friends of Kauaʻi Wildlife Refuge

Recent funding will help improve the conservation of Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis and other seabirds on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.  The planned work fits well with this year’s theme for World Albatross Day on 19 June of “Habitat Restoration”.

“The U.S. Navy and Friends of Kaua‘i Wildlife Refuges signed [in August 2025] a [US]$800k Cooperative Agreement under the Department of War (DOW) Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program.  This collaborative effort funds a multi-year project that is mutually beneficial to both the DOW and the Kaua‘i National Wildlife Refuge Complex.”

Habitat restoration work is already underway in the Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge with the removal of large stands of invasive Ironwood Casuarina equisetifolia trees within the Laysan Albatross colony, photograph by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

“The REPI funding will expand Pacific Missile Range Facility’s (PMRF) mōlī (Laysan albatross) egg swap program to improve fledgling survival and reduce nesting in unsafe locations; implement enhanced control of invasive predators to protect endangered birds; strengthen biosecurity protocols to keep invasive species out of nesting sites; reduce bird aircraft strike hazards on the Mana airfield at PMRF; remove invasive plants and restore native vegetation to create higher-quality nesting habitat; and monitor and repair fence lines at the Kaua‘i National Wildlife Refuge Complex to help protect native birds.

This collaborative effort will help ensure that federally listed and protected seabirds and waterbirds can thrive in protected habitats, while also benefiting the DOW by reducing Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) risks to Navy pilots.”

Read more here.

Read about placement of matting to deter plant growth against the predator-proof fence at the Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 24 February 2026