Removing plastic fragments from a Flesh-footed Shearwater stomach, photograph by Ian Hutton

Alex Bond (Bird Group, Natural History Museum, Tring, United Kingdom) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin on a study of plastic pollution in the Near Threatened Flesh-footed or Sable Shearwater Ardenna carneipes, a potential candidate species for ACAP listing.  They found no sex differences in frequency, mass, number, colour or type of ingested plastic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Sex-based differences in plastic ingestion by wildlife are understudied.  Studies from the 1980s of birds shot at sea found no sex differences in plastic ingestion by post-fledging and adult birds, but nest-bound age classes remain unstudied.  We quantified plastic ingestion by 114 Sable Shearwaters (Ardenna carneipes) fledglings from Lord Howe Island, Australia, in 2023, and compared the frequency of ingestion, number of pieces, mass, and colour and type composition between sexes.  We found no difference in the frequency of plastic ingestion, the mass, number of pieces, colour, or type composition of ingested plastics between female and male fledglings.  There was no evidence of a sex ratio bias in the sampled population. The genetic sex of chicks is not a predictor of ingested plastics, but the potential for a biased sex ratio among chicks and adults could compound ongoing population declines.”

Reference:

Bond, A.L., Reynolds, J., de Jersey, A.M., Grant, M.L., Rivers-Auty, J., Griffin, C. & Lavers, J.L. 2026.  No evidence of sex differences in plastic ingestion by Sable Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) chicks.  Marine Pollution Bulletin  225.  doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2026.119324.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 28 January 2026

The 2025/26 ground count volunteers on Midway Atoll, photograph by USFWS volunteer Dan Rapp

Once more, volunteers have conducted exhaustive ground counts of breeding albatrosses in Midway’s Atoll’s Eastern and Sand Islands.  Results for the 2025/26 season are now in.  Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis numbers were down by 5% from the previous season but were still the fourth highest count for the atoll at 589 623 occupied nests.  “It is not uncommon in a given year for population counts on Midway to increase or decrease by 10 to 25%.”  The Black-footed Albatross P. nigripes count of 28 246 occupied nests is the second highest.

The highest number of Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatrosses P. albatrus ever documented in one year at Midway with a total of eight individuals so far was recorded, including the well-known breeding pair George and Geraldine for their ninth breeding season (watch the video of them mutually allopreening), along with several of their offspring returning as juveniles.

“USFWS staff have confirmed that Wisdom [the world’s oldest-known Laysan Albatross] did not lay an egg this year, though she has been visiting Midway Atoll, including another recent visit.”

Alongside the labour-intensive, and potentially disturbing (requiring the wearing of burrow shoes or “Funny Feet”), annual ground count the drone research project completed its second field season.  “Temporal Image Differencing” by surveying the same areas multiple times allows researchers to compare drone images over time to identify breeding albatrosses from non-breeders, making for more accurate counts of the actual numbers of breeding pairs possible.  Read more about the drone project here with photographs and a video.

Perhaps future albatross counts on Midway will be undertaken only by drones, rather than by a team of volunteers.

You can watch breeding Laysan Albatrosses via a live-streaming camera; access it from here.

Information from the Facebook pages of the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Pacific Islands: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 27 January 2026

A Wandering Albatross in the Drake Passage, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Ian Maywar (School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, New York, USA) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Movement Ecology on comparing five species of albatrosses' use of wind and waves in the North Pacific and Southern Ocean.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Background

Albatrosses can commute long distances to feed during the breeding season by avoiding energetically costly flapping flight.  Energy from both wind and waves can be used to sustain soaring and reduce flapping flight, yet most studies of albatross flight have focused solely on the influence of wind.

Methods

To examine how wind and waves allow albatrosses to reduce energetic costs by limiting flapping flight, we analyzed how the flap rates of five albatross species (370 individuals) across two ocean basins varied with wind speed and swell height.

Results

For all study species, soaring using both wind and waves resulted in an 89–93% reduction in the number of flaps per hour and thus more energetically efficient flight.  We found notable differences in the relative importance of wind and waves for albatrosses breeding in the Southern Ocean and North Pacific  The flap rates of Southern Ocean species, black-browed (Thalassarche melanophris), grey-headed (T. chrysostoma), and wandering (Diomedea exulans) albatrosses, were better explained by variability in windspeed whereas those of North Pacific species, black-footed (Phoebastria nigripes) and Laysan (P. immutabilis) albatrosses, were better explained by variability in swell height.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that Southern Ocean species relied more on dynamic soaring by exploiting winds whereas North Pacific species relied more on wave-slope soaring using swells.  This divergence in behavior is likely the result of differences in the regional winds and swells between the two ocean basins.  Although windspeeds experienced by albatrosses in both oceans were similar, North Pacific species experienced greater swell heights, likely allowing them to extract more wind energy from waves than albatrosses in the Southern Ocean.  Our research highlights the importance of both wind and waves for albatross movement and the need to better understand environmental impacts on physiological drivers of foraging energetics to assess responses of seabirds to a rapidly changing climate.”

With thanks to Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Maywar, I.J., Phillips, R.A., Orben, R.A., Conners, M..G., Shaffer, S.A. & Thorne, L.H. 2026.  Differential impacts of wind and waves on albatross flight performance in two ocean basins.  Movement Ecology 14,1.  doi.org/10.1186/s40462-025-00614-w.

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

A Wandering Albatross off Chile by Milena Maira Marchese, Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for ACAP

The Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement or High Seas Treaty) was adopted by UN Member States on 19 June 2023 and entered into force 120 days later on 17 January 2025, following 60 ratifications.  The treaty covers roughly two-thirds of the ocean that lies outside national waters and Exclusive Economic Zones.

“The Treaty opens the door to protecting nearly half our planet with new tools to establish marine protected areas and ensure that the benefits of the high seas are shared equitably, especially with developing countries and small island states.”

The BBNJ Treaty allows for creating marine protected areas (MPAs), conducting environmental impact assessments (EIAs), sharing marine genetic resources and building capacity for developing nations.

Although the signature period closed on 20 September 2025, countries are still able to become parties to the BBNJ Agreement by acceding.  All 13 Parties to the Albatross and Petrel Agreement have signed the High Seas Treaty.  To date, seven of them have become Parties to the treaty by ratification or other means.  For the latest status of signatures and ratifications, visit the UN Treaty Collection website.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 23 January 2026