A Manx Shearwater chick outside its burrow, photograph by Jaclyn Pearson

Jason Matthiopoulos (School of Biodiversity, University of Glasgow, UK) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Endangered Species Research on the population dynamics  of Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus on the Scottish island of Rum in relation to planned offshore wind farm developments.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The Isle of Rum (Scotland) holds ~30% of the world’s Manx shearwater population. The status and vulnerability of this internationally important and remote population are currently in question, mainly because of variations in field survey methodologies used on Rum across the years. This is particularly urgent in light of proposed offshore wind farm developments in the area. Here, we aimed to reconstruct population and demographic trends and quantify future sensitivities using a Bayesian state-space model. Fitting the model to simulated data of a similar nature and extent as the real data confirmed our ability to retrieve hidden parameters and reconstruct latent population trends in partially observed or wholly unobserved demographic time series. Applying these methods to the real data revealed that the population has been increasing since the 1980s but may now be starting to plateau. We extended the temporal horizon to a 100 yr forecast and ran several counterfactual scenarios relating to anthropogenic impacts on adult mortality and fecundity. These experiments indicated that the population is robust to strong pulse perturbations (e.g. wind farm construction or epidemic outbreaks), but vulnerable to small, sustained perturbations in adult survival (e.g. low-level mortality due to nearby wind farm operation). By integrating different data types collected by varying field methods over mismatched time windows, we have gained valuable insights into the status of this difficult-to-monitor species. Impact assessments for planned offshore wind developments around Rum should focus on collision and displacement costs to provisioning adults borne by wind farm operation (rather than construction).”

Reference:

Matthiopoulos, J., Thompson, K., Watt, L., O’Brien, S. & Furness, R.[W.] 2025.  Reconstructing and forecasting the dynamics of an internationally important population of Manx shearwaters. Endangered Species Research 56: 291-303.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 06 March 2026

Graphical abstract from the publication

Mikinley Weaver (Hawaiʻi Pacific University, Waimanalo, Hawaii, USA) and colleagues have published in the journal Parasitology Internatonal on lice loads in Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna pacifica from the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Ectoparasites were collected from 35 live Ardenna pacifica Gmelin chicks (wedge-tailed shearwaters) in October and November 2022 using a fumigant and plastic bag collection method.  Additionally, 206 naturally-deceased post-fledging grounded birds were sampled opportunistically over eight years (2015–2023), with fledglings collected during the fledging season (November – December) and adults collected during the breeding season (May – October).  Eight species of Phthiraptera were documented in samples from these birds.  While four species (Halipeurus mirabilis Thompson, Trabeculus hexakon Waterson, Austromenopon paululum (Kellogg & Chapman), and Naubates harrisoni Bedford) were present on chicks that had fledged and subsequently “fallen out”, only H. mirabilis was present on chicks that had not yet fledged. Saemundssonia puellula Timmermann, and Longimenopon puffinus Thompson, were only collected from adult fallout birds in the spring.  Of the recorded ectoparasites, four species (H. mirabilis, T. hexakon, A. paululum, and N. harrisoni) constituted a species assemblage that did not significantly vary from year to year.  Lice abundance and diversity varied across bird age classes (pre-fledging chicks, fledged chicks, adults), but a significant increase in lice abundance during 2015 coincided with a major El Niño event, suggesting that the ectoparasite loads may be affected by external conditions such as air temperature.  There was also a significant increase in lice prevalence between pre-fledging and fledged chicks, which likely coincided with the lice hatching.  These results underscore the consistency of lice assemblages on A. pacifica, while highlighting the influence of endogenous (e.g., bird life history) and exogenous (e.g., weather) ecological factors.”

Reference:

Weaver, M.D., Brown, S.M. & Hyrenbach, K.D. 2026.  The traveling insects: ectoparasite records on Hawaiian wedge-tailed shearwaters, Ardenna pacifica, with a focus on Phthiraptera,  Parasitology International 110, 103142. doi.org/10.1016/j.parint.2025.103142.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 05 March 2026

No. 700!  Kitty Harvill with “Dreaming of Gough”, her painting of an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross in acrylics on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, after a photograph by Chris Jones.  This photograph is by Laurie Smaglick Johnson

For the seventh consecutive year ACAP is working with the international collective, Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN), to produce artworks featuring albatrosses and petrels in support of World Albatross Day (WAD2026) on 19 June.  The first six ABUN Projects yielded no less than 697 artworks for ACAP’s use in supporting conservation.  A truly impressive number, that most likely has no competitor for any animal group across the whole world.

ACAP’s chosen theme for WAD2026 is “Habitat Restoration".  Two albatrosses are being featured, the Endangered Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos and the Vulnerable Chatham Albatross T. eremita.  ABUN Project #52 kicked off on 19 February and runs until 19 April.  So far, 11 artworks have been submitted; they can be viewed in a Photo Album on ACAP’s Facebook page; read about the first two (Nos. 698 and 699) here.  The third to be produced, and thus the 700th since 2020, is of an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross entitled “Dreaming of Gough”, by happy happenstance painted by ABUN’s Co-founder and long-time supporter of the Albatross and Petrel Agreement, Kitty Harvill.

ACAP Latest News asked Kitty, who lives in Brazil, to write how her involvement with albatrosses started and how it developed into a six-year collaboration with ACAP.

Kitty writes: “It all began with WISDOM, and what worthy endeavour doesn’t?  When the devastating tsunami of 2011 hit Midway Atoll, author Darcy Pattison saw the opportunity to share the story of Wisdom, the Midway Albatross who had miraculously survived the storm along with her chick.  Not wanting to wait for her manuscript to languish on the desks of publishers for months, maybe years, Darcy set out to establish her own publishing company and enlisted me as the illustrator for her story.  Having been friends for years and sharing the same birthday, 28 June (only nine days after World Albatross Day), we had wanted to create a children’s book together for some time and I happily agreed.  ‘WISDOM the Midway Albatross: Surviving the Japanese Tsunami and other Disasters for over 60 Years’ was successfully published to excellent reviews in 2012.  Fast forward to late 2019.  Darcy and I were contacted by John Cooper, the ACAP Information Officer, who asked us to update the back matter in the book due to the upcoming launch of the first World Albatross Day on 19 June 2020.  I took the opportunity to tell John about Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) that I co-founded in January 2016 and offer that our ABUN artists could create paintings and drawings that could assist in raising awareness for World Albatross Day 2020.  I sensed some hesitancy on his part at first, but ABUN Project #30 launched on 01 January 2020 and produced 324 artworks by 77 artists of all the 22 albatross species listed by ACAP.  Seven posters were created from selected artworks and made available to the public free of charge.  My own painting that year, a watercolour, included all 22 species.  I’ve led an ABUN Project for World Albatross the Day every year since then, except for 2024 and 2025 when our ABUN Administrator, Marion Schön, had the honour to do so.”

“We have become good friends”.  Kitty Harvill and John Cooper aboard the MSC Musica on the Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025

Kitty continues: “In January last year, I was invited to be ‘Artist-in-Residence’ on the Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 voyage.  I produced eight watercolours before the trip, donated the, upon arrival on the ship and created an 11” x 14” acrylic on linen painting each day, also donated to the important cause of the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project.  Albatross conservation has, over the years, become a very important cause for me and it all started with a devastating event.  It is a true ‘Ashes to Beauty’ story and our ABUN paintings keep rising like a Phoenix from those ashes, with now over 700 artworks available to ACAP to support the conservation of the world’s albatrosses and petrels.”

An aerial view of Gough Island appears in the albatross’s eye in Kitty Harvill’s painting

With thanks to Kitty Harvill and Marion Schön (in 2024 and 2025) for administering the six projects – and for contributing their own art.

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

A Black-browed Albatross pair on New Island, photograph by Ian Strange

New Island is a nature reserve in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)* that supports populations of ACAP-listed Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris and White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis as well as large numbers of Slender-billed Prions Pachyptila belcheri.  The New Island Restoration Programme is working towards the eradication from the island of four different invasive species: feral cats, Black Rats, House Mice and European Rabbits.

The small population of Vulnerable White-chinned Petrels on New Island will benefit once the introduced mammals are gone

New funding from Darwin Plus now “gives the means to start an ambitious programme of work from 2025 to 2029 to conserve New Island, restore the whole island ecosystem, and make it a safe place for species such as Slender-billed Prions”.

Read about the new grant here.  Read more about the island here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 03 March 2026

*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.