Wedge-tailed Shearwater in its burrow at Kaena Point, Oahu, Hawaii

Alyssa Piauwasdy (Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, Kailua, Hawaiʻi, USA) and colleagues have published open access in the Journal of Field Ornithology on how geolocator devices affect Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna pacifica.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Although biologging has transformed seabird ecology, bird-borne devices could alter the behaviors being studied, including parental care. We tested for effects of leg-mounted light-level geolocators (< 1% of body mass) on chick growth and adult return rates in Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (‘ua‘u kani, Ardenna pacifica) breeding on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i during two consecutive breeding seasons that coincided with contrasting El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) years. Accounting for hatching phenology, we compared three responses of two tagging groups (tagged and non-tagged controls): (1) chick growth rates (mass, wing chord, 10th primary), (2) chick survival to fledging, and (3) adult return rates in the following breeding season. We found a significant effect of year on overall chick growth patterns, but no effect of tagging or sex-specific impacts. Chick survival did not differ between groups in either year. Regardless of the tagging group, all chicks in 2023 grew wing chords more slowly and reached lower peak body mass compared to chicks in 2022. However, growth rates did not differ between tagging groups within either season. Despite these interannual differences in chick growth, geolocator deployments did not impact breeding performance or adult return rates to the colony. These results emphasize the importance of evaluating device effects to avoid misinterpreting interannual variability as a tagging impact, and reinforce the value of even small-scale comparisons of tagged and non-tagged groups.”

Resumen

A pesar de que el bioseguimiento (biologging) ha transformado la ecología de las aves marinas, los dispositivos colocados en las aves podrían alterar los comportamientos objeto de estudio, incluido el cuidado parental. Evaluamos los efectos de los geolocalizadores, montados en la pata (< 1 % de la masa corporal), sobre el crecimiento de los polluelos y las tasas de retorno de los adultos en la pardela del Pacífico (ua‘u kani, Ardenna pacifica) en la colonia reproductiva de O‘ahu, Hawái, durante dos temporadas reproductivas consecutivas que coincidieron con años contrastantes del fenómeno El Niño-Oscilación del Sur (ENOS). Considerando la fenología de eclosión, comparamos tres respuestas entre dos grupos de estudio (aves marcadas con geolocalizadores y controles no marcados): 1. Tasas de crecimiento de los polluelos (masa corporal, longitud de la cuerda alar y de la pluma décima primaria). 2. Supervivencia de los polluelos hasta la etapa de volantón. 3. Tasas de retorno de los adultos en la siguiente temporada reproductiva. Encontramos un efecto significativo del año en los patrones generales de crecimiento de los polluelos, pero no se observaron efectos del marcado ni impactos específicos asociados al sexo. La supervivencia de los polluelos no difirió entre los grupos en ninguno de los dos años. Independientemente del grupo marcado, todos los polluelos de 2023 mostraron un crecimiento alar más lento y alcanzaron una masa corporal máxima inferior a la de los de 2022. Sin embargo, las tasas de crecimiento no difirieron entre los grupos de marcado en ninguna de las dos temporadas. A pesar de estas diferencias interanuales en el crecimiento de los polluelos, la colocación de geolocalizadores no afectó el éxito reproductivo ni las tasas de retorno de los adultos a la colonia. Estos resultados enfatizan la importancia de evaluar los efectos de los dispositivos para evitar la malinterpretación de la variabilidad interanual como efecto del marcado y refuerzan el valor de realizar comparaciones, incluso a pequeña escala, entre grupos marcados y no marcados.”

Reference:

Piauwasdy, A., Halpin, L.R., Adams, J., Potemra, J. & Hyrenbach, K.D. 2026.  Geolocator devices did not affect chick growth or adult return rates in Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (Ardenna pacifica) despite interannual variation in chick development.  Journal of Field Ornithology 97(3).

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

This year it’s the Northern Royal Albatross asking for your vote

It’s Bird of the Year (BOTY, Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau in Te Reo Māori) time again in New Zealand.  For the 22nd year since inauguration in 2005, New Zealanders, and the rest of the world, are invited to choose their favourite bird that occurs in New Zealand.  A total of 75 birds is in the mix this year.

Āwheo, the Royal Cam 2025/26 Northern Royal Albatross chick, artwork by Gill Winter, after photographs by Sharon Dunne and Cindy Giesle

Three of them are ACAP-listed species, the Endangered Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi, the Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni and the Endangered Westland Petrel P. westlandica.  Three other procellariforms are on the list, including the Endangered Hutton’s Shearwater Puffinus huttoni, a species regularly featured in ACAP Latest News.

Libby Manning, BOTY-NZ2026 Campaign Manager for the Northern Royal Albatross, received the Michelle McCormack Award in June this year

As in previous years, “champions” are being appointed to encourage votes for their favourite bird. The Royal Albatross Centre has taken the lead for the Northern Royal Albatross, with Libby Manning, an award-winning guide and educator at the centre, as Campaign Manager.  Libby has written to ACAP Latest News: “Bird of the Year is an opportunity for people to back their favourite native New Zealand birds.  Voters get to pick from five native species, and while there is no official prize for the winner the competition generally raises quite a lot of media and awareness.  Albatross have never won Bird of the Year before, and this year the Northern Royal Albatross is debuting, replacing the Antipodean Albatross.  The competition is open to anybody with a valid email address, and we are hoping to get seabird lovers across the world behind our campaign to raise awareness for albatross ecology, threats, and conservation.”

The six “parties”

This year the candidates have been grouped into six categories or “parties” - Tree Birds, Sea Birds, Shore Birds, Floor Birds, Shy Birds, and High Birds.  A vote for each bird will also count as a vote towards their wider party. Libby adds: “So alongside campaigning for albatross[es] we will also be encouraging people to vote for an 'all sea bird' candidate list”.

No procellariiform has ever been made New Zealand’s BOTY, and only two species of seabirds have made the top step, the Yellow-eyed Penguin Megadyptes antipodes twice (click here).

Campaigning has already started, with voting taking place from Friday 4 September to Sunday 20 September.

With thanks to Libby Manning.

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

Far outside its normal range: a dead Waved Albatross from central Chile, photograph by Jorge Viscarra

What seems to be the most southerly record for a Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata (Critically Endangered) is of a bird found dead on the coast of Chile at 36.7°S on the Isla de lo Reyes Rocuant Beach, Bahía de Concepción in the Biobío Region of Chile by Jorge Viscarra on 08 August 2026, as reported on eBird.

Waved Albatrosses breed on the equator in The Galapagos (with a few pairs on La Plata Island).  Their normal at-sea range is to the coastal waters of Ecuador and Peru, the “extreme north of Chile” and occasionally northwards to off Colombia and Panama.  A record from close to the city of Concepción in central Chile is thus well outside the species’ normal range, noting that the maritime boundary between Peru and Chile is at 18.3°S, some 2000 km north of the Concepción bird, that was found 4500 km from its most likely breeding locality of Española Island in The Galapagos.

Information from the Facebook page Pelagics. Seabirds birding worldwide posted by Alvaro Jaramillo.

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

Colour-banded Northern Royal Albatross off Chile

A colour-banded Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi (Endangered) was photographed in Chilean waters on 05 July 2026 by Claudio Véliz.  The bird was marked with plastic band black 535 and metal band R-67933 on 30 January 2022 as an adult of unknown sex by Mike Bell of Toroa Consulting in a study plot on Motuhara (The Forty Fours), Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Close up of the plastic band; the metal band is just visible on the left leg, photographs by Claudio Véliz

With thanks to Dave Boyle and Claudio Véliz for information via Pelagics. Seabirds birding worldwide.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 08 August 2026