Location of observation points in 2019

The BirdLife partner, SPEA, has reported on the passage of nine seabird species, including the ACAP-listed and Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus, observed from five mainland sites along the coast of Portugal in 2019.

The report’s summary follows:

“Seabirds are a relatively small group of birds but they have a global reach as they occur in every marine environment around the world.  Due to their global abundance they are vital to understanding the status and ecology of marine environments.  In recent decades, their status has been put under serious threat due to a wide range of anthropogenic factors.  To better understand the seabirds ecology the RAM (Seabird and Marine Monitoring Network) census is used by Iberian researchers to collect data on seabirds in coastal areas.

This report refers to data collected during 2019 for the RAM census of Portugal. Census were carried out at 5 observation points -Praia da Vagueira, Cabo Carvoeiro, Cabo Raso, Cabo de São Vicente and Ilha do Farol. An observational effort of 116 hours was made, with Ilha do Farol having the highest observational time (36 hours) and Praia da Vagueira the lowest one (15 hours).

Data was collected to show monthly and annual passage rates (birds/hour) and also to carry out a behavioural analysis on the 9 target species: Razorbill (Alca torda), Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris borealis), Great Skua (Catharacta skua), Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus), Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra), Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus), European Shag (Gulosus aristotelis), Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus) and Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis).  The observation point with the highest species diversity of seabirds was Praia da Vagueira (24 species), closely followed by Ilha do Farol (22 species).  The month with the highest passage rate was March (436.96 birds/hour) and the observation point was Cabo Raso with 382.09 birds/hour.”

Balearic Shearwater at sea, photograph by Pep Arcos

Reference:

Adlard, E. & Fagundes, A.I. 2020. Iberian Network for Seabirds and Marine Mammals - Portugal Mainland Counts during 2019.  Lisbon: Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves.  38 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 January 2020

Wandering Albatross by Shary Page Weckwerth, from a photograph by Linda Clokie

 Carola Rackete (Biosciences, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Polar Biology on demographic variations in globally Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans breeding in the South Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans, is a globally threatened species breeding at a number of sites within the Southern Ocean.  Across the South Georgia archipelago, there are differences in population trends even at closely located colonies.  Between 1999 and 2018 the largest colony, at Bird Island, declined at 3.01% per annum, while in the Bay of Isles, the decline was 1.44% per annum.  Using mean demographic rates from a 31-year study at Bird Island and an 11-year study of breeding success at Prion Island in the Bay of Isles in a VORTEX model, we show that differences in breeding success do not fully explain observed differences in population trends.  Other potential contributing factors are differential use of foraging areas, with possible knock-on effects on adult body condition, provisioning rate and breeding success, or on bycatch rates of adults or immatures.”

With thanks to Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Rackete, C., Poncet, S., Good, S.D., Phillips, R.A., Passmore, K. & Trathan, P. 2021.  Variation among colonies in breeding success and population trajectories of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans at South Georgia.  Polar Biology doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02780-6.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 January 2021

Black Petrel at sea, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

 Javier Quinones (Oficina de Investigaciones en Depredadores Superiores, Instituto del Mar del Perú, Callao, Perú) and colleagues have published in the journal Notornis on ACAP-listed and globally Vulnerable Black Petrels Procellaria parkinsoni observed in Peruvian waters.

A total of 47 Black Petrels was recorded during at-sea surveys off the coast of Peru during February and March 2020; nearly all over the continental slope.  The short note ends:

“As most adult black petrel[s] are nesting in New Zealand during this period, it is evident that part of the population at different age classes is spending their summers in northern Perú.  These birds are likely to be affected by different levels of risk associated with human-induced factors including fisheries bycatch, pollution events and climate change compared to those birds that migrate to breed in New Zealand.  Management measures such as the creation of a Marine Important Bird Area in the highly productive waters of Northern Perú and introducing mitigation measures to fisheries vessels could help protect this vulnerable New Zealand species whenever they are present in the region.”

With thanks to Roger Sharp, Web Support, Birds New Zealand.

Reference:

Quinones, J., Calderon, J., Mayaute, L. & Bell, E. 2020.  Black petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni) congregations at sea off Perú during the Austral summer.  Notornis 67: 573-576.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 January 2021

Robert Vagg, 1961-2021, photograph by Martin Wein

Robert Vagg, friend and supporter of ACAP, and long-term English language Editor and Report Writer in the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), passed away unexpectedly in Bonn, Germany on 13 January, just three days before his 60th birthday (click here).

ACAP’s Information Officer first met Robert at the Seventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CMS held in Bonn in Germany in September 2002 which he was attending on the BirdLife International delegation as the NGO’s Coordinator of its (then) Seabird Conservation Programme.  Robert was on the UK Delegation as  International Conservation Policy Adviser, Zoos and International Species Conservation, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs  (DEFRA).  This was a time between the signing of the Albatross and Petrel Agreement in 2001 and its adoption in 2004, so the conservation of albatrosses was on the agenda, with a mention in a message to the COP from H.R.H the Prince of Wales (himself a noted supporter of albatross conservation) calling on the international community to ratify and implement the Agreement as soon as possible.  In conversation it was clear that Robert also had a personal interest in the conservation of albatrosses and petrels and in the development of ACAP.

Robert joined the CMS Secretariat in 2005.  Ever since then, and most recently late last month, he regularly contacted the ACAP Secretariat with news of and links to popular articles and scientific papers he had come across that were of relevance to the work of the Agreement.  Many of these “heads-up” resulted in posts to ACAP Latest News, the most recent on the first of January this year, accompanied by his season’s greetings and a message for all the best for 2021.

Mark Tasker, current Convenor of ACAP’s Taxonomy Working Group (and past Chair of the Advisory Committee) knew Robert Vagg well as a friend and past colleague at DEFRA.  He writes of Robert to ACAP Latest News: “My main memory will always be of his very dry sense of humour and inability to take any incompetent seniors seriously.  He also adopted that great catch-phrase from the TV series (UK version) of House of Cards ‘You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment’ to fit a number of situations.”

Robert Vagg leaves his parents and a brother.  ACAP extends its condolences to them, and to all his past and present colleagues within the Bonn Convention and in the United Kingdom.

With thanks to Mark Tasker.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 20 January 2021.