The oiled Black-footed Albatross.  Its metal leg land is visible on the left, the satellite transmitter’s aerial on the right.  Photographs by Michelle St Martin, USFWS, from the Pelagicos Facebook Page

Unlike for some lower-latitude penguin species, contamination by oil has not been as a serious threat facing ACAP-listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters although sporadic cases do get reported (click here for an example, see also here).

A recent example of an oiled procellariiform is of the corpse of a Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes, stranded on Beverly Beach, where it was collected by the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife.  It was individually identified by its federal metal-band and was still equipped with a Microwave Telemetry satellite transmitter.

At-sea tracks of the Laysan Island Black-footed Albatrosses

The oiled bird was one of several  (out of an original 10) Black-footed Albatrosses that were satellite-tagged on Laysan Island in February and have continued to transmit from sea for over three months, as shown by their recent movements (visit NOAA's Animal Telemetry Network site).  One of these birds was exposed to an oil spill off Oregon and Washington , and stranded on Beverly Beach, where its corpse was collected by the Oregon Fish & Wildlife.

A Black-footed Albatross rises from brooding its downy chick on Laysan Island, photograph from the Pelagicos Facebook Page

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 12 June 2024

Gibson's Antipodean Albatross Red-94H, photograph from Paul Waldbridge

A colour-banded great albatross Diomedea sp. was photographed at sea over the Queensland Guyot (an extinct volcanic seamount approximately 200 km off the Australian coastal city of Brisbane in the Coral Sea) on 4 May 2024.  The bird carried the colour band Red-94H on its right leg and metal band R-58554 on the left.

Kath Walker, New Zealand Department of Conservation confirms the bird is a Gibson’s Antipodean Albatross D. antipodensis gibsoni.  She writes: “Great to see the band recovery and photograph.  Red-94H is an adult female Gibson’s who we banded in our study area on Adams Island, Auckland Islands on 7 January 2017 when she started nesting there.  She nested successfully in 2023 so was on sabbatical when seen in 2024”.

"This bird is part of a long-term study by Graeme Elliott and Kath Walker on Gibson’s Albatross which are endemic to the Auckland Island archipelago. Since 1991 this study has monitored the survival, productivity, recruitment and population trends of this species on an almost annual basis."

Information from the Pelagics. Seabirds birding worldwide Facebook Page.

Read about an earlier record of a colour-banded Gibson’s Antipodean Albatross from Adams Island that was photographed at sea here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 11 June 2024

 
The White-capped Albatross Thalassarche steadi breeding on Diego Ramírez.  a. Brooding its chick (with a Grey-headed Albatross T. chrysostoma chick in the foreground. B. Chick in the early post-guard period.
Photographs by Cristóbal Anguita (left) and Carlos Garcés Letelier (right)

Cristián Suazo (Department of Animal Ecology & Systematics, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Polar Biology on a pair of breeding White-capped Albatrosses Thalassarche steadi that successfully fledged their chick on the Diego Ramírez Islands,  The island group was designated as a Marine Protected Area in 2019.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Albatrosses are renowned for their high philopatry, which has been proposed as a major barrier to their dispersal and hybridization with other albatross species.  Except for shy-type albatross species from New Zealand, examples of colonization of new breeding sites and interbreeding with closely related species are rare.  During the austral summer of 2022, while conducting land-based monitoring of resident Black-browed (Thalassarche melanophris) and Grey-headed (T. chrysostoma) albatross populations on the Diego Ramírez Islands, Chile (56 S), we documented the first (and southernmost) breeding record of a nesting pair of White-capped Albatross (T. steadi), a species endemic to the Auckland Islands, New Zealand (~ 7000 km away).  The species identity was confirmed through molecular analysis.  This discovery underscores the importance of Diego Ramírez and its surrounding waters as a hotspot for global albatross conservation.”

The known breeding distribution of the White-capped Albatross in the Southern Ocean - from the publication

Reference:

Suazo, C., Anguita, C., Garcés Letelier, C. Martínez, A.·& Quillfeldt, P. 2024.  The white‑capped albatross: a new breeding record for the Diego Ramírez Islands, Chile.  Polar Biology doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03269-2.

10 June 2024

A Peruvian Diving Petrel chick on Pajaros Uno Island, photograph from Island Conservation

Peruvian Diving Petrels Pelecanoides garnotii have returned to breed on Chile’s Pajaros Uno Island following the eradication of Black Rats Rattus rattus in 2020, confirmed as successful two years later (click here).  Two pairs of have been found breeding this year on the 70-ha island”.  “The audio recordings were played on a specialised solar-powered sound system and during the night when the sea was calm the sounds could be heard up to 300 metres away from the island.”

Pajaros Uno Island, photograph from Island Conservation

The island also supports breeding populations of Peruvian Boobies Sula variegata, Kelp Gulls Larus dominicanus and Humboldt Penguins Spheniscus humboldti.

A Peruvian Diving Petrel at sea, photograph by Island Conservation

The successful eradication effort was undertaken by the Chilean Ministry of the Environment and the environmental NGO Island Conservation.

07 June 2024