ACAP Latest News has been using its contacts to reach out to BirdLife International partners in ACAP Parties to request support for this year’s inauguration of World Albatross Day (‘WAD2020’) on 19 June.  Four national partners have so far responded positively (those of Australia, France, New Zealand and South Africa), to which can now be added the United Kingdom.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is the United Kingdom’s National Partner of BirdLife International and the country’s largest nature conservation charity with over a million members (and nearly 350 000 followers of its Facebook page).  The two bodies work closely together, including on marine issues.  In 2005, BirdLife International and the RSPB jointly launched the Albatross Task Force – the world’s first international team of seabird bycatch mitigation experts. The Albatross Task Force works closely with fishers and governments in key seabird bycatch hotspots to reduce the number of albatrosses killed in fisheries in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Namibia and South Africa.

Martin Harper, RSPB Director of Global Conservation, leads the NGO’s conservation strategy both nationally and internationally. He has written to ALN expressing the RSPB’s support for WAD2020: “The plight of albatross species has provided a stark reminder of human’s inability to live in harmony with the natural world.  Yet, the trans-continental conservation programme to drive the recovery of these iconic species serves as an inspiration of how we can protect and improve the natural world.  On World Albatross Day, let’s celebrate these amazing birds, remember the threats they are facing but be confident that by working together we can save them.”

Photograph of Juliet Vickery by Caroline Mead

Juliet Vickery, Head of International Research in the RSPB’s Centre for Conservation Science writes: “Albatrosses amaze in so many ways - riding ocean winds for hours without even a flap of their huge wings, living up to 50 years of age or more and some species mating for life - but they are severely threatened throughout our oceans and World Albatross Day should be a reminder to us all that these magnificent birds need conservation action now.”

Cleo Small is Head of the BirdLife International Marine Programme, which is hosted by the the RSPB (and is a member of ACAP’s Seabird Bycatch Working Group).  She writes: “Albatrosses face multiple threats both on land and out at sea.  World Albatross Day represents an excellent opportunity to draw attention to the issues we must address to protect these extraordinary birds, as well as the opportunities and challenges associated with each of these threats”.

Also writing in support is Rory Crawford, Bycatch Programme Manager, BirdLife International Marine Programme (based with the RSPB): “Perhaps I’m not the best qualified to talk about albatrosses.  I’ve only seen one (a Waved Albatross) and it was very far away.  But for a lot of people – most actually – we don’t need to lay our eyes on one to know the importance of preventing their extinction.  Given their extensive ranges and the myriad threats they face, if we can succeed in turning the tide for albatrosses, then there’s hope we can sort out more of the planet’s problems.  World Albatross Day is a chance to bring some attention to these birds as a symbol of that hope.”

Stephanie Prince, BirdLife International’s Marine Programme Manager at the RSPB, writes: “Albatrosses are such amazing creatures but are sadly facing many threats to their existence.  I’m delighted that this year will see the first World Albatross Day- an opportunity to celebrate and spread the word about these iconic birds.”

To end up, Nina da Rocha, who is Project Officer for the Albatross Task Force and serves as BirdLife International’s representative on ACAP's World Albatross Day Intersessional Group, has her say: “Albatrosses are truly amazing birds on so many different levels!  Sadly, they are in real trouble and facing a conservation crisis as the result of human activities.  The good news is that we already know what needs to be done to turn things around for them.  As we celebrate World Albatross Day for the first time, let’s come together as a global community and commit to working together to save these magnificent ocean wanderers!”

With such highly qualified and well-motivated individuals expressing their support, ACAP looks forward to a fruitful collaboration with the RSPB as WAD2020 approaches.

With thanks to Nina da Rocha, Albatross Task Force Project Officer, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 31 January 2020

UPDATE:  "After three weeks since it hatched on January 2, the downy chick appears healthy and is growing everyday while its cousins — the Laysan and Black-footed chicks — are still in hatching mode. The remote camera revealed that the chick is being fed by both George and Geraldine as they swapped their parental feeding and care taking duties three times during the last two weeks".  News from the Friends of Midway Atoll NWR.

Top: Short-tailed Albatross chick. Bottom: chick with adult Black-footed Albatrosses in the background. photographs by Jonathan Plissner

George and Geraldine, the globally Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatross or ‘Golden Gooney’ Phoebastria albatrus solitary pair on Midway Atoll’s Sand Island, hatched their latest egg on 2 January.  George had taken up the final incubation shift from Geraldine just four days earlier on 29 December; the egg is reported as being laid on 28 October (click here).  Both birds were first seen in the current breeding season on the same day of 23 October last year.  ACAP Latest News assumes they had arrived unnoticed earlier than this to allow for mating and the usual (for procellariiforms) egg-making ‘honeymoon’ trip or pre-laying exodus of around 10 days or more to sea by the female.

George with its recently hatched chick, photographs by V. Ternisian

Read what is known of George and Geraldine’s history and previous breeding attempts (they successfully fledged their first chick in the previous 2018/19 season) here.  Intriguing to note the synchrony of breeding between the two seasons, in 2018/19 their egg hatched on 3 January (although it should be noted hatching can be a lengthy process lasting more than a day, so the exact day of the chick finally leaving the shell may be difficult to record).

Meanwhile, Midway's other famous pair, 69-something Wisdom and mate Akeakamai, the Laysan Albatrosses P. immutabilis, are taking a 'gap year', having not laid an egg this season after being seen back together in Sand Island last November (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 January 2020, updated 30 January 2020

UPDATED with photographs of Black-vented Shearwaters by J.A. Soriano, courtesy of Federico Méndez, Executive Director, GECI

 Yuliana Bedolla-Guzmán and colleagues (Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.) have published in the Island Invasives: Scaling up to Meet the Challenge conference proceedings on the conservation of seabirds on Mexican islands, including the Near Threatened Black-vented Shearwater Puffinus opisthomelas.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The Baja California Pacific Islands, Mexico, are globally important breeding sites for 22 seabird species and subspecies. In the past, several populations were extirpated or reduced due to invasive mammals, human disturbance, and contaminants.  Over the past two decades, we have removed invasive predators and, for the last decade, we have been implementing a Seabird Restoration Programme on eight groups of islands: Coronado, Todos Santos, San Martín, San Jerónimo, San Benito, Natividad, San Roque, and Asunción.  This programme includes monitoring; social attraction techniques; removal of invasive vegetation; reducing human disturbance; and an environmental learning and biosecurity programme.  Here, we summarise historical extirpations and recolonisations during the last two decades of restoration actions, and we update the status of breeding species after more than a decade.  To date, from 27 historically extirpated populations, 80% have returned since the first eradication in 1995.  Social attraction techniques were key in recolonisations of Cassin’s auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus), royal tern (Thalasseus maximus), and elegant tern (T. elegans). A total of 19 species breed on these islands, four more species than a decade ago, including 12 new records.  The most abundant seabirds, black-vented shearwater (Puff nus opisthomelas), Cassin’s auklet, western gull (Larus occidentalis), and Brandt’s cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus), have shown a remarkable population increase.  Current threats include the potential reintroduction of invasive mammals, guano mining, recreational activities, pollution, and commercial fisheries.  To maintain these conservation gains in the long-term it is necessary to continue implementing restoration actions and reinforcing protection on these important natural protected areas.”

Reference:

Bedolla-Guzmán, Y., Méndez-Sánchez, F., Aguirre-Muñoz, A., Félix-Lizárraga, M., Fabila-Blanco, A., Bravo-Hernández, E., Hernández-Ríos, A., Corrales-Sauceda, M., Aguilar-Vargas, A., Aztorga-Ornelas, A., Solís-Carlos, F., Torres-García, F., Luna-Mendoza, L., Ortiz-Alcaraz, A., Hernández-Montoya, J., Latofski-Robles, M., Rojas-Mayoral, E. & Cárdenas-Tapia, A. 2019.  Recovery and current status of seabirds on the Baja California Pacific Islands, Mexico, following restoration actions.  In: C.R. Veitch, M.N. Clout, A.R. Martin, J.C. Russell & C.J. West (Eds). Island Invasives: Scaling up to Meet the Challenge.  Occasional Paper SSC No. 62. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. pp. 531-538.

With thanks to Federico Méndez, Executive Director, Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, Mexico for photographs and information

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 January 2020, updated 30 January 2020

By now regular readers of ACAP Latest News must know who Wisdom is, the famous 69-year old Laysan Albatross of Midway Atoll (see her ALN string).

The last post had the pair returning to their usual nest site on Midway’s Sand Island in November, but no egg ensued and the birds departed (click here).  This month they returned for a few days, raising hopes of an egg. However, news from the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge seems to confirm the pair are taking a "gap year”:

“Wisdom and her mate Akeakamai were lately observed sitting together on Thursday, January 16.  Akeamakai was this time sitting tightly on a nest cup in the same spot as their 2018-2019 nest; which was a surprise and potentially a sign of a late egg.  However, neither bird was observed during the following days, and no egg was revealed in the nest cup. The pair is certainly skipping a nesting year.”

Wisdom (wearing red Z333) near her nest site on 13 January 2020, photograph by Theresa Geelhoed, Kupu Volunteer Crew Leader

Further news is that one of Wisdom’s youngsters has been returning:

“Interestingly, Wisdom’s chick from 2011 was that day walking a few feet away from the pair.  Since Wisdom's offspring were first banded in 2011, this is the only chick that has been observed returning to Midway.  It is important to note that Wisdom was able to rear this chick at a very late age, at least 59 years old.  The "youngster," who has not been given a name but bears a red and white color band with the unique code of "N333" was first spotted at the same location in March 2018 but has not yet been observed on a nest.  We know that albatrosses tend to return to their nesting ground to breed and nest. In the coming years, it will be interesting to witness the location chosen by Wisdom’s chick to continue the legacy of the family”.

ACAP’s Information Officer (who also has a Z333 band)  is already looking forward to the 2020/21 breeding season, when Wisdom will be joining him in the septuagenarian ranks.  You are only as old as you feel!

You can read more about Wisdom's history - and the threats she and her conspecifics face - here.

 John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 January 2020