“George” and “Geraldine”, a pair of globally Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatrosses Phoebastria albatrus, returned to Sand Island in the USA’s Midway Atoll in the north Pacific in October last year (click here).  Since then the pair laid an egg which hatched on 3 January (click here).

Geraldine the female sub-adult Short-tailed Albatross on Midway Atoll with her downy chick in January 2019; photograph by Zeke Smith

George, male of Midway's Short-tailed Albatross pair, with his growing chick; photograph by Bob Peyton, USFWS

George, the male of the pair, a bird in adult plumage, has been visiting Midway Atoll since November 2006 (when known as “Lonesome George”.  He hatched from the colony on Japan’s Torishima in 2003 and was banded there as a chick.  Geraldine, an assumed younger bird, is still in sub-adult plumage and is suspected to be an individual that was banded on Torishima in April 2008.  She was first observed on Sand Island in early 2012.  The two birds were first seen together on the island in late 2016.  Last season the pair incubated a Black-footed Albatross P. nigripes egg, which hatched and resulted in a fledged chick.  This season they have been doing it properly, hatching their own chick.

George (on the right) and Geraldine together on Midway in October 2018, photograph by Madalyn Riley, USFWS Volunteer

Previously, a different pair of Short-tailed Albatrosses has bred successfully three times in four years on Midway's Eastern Island within the atoll, fledging several chicks, the last one in 2014 (click here).

Read more about George and Geraldine here and here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 February 2019, updated 07 February 2019

The UK’s British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has received funding from Darwin Plus to undertake radar tracking of fishing vessels with globally Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans in the South Atlantic.

Wandering Albatross at sea in the South Atlantic, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

“One of the successful [funded] schemes will see albatrosses and petrels benefit from further research using ‘bird-borne’ radar devices.  The project is being run by scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the attached radars will measure how often tracked wandering albatrosses interact with legal and illegal fishing vessels in the south Atlantic to map the areas and times when birds of different age and sex are most susceptible to bycatch – becoming caught up in fishing long lines.  The project’s results will be shared with stakeholders to better target bycatch observer programmes, monitor compliance with bycatch mitigation and highlight the impact of bycatch on seabirds.”

The planned research follows similar initiatives utilizing radar-tracking devices mounted on southern hemisphere albatrosses announced by France and New Zealand (click here).

Professor Richard Phillips, BAS Principal Scientist and leader of its Higher Predators and Conservation group and Co-convenor of ACAP’s Population and Conservation Status Working Group said that “The British Antarctic Survey is delighted to be awarded this funding from Darwin Plus, which is for a collaboration between BAS and BirdLife International.  The project will use a range of technologies - GPS, loggers that record 3-D acceleration and novel radar-detecting tags - to quantify interactions of tracked wandering albatrosses with legal and illegal fishing vessels.  The technology will provide much-needed information on the areas and periods of highest bycatch.”

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 February 2019

ACAP Latest News has previously reported on a Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis (Near Threatened) on the Hawaiian island of Kauai that survived an attack by dogs as a chick in 2012.  Following rehabilitation and release by Save our Shearwaters (SOS) the bird, identified by its band A432,  was seen back on the island in the 2017/18 season when it bred successfully (click here).

A432 checks out her newly-laid egg in December 2017, photograph by Hob Osterlund

News is now in from SOS that the bird has returned for its second breeding attempt, with its 2017/18 mate, and they are incubating a new egg.  ACAP Latest News wishes A432 a long life and successful breeding career.

View a video clip of A432 swimming vigorously in the SOS conditioning pool while undergoing rehabilitation.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 February 2019

Rachael Sagar (School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand) and colleagues show in the open-access journal Global Ecology and Conservation that best-practice translocation techniques do not alter stress reactivity or development in globally Near Threatened Mottled Petrel Pterodroma inexpectata chicks in New Zealand.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The order Procellariiformes, or albatross and petrels, face declining populations and many species hold threatened species status. Translocations of petrel chicks are increasingly recognised as a powerful conservation tool with multiple benefits: restoring species to their former range, restoring lost land-sea ecological linkages and ‘spreading the risk’ for at-risk species. However, translocations are stressful events for chicks. Petrel chicks are able to perceive and respond to stressors from hatching at a level comparable to adults. Consequently, if chronic stress is induced in petrel chicks by translocation, it may result in energy divergence away from growth and condition, with potentially ongoing negative effects throughout the birds' lives. The aim of this research was to define how translocation impacts stress reactivity and development in petrel chicks and to use this information to guide best-practice for petrel translocations.

Mottled petrels (Pterodroma inexpectata) are a target for major translocation-restoration programmes across New Zealand. We measured total corticosterone from mottled petrel chicks at regular intervals coinciding with key translocation events from two groups: one that underwent translocation according to current best practice (Translocation group), and a group that remained in the natal colony (Control group). Growth, weight and fledging parameters of the Translocation group were compared against a multi-year source colony average. We found there was no difference in stress reactivity between Translocation and Control chicks, or development between Translocation and chicks at the source colony. Petrel translocation practitioners may proceed in the knowledge that current practices did not induce a state of chronic stress or alter stress reactivity in mottled petrel chicks, and therefore are unlikely to negatively impact post-fledging survival, and their capacity to establish viable colonies. However, we caution that these results may not apply to other petrel species with different life-history strategies to mottled petrels, and encourage testing in a wider range of species.”

Mottled Petrel and chick

Reference:

Sagar, R.L., Mitchell, M., Rayner, M.J., Stanley, M.C. & Dunphy, B.J. 2019  Maximising success: translocation does not negatively impact stress reactivity and development in petrel chicks.  Global Ecology and Conservation doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00508.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 February 2019