Gough Island and its territorial waters in the South Atlantic, a UK Overseas Territory, is a Tristan da Cunha nature reserve, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, an Important Bird & Biodiversity Area (IBBA) and an Endemic Bird Area (EBA), as well as being described as the most important seabird island in the word.  The major threat to biodiversity on Gough Island is the presence of introduced House Mice Mus musculus that prey upon chicks of the Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena and of several other threatened ACAP-listed seabird species, as has been regularly covered in ACAP Latest News.  An Operational Logistics Manager is now required for the Gough Island Restoration Programme that aims to eradicate the mice next year.

A Tristan Albatross guards its downy chick on Gough Island, photograph by Andrea Angel & Ross Wanless

“Working in partnership with the Tristan da Cunha Island Council, Island Conservation, Birdlife South Africa and the Department of Environmental Affairs in South Africa, the RSPB [Royal Society for the Protection of Birds] is now planning for the implementation of the mouse eradication operation in the Southern Hemisphere winter of 2019.

This is an exciting opportunity for a person experienced in the logistical deployment and management of complex rodent eradications involving aerial baiting. The Operational Logistics Manager will plan and deliver the mouse eradication operation during 2019 (building on planning work carried out in the last two years). He/she will lead on key aspects of the Operational Plan, in agreement with the Programme Manager.

The Operational Logistics Manager will also manage a team of people during the development and delivery phases of the operation. Some members of this team will report directly to the Operational Logistics Manager whilst others will be employed by partner organisations.”

More information on the post and how to apply here. Closing date for applications is 11 May 2018.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 20 April 2018

Lehua, at 126 ha, is one of the smallest islands in the USA’s Hawaiian chain. The uninhabited island supports breeding populations of several seabird species, including ACAP-listed Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses.

Lehua Island is an an eroded tuff cone

The Lehua Island Restoration Project Partnership aims to rid the island of its invasive Polynesian or Pacific Rats Rattus exulans. A second aerial poison bait drop took place last year, after a previous failed attempt (click here).

This second attempt was initially thought to have been successful, with notable improvements in breeding success of monitored seabirds (click here). However, reports of rats surviving then followed: “Recently, remote, motion-activated monitoring camera “traps” picked up three images of what are believed to be two or three rats on the steep and rocky cliff areas on the west and east sides of the island. Analysis of images show definitive proof of one rat” (click here). As a consequence hand-placed traps and poison bait stations have been deployed in the areas with recent sightings.

A Black-footed Albatross pair on Lehua, photograph by Eric Vanderwerf

It is now intended to utilize rat-detection dogs over the next two months. “Once the [rat] scent is identified, the handlers [will] then help the dogs pinpoint the precise areas where rats are located. The dogs are trained and handled to minimize their interactions with native birds”.

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 April 2018

Ralph Vanstreels (Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa) and colleagues have published open access in the International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife on a Grey-headed Albatross Thalassarche chrysostoma chick found dead with infection of the air sacs by nematode worms.

The paper’s abstract follows:

The Prince Edward Islands are Subantarctic islands in the southwest Indian Ocean that are of global importance as seabird nesting sites, and these islands being breeding grounds for five species of albatrosses (Procellariiformes: Diomedeidae). In March–April 2016 numerous chicks of one of these species, the grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma), were found dead at colonies on Marion Island (46°57′S 37°42′E), the larger of the two Prince Edward Islands. Affected chicks were weak, prostrated, apathetic, had drooping wings, and many eventually died while sitting on the nest. Five carcasses were necropsied, and samples were obtained for pathological and parasitological analysis. Four chicks appeared to have died from starvation, and one died due to air-sac helminthiasis, with extensive hemorrhage in the air sacs and multifocal pyogranulomatous air-sacculitis. The air sac parasites were identified as Diomedenema diomedeae (Aproctoidea: Desmidocercidae). Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear 18S rRNA gene and mitochondrial COI gene confirmed that D. diomedeae belongs to the suborder Spirurina and showed that it is most closely related to the Diplotriaenidae (superfamily Diplotriaenoidea), a family of parasites that infect the air sacs and subcutaneous tissues of a variety of bird species. To our knowledge this is the first record of the occurrence of a nematode in the respiratory tract of an albatross and the first study to provide DNA sequences for a species of the superfamily Aproctoidea.”

"A grey-headed albatross ... chick ... on Marion Island with drooping wings. A chick sitting with a normal posture can be seen in the background".

Photograph by Peter Ryan

Reference:

Vanstreels, R.E.T., Yabsley, M.Y., Swanepoel, L., Stevense, K.L., Carpenter-Kling, T., Ryan, P.G. & Pistorius, PA. 2018. Molecular characterization and lesions associated with Diomedenema diomedeae (Aproctoidea: Desmidocercidae) from grey-headed albatrosses (Thalassarche chrysostoma) on Subantarctic Marion Island. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2018.04.002.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 April 2018

Stefan and Janine Schoombie (FitzPatrick Institute, Rondebosch, University of Cape Town, South Africa) have published in Seabird, the annual journal of the United Kingdom-based Seabird Group, on a Grey-headed Albatross Thalassarche chrysostoma incubating an egg-shaped mass of vegetation on Marion Island.

The paper considers this observation in the light of other records of seabirds incubating “pseudo-eggs”, including stones, bones, light bulbs and even beer cans*, and the several hypotheses as to how this habit may come about.

*and sea shells (JC pers. obs.)

A Grey-headed Albatross rises from incubating its pseudo-egg, photograph by Stefan Schoombie

With thanks to Stefan Schoombie.

Reference:

Schoombie, S. & Schoombie, J. 2017. Pseudo-egg “fabrication” by Grey-headed Albatrosses Thalassarche chrysostoma on Marion Island. Seabird 30: 71-74.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 April 2018