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

The Secretariat for the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) is seeking an experienced consultant to support its Aquatic Species Team with the coordination and implementation of a project on “Minimising bycatch of seabirds and sea turtles in West African industrial fisheries” in West Africa.

"The overall project, which is under the coordination of BirdLife International, aims to strengthen fisheries and conservation governance in West Africa and to initiate efforts to ensure that best practices are mandatory in national legislation and regulations through legal frameworks.

The CMS will lead on one component: (i) Supporting the development of a Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO), for regionally coherent governance and implementing binding regulations, and under the guise of this and (ii) Investigate the nature and scale of intentional take and export of seabirds (largely covert/below official radars)."

Click here for more details and how to apply.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 16 April 2018

The Sixth Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MoP6) to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels ( ACAP) will be held in the Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre, Skukuza Rest Camp, Kruger National Park, South Africa from Monday, 7 May to Friday, 11 May 2018.

The Second Circular for the meeting gives information on three social events for delegates arranged by South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs.

On the evening of Monday 7 May South Africa will host MoP6 delegates and accompanying persons to a ‘bush braai’ (barbecue). The braaivleis will be held in the bushveld (sub-tropical woodland) outside Skukuza where it should be possible to view some of the park’s mammals and birds that are active at dusk and night.

On Thursday 10 May South Africa will host delegates on early morning and evening game drives within the park. The drives will provide opportunities to observe wildlife, including some of the big game animals (think Africa’s “Big Five”- African Elephant, rhinoceroses (Black or White), Lion, Leopard and Cape Buffalo - but there are around 150 mammal species listed for the park) as well as the park’s abundant birdlife (over 500 species have been recorded).

On the evening of Friday 11 May South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs will host delegates and accompanying persons to a ‘boma’ (originally a stockade for domestic animals) dinner within the Skukuza Rest Camp.

Skukuza is a fenced camp within the Kruger National Park with large grounds where visitors can walk freely for exercise and to birdwatch. Outside the camp visitors are required to remain inside their vehicles on account of the many dangerous animals that freely roam the park.  Delegates are also advised to consult their medical practitioners before travelling for advice on the use of prophylactics because the Kruger National Park lies within a malaria zone. The use of insect repellents at dawn and dusk is advised as is the wearing of long-sleeved shirts and long trousers during the evenings.

Documentation for the meeting in ACAP’s three official languages of English, French and Spanish is available on this website.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 April 2018

Mathew Schwaller (Department of Ecology & Evolution, Stony Brook University, New York, U.S.A.) and colleagues have published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment, reporting on discovering unknown Antarctic Petrel Thalassoica antarctica colonies on the Antarctic Continent using remote sensing by satellites. This finding goes quite some way to solving the anomaly previously pointed out by Jan van Franeker and colleagues who found that there are not enough known colonies to support the numbers of Antarctic Petrels they had counted at sea.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The Antarctic petrel (Thalassoica antarctica) has been identified as a key species for monitoring the status and health of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic ecosystems. Breeding colonies of the Antarctic petrel are often found on isolated nunataks far from inhabited stations, some up to hundreds of kilometers from the shoreline. It is difficult therefore to monitor and census known colonies, and it is believed that undiscovered breeding locations remain to be found. We developed an algorithm that can detect Antarctic petrel colonies and used it to complete a continent-wide survey using Landsat-8 Operational Line Imager (OLI) imagery in Antarctica up to the southernmost extent of Landsat's orbital view at 82.68°S. Our survey successfully identified 8 known Antarctic petrel colonies containing 86% of the known population of Antarctic petrels. The survey also identified what appears to be a significant population of breeding birds in areas not known to host breeding Antarctic petrel colonies. Our survey suggests that the breeding population at Mt. Biscoe (66°13′S 51°21′E), currently reported to be in the 1000s, may actually be on the order of 400,000 breeding pairs, which would make it the largest known Antarctic petrel breeding colony in the world. The algorithm represents a first-ever attempt to apply satellite remote sensing to assess the distribution and abundance of the Antarctic petrel on a continent-wide basis. As such, we note several algorithm shortcomings and identify research topics for algorithm improvement. Even with these caveats, our algorithm for identifying Antarctic petrel colonies with Landsat imagery demonstrates the feasibility of monitoring their populations using satellite remote sensing and identifies breeding locations, including Mt. Biscoe, that [sic] should be considered high priorities for validation with directed field surveys.”

Antarctic Petrel

References:

Schwaller, M.R., Lynch, H.J., Tarroux, A. & Brandon Prehn, B. 2018.  A continent-wide search for Antarctic petrel breeding sites with satellite remote sensing. Remote Sensing of Environment 210: 444-451.

van Franeker, J.A., Gavrilo, M., Mehlum, F., Veit, R.R. & Woehler, E.J. 1999. Distribution and abundance of the Antarctic Petrel.  Waterbirds: The International Journal of Waterbird Biology 22: 14-8.

Editorial note:  ACAP Latest News normally restricts its posts to news items on or related to the biology and conservation of the 31 species of ACAP-listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, as well as on non-listed species of shearwaters, of which a number are also at risk to longline fisheries (Cooper & Baker 2008).  News, including of scientific publications, on other species of procellariiforms may be followed on ACAP’s Facebook page.  Occasionally, however, an exception is made, such as this posting, deemed to be of high interest, covering a technique potentially of significance to the study of surface-nesting ACAP-listed species.

Cooper, J. & Baker, G.B. 2008. Identifying candidate species for inclusion within the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. Marine Ornithology 36: 1-8.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 April 2018