Doğa, the partner of BirdLife International in Turkey, reported on its website and Facebook page yesterday of Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwaters Puffinus yelkouan being caught by Istanbul recreational fishers by rod and by hand line with “tens of individuals” being caught from the shoreline over the last two days (click here for stills and video clips of the incident). The NGO and other volunteers have been working with the fishers to disentangle the hooked birds and release those still alive.  For the last five days, tens of thousands of Yelkouan Shearwaters have been observed foraging in the centre of Istanbul.

Despite the regular passage migration of Yelkouan Shearwaters through the Bosphorus and past Istanbul (click here) this is the first time birds have been observed to be caught in this manner. Fortunately Doğa has further reported that the “massacre” has ended. “The hand-line fishing in Arnavutköy was stopped by municipal police officers of Beşiktaş Municipality. Many thanks to all bird watchers and nature lovers to make this success happen”. It seems from posted photographs that the municipal police confiscated the fishing equipment being used (click here).

This seems to be a novel threat faced by Yelkouan Shearwaters and perhaps by all procellariiforms. It seems likely that it will remain a rare event given that tubenose seabirds tend to be pelagic by nature, often foraging out of the sight of land, let alone within casting distance of recreational fishers on the sea’s shoreline*.

The Yelkouan Shearwater has been identified as a potential candidate for listing within the Albatross and Petrel Agreement.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 April 2018

*However, I have observed Fluttering Shearwaters P. gavia (Least Concern) foraging immediately next to wooden piers on Wellington’s harbour shoreline in New Zealand.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 April 2018

The studentship, now calling for proposals for a second year, is funded by the John and Pat Warham Scholarship Fund, a legacy left to the British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) by the late John and Pat Warham and aims to provide training to PhD level in research on any aspect of the biology or ecology of Sphenisciformes (penguins )and Procellariiformes (tubenoses) by citizens of Commonwealth countries and who are also members of the BOU.

One 3.5-year studentship will be awarded a year from 2018. However, if more than one exceptional application is received two awards may be made in one year. Successful proposals will combine the development of skills useful for a future career in ornithology with a sound scientific research proposal.

John Warham (1919-2010) was one of the pioneers in conducting field research on mainly New Zealand albatrosses and petrels as well as on penguins, publishing two important books on the former group at the end of his long career (click here to read his obituary in ACAP Latest News). His wife Pat helped with field work in their early years together.

The late John Warham

Kirsty Franklin is the first BOU John & Pat Warham Student, awarded this year to study towards her PhD the ‘Round Island petrel’, a hybrid Pterodroma gadfly petrel that breeds only on Round Island in the Indian Ocean. (click here).

Proposals must be submitted by 30 June 2018. Read more on the studentship and how to apply here.

Selected literature:

 Warham, J. 1990. The Petrels: their Ecology and Breeding Systems. London & San Diego: Academic Press. 440 pp.

Warham, J. 1996. The Behaviour, Population Ecology and Physiology of the Petrels. London & San Diego: Academic Press. 613 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 April 2018

A total of 282 globally Vulnerable and New Zealand endemic Chatham Albatross Thalassarche eremita chicks has been translocated by the Chatham Islands Taiko Trust from the Pyramid, the species’ sole breeding site, to Point Gap on the main Chatham Island over the last five years in an effort to establish a new breeding colony. The colour-banded chicks were hand fed on fish and squid in the presence of adult decoys and a sound system until they fledged. The last chick of the year-five cohort of 55 who survived out of 60 collected fledged last week. Five chicks were lost to heat stress despite being hosed down on hot, calm days.

According to the Trust’s Facebook page “Over the five seasons 262 chicks [out of 282 collected; 92.9%] have fledged from Point Gap. To achieve this has taken about 18 tonnes of fish and squid and over 14,000 hours of volunteer time! Now, we await the birds return, and hope that they remember their new home, and come back to Point Gap to breed.” One colour-banded bird has already been photographed off South America (click here). “Hopefully the chicks from the first year will start coming back next season.”

The decoys and sound system will be left in place at Point Gap to help attract albatrosses to the site - which will be monitored for returning hand-reared as well as for wild birds. Visits to the Pyramid will also be made to look for any translocated birds that might have returned there instead.

Translocated Chatham Albatross chicks on their bucket nests among adult decoys at Point Gap, photograph from the Chatham Islands Taiko Trust

The project has been supported by funding from The Rata Foundation, Lotteries Grant Board, BirdLife International and The Ornithological Society of New Zealand, along with a number of other organizations and individuals. To read more ALN postings on the project over the last five years click here.

With thanks to the Chatham Islands Taiko Trust.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 April 2018

Thomas Clay (British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom) and colleagues have published early view in the journal Functional Ecology on the effects of senescence on foraging and breeding in Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“1. Senescence has been widely documented in wild vertebrate populations, yet the proximate drivers of age‐related declines in breeding success, including allocation trade‐offs and links with foraging performance, are poorly understood. For long‐lived, migratory species, the non‐breeding period represents a critical time for investment in self‐maintenance and restoration of body condition, which in many species is linked to fitness. However, the relationships between age, non‐breeding foraging behaviour and fitness remain largely unexplored.

2. We performed a cross‐sectional study, investigating age‐related variation in the foraging activity, distribution and diet of an extremely long‐lived seabird, the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, during the non‐breeding period. Eighty‐two adults aged 8 – 33 years were tracked with geolocator‐immersion loggers, and body feathers were sampled for stable isotope analysis. We tested for variation in metrics of foraging behaviour, and linked age‐related trends to subsequent reproductive performance.

3. There was an age‐related decline in the number of landings (a proxy of foraging effort) during daylight hours, and a decrease in body feather δ¹³C values in older males but not females, yet this did not accompany an age‐related shift in distributions. Males conducted fewer landings than females, and the sexes showed some spatial segregation, with males foraging further south, likely due to their differential utilization of winds.

4. Although younger (< 20 years) birds had higher foraging effort, they all went on to breed successfully the following season. In contrast, among older (20+ years) birds, individuals that landed more often were more likely to defer breeding or fail during incubation, suggesting they have lower foraging success.

5. As far as we are aware, this is the first demonstration of an age‐specific carry‐over effect of foraging behaviour in the non‐breeding period on subsequent reproductive performance. This link between foraging behaviour and fitness in late but not early adulthood indicates that the ability of individuals to forage efficiently outside the breeding period may be an important driver of fitness differences in old age.”

Wandering Albatross, photograph by John Chardine

With thanks to Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Clay, T.C., Pearmain, E.J., McGill, R.A.R., Manica, A. & Phillips, R.A. 2018.  Age-related variation in non-breeding foraging behaviour and carry-over effects on fitness in an extremely long-lived bird. Functional Ecology doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13120.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 April 2018