“Wisdom and her mate talk to their newly laid egg"

ACAP Latest News has reported many times over the years on the fortunes of Wisdom, the 70-something Laysan Albatross Phoebastrai immutabilis – and the world’s oldest known wild bird – on her home of Midway Atoll (click here). She is now reported by the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge as being back on Midway’s Sand Island, sighted near her usual nest site on 26 November, with a new mate incubating an egg for the new 2024/2025 season.

“The oldest known banded bird in the wild, a Mōlī or Laysan albatross known as Wisdom and who is at least 74 years old, has once again mystified biologists.  Being able to reproduce and develop an egg, much less survive at sea and rear at least 30 chicks during her 74+ years defies logic and is truly remarkable.  She is more than a symbol of hope and resilience, she also helps scientists better understand how to fully support such long lived and majestic seabirds.  Enjoy the affectionate moments as Wisdom (band number Z333) and her mate welcome their offspring into the world.  All images were captured by photographer and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Volunteer Dan Rapp and were made possible to share with [the] world because of the members and donors of the Friends of Midway Atoll.”

“Wisdom's mate positions himself in preparation for the first incubation of their newly laid egg.  Soon after Wisdom departs out to sea to rest, feed and recuperate”

“Wisdom's journey over more than seven decades continues to inspire thousands of people around the world with hope for the thriving success of not just her species, but countless other species thanks to the driven workers, volunteers, and agencies devoted to bringing balance to natural places around our planet [Pacific Islands: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]”.

A personal note:  As a septuagenarian myself and having visited Midway Atoll back in 2000 as part of the Second International Conference on the Biology and Conservation of Albatrosses and other Petrels held in Honolulu, I feel a special affinity for Wisdom.  After all, I always wear on my wrist a replica of her red colour band Z333!

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 29 November 2024

Traps equipped with SmartTrap technology await deployment next to a White-chinned Petrel artificial burrow on New Island

Vulnerable White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis breed in very small numbers on New Island in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)* as recently reported in ACAP Latest News.  Prior to an attempt by the New Island Restoration Project (NIRP) to eradicate the island’s rodents and feral cats, efforts have been made to protect the colony by installing artificial burrows.  Further on-site protection now comes from the use of SmartTrap technology (a biosecurity wireless monitoring system), as the NIRP reports on its Facebook page.

Sending a message: part of the ‘SmartTrap’ set up on New Island

“We've just installed brand-new ‘smart traps’ at the White-chinned Petrel colony here on New Island.  These traps are a game-changer in our mission to protect this small and vulnerable colony, which is on the brink of local extinction and is threatened by predation from invasive mammals.

Equipped with advanced technology from Econode New Zealand, these traps send instant notifications when triggered, allowing us to respond quickly and efficiently.  This will improve the chances of White-chinned Petrels successfully raising chicks through to fledging.

A huge thank you to Biodiversity Challenge Funds for funding the purchase of this equipment and supporting our efforts to conserve New Island's unique biodiversity.”

After dark: a White-chinned Petrel at the mouth of its artificial burrow on New Island

Reference:

Reid, T., Lecoq, M, & Catry, P. 2007.  The White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis population of the Falkland Islands.  Marine Ornithology 35: 57-60.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 28 November 2024

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

 A view of Lord Howe Island, photograph by Ian Hutton

Lord Howe Island is a World Heritage natural property situated some 600 km off the coast of New South Wales, Australia, in the Tasman Sea.  In 2019 the Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project saw the end of the island's introdiced rodents (click here).  Now five years on the island is blossoming with rediscoveries and recoveries of birds (such as the Black-winged Petrel Pterodroma nigripennis and Providence Petrel P. solandri), invertebrates and plants, many endemic to the island, as described and illustrated in a recent online article.

27 November 2024

The graphical abstract from the paper. 

Jamie Darby (School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Current Biology on the impact of extreme weather on the foraging success of albatrosses.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Knowledge of how animals respond to weather and changes in their physical environment is increasingly important, given the higher frequency of extreme weather recorded in recent years and its forecasted increase globally.^1,2 Even species considered to be highly adapted to extremes of weather, as albatrosses are to strong winds,^3,4,5 may be disadvantaged by shifts in those extremes. Tracked albatrosses were shown recently to avoid storms and the strongest associated winds.⁶ The drivers of this response are so far unknown, though we hypothesize that turbulent storm conditions restrict foraging success, possibly by reducing the detectability or accessibility of food, and albatrosses divert toward more profitable conditions where possible. We tested the impact of the physical environment—wind speed, rainfall, water clarity, and time of day—on feeding activity and success of two species of albatrosses with contrasting foraging strategies. We tracked 33 wandering and 48 black-browed albatrosses from Bird Island (South Georgia) with GPS and immersion loggers, and 19 and 7 individuals, respectively, with stomach-temperature loggers to record ingestions, providing an in-depth picture of foraging behavior. Reduced foraging profitability (probability of prey capture and overall mass) was associated with stormy conditions, specifically strong winds and heavy rain in surface-seizing wandering albatrosses, and the probability of prey capture was reduced in strong winds in black-browed albatrosses. We show that even highly wind-adapted species may frequently encounter conditions that make foraging difficult, giving context to storm avoidance in albatrosses.”

Reference:

Darby, J., Phillips, R.A., Weimerskirch, H., Wakefield, E.D., Xavier, J.X., Pereira, J.M., Patrick, S.C. Strong winds reduce foraging success in albatrosses, Current Biology, 2024, ISSN 0960-9822, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.018

A video abstract has also been produced for this paper and can be viewed at the link to the paper above.

26 November 2024