At least three Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis were killed, with their legs cut off and their bands removed, in the Kaena Point breeding colony in Oahu, Hawaii during the night of 27 December.

A mutilated Laysan Albatross corpse lies next to its egg, Photograph from Pacific Rim Conservation

The albatrosses in the Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve are protected by a predator-proof fence but this did not stop entrance being gained at night by an intruder (or intruders), who also broke 15 eggs of the 75 that were being incubated.  Missing banded birds at nest sites the next day where eggs were smashed may suggest more than three adults were killed. 

In addition, three trail cameras, a battery, two solar panels and the sound system that had been used to attract Black- footed Albatrosses P. nigripes to the area were stolen.  This equipment has a replacement value of US$ 3100.

Not all the trail cameras in the reserve were stolen and one captured the image depicted here of a person walking past it who was within 10 m of the destroyed albatross nests on the night of the intrusion.

Is this the miscreant?  The search is on, photograph from Pacific Rim Conservation

A reward of US$ 10 000 has been offered by the Conservation Council for Hawai'i, Pacific Rim Conservation and several individuals for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for the crime.

The Hawaiian Department of Land and Natural Resources is working with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service law enforcement office and the Honolulu Police Department on the investigation.  The three adult carcasses were taken for necropsy to the U.S. Geological Survey Honolulu office for a necropsy to identify the cause of death.

Read more here.

In 2009 what might have been a similar incident happened at a nearby colony of Laysan Albatrosses in the Kuaokala Game Management Area with breeding birds, chicks and eggs going missing without explanation (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 January 2016

All things must pass: the 54-month streak comes to an end

In the 10 years since 2006 when the Agreement’s website went live, its news section, known as ACAP Latest News, has published a total of 2376 short articles.  From June 2011 daily news items have been posted for four and a half years without breaks for weekends, holidays, field work on oceanic islands away from the Internet, ship journeys or international travel by air. Such an unbroken run is known colloquially as a “streak”.  ACAP Latest News has a hit counter so it is possible to see how many times a story has been read, or at least clicked and opened.  Using this it is has been noticed that articles posted over weekends tend to get fewer hits than those posted during the week.

From tomorrow, the streak comes to an end, so expect fewer items to be posted on weekends and holidays.  However, ACAP Latest News will continue to keep you informed of significant developments in the field of research and conservation of the 31 ACAP-listed species of albatrosses and petrels and their habitats, as well as of a selected group of other procellariiform seabirds – mainly shearwaters. The odd excursion will continue to be made to report on albatrosses and petrels in art: sculpture, paintings and poetry.  Book reviews and obituaries of seabird researchers and conservationists will also continue.

What’s been happening?  Searching ACAP Latest News

Over 2000 news stories make a useful research source when a search function is used.  For example, a quarter of them (631) feature scientific publications, with the paper’s abstract and reference included and with a link to the complete article.  A search reveals which are the most studied (and written-about) ACAP species.  The Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans scores highest (249 hits of which no less than 72 report on scientific papers), in contrast to the least reported, the relatively little-studied Campbell Albatross Thalassarche impavida (15 hits).

A Wandering Albatross tends its chick on Marion Island, photograph by Genevieve Jones

A newly installed search tool has an advanced search option that allows for tailored searches.  For example “Tristan Albatross D. dabbenena and mouse and mice” gets 33 hits, reflecting the serious conservation problem this Critically Endangered species faces on Gough Island where attacks by mice on downy chicks result in a very low breeding success every year.

A female Tristan Albatross incubates on Gough Island, photograph by John Cooper 

The new search tool also allows for bibliometric-type analyses.  For example, if 20% (20/102) of news items that mention the ACAP-listed Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus feature scientific publications, but only 13% (6/46) do for the recently listed Pink-footed Shearwater P. creatopus, could this suggest that there are studies on the latter species that remain unpublished?

And who are the most prolific authors of scientific papers published on ACAP species in the last 10 years?  It’s a tie at 55 featured each for Richard Phillips of the UK and Co-convenor of ACAP’s Population and Conservation Status Working Group and Henri Weimerskirch, Vice Co-convenor of the same group, from France.

Try out the new search function and see you all in the New Year!

With thanks to Jan Dabrowski of Web Monkey, Hobart, Australia for installing the improved search tool.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 31 December 2015

Kath Walker and Graeme Elliott of Albatross Research have produced a report for the December meeting of New Zealand Department of Conservation’s Conservation Services Programme that shows that since 2004 the population of ACAP-isted and Vulnerable Antipodean Albatrosses Diomedea antipodensis on Antipodes Island has been “on an alarmingly steady decline and it is now smaller than it was in 1994.  Furthermore throughout the period of this decline, the females have been declining at a faster rate (10% per annum) than the males (5%), and there is now a wildly skewed sex imbalance on the breeding grounds.”

Th authors recommend three research activities to ascertain reason(s) for the decline:

“1. The population monitoring needs to continue, and in a more detailed fashion.  We have been funding the monitoring since 2005 but are running out of resources.

2. Effort needs to be put into investigating changes in oceanic conditions that might be contributing to this decline.

3. Effort needs to be put into investigating fisheries by-catch of female Antipodean wandering albatrosses, both inside and outside the New Zealand EEZ.”

An Antipodean Albatross pair at the Antipodes Island, photograph by Colin O'Donnell

Reference:

Walker, K. & Elliott, G. 2015.  Antipodean Wandering Albatross decline.  Report prepared for Department of Conservation.  [Nelson]: Albatross Research.  2 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 December 2015

The Sooty Shearwater Puffinus (Ardenna) griseus is almost extinct on the mainland of New Zealand.  A small breeding group can be found near a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals Arctocephalus forsteri at Cape Foulwind on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island.  This colony, which is close to a walkway, is being monitored by the West Coast Penguin Trust.  A predator trap line helps to protect the shearwaters from Stoats Mustela erminea and taped calls are played through speakers to attract them.

On 21 December this year the trust carried out its annual check; 12 burrows were occupied by shearwaters with nine containing incubating birds, similar to the previous year’s census of 10 incubators.  “Unlike last year, virtually all other suitable burrows showed signs of recent use by shearwaters so although numbers breeding have not increased, the number of shearwaters visiting the colony have, which is very encouraging.”

In the hour after dusk between November and April the public can view Sooty Shearwaters circling overhead at Cape Foulwind from the walkway before the birds crash-land in the flax and enter their burrows.

Sooty Shearwater, photograph courtesy of the West Coast Penguin Trust

The West Coast Penguin Trust is a charitable trust that aims to conserve penguins and other threatened seabirds and their habitat on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island.  The Trust raises funds, conducts research and implements practical projects relating to penguins in particular, as well as to other birds subject to similar threats.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 December 2015