Auckland Island, the main island in the group at 510-km², along with Adams, Disappointment, Enderby and several other smaller islands, forms part of New Zealand’s Auckland Islands National Nature Reserve.

A view of Auckland Island, photograph by Pete McClelland

Carnley Harbour, in the south of Auckland Island, photograph by Pete McClelland

Cliffs, west coast, Auckland Island, photograph by Barry Baker

The island’s coastal vegetation includes Southern Rata Metrosideros umbellata and introduced Subantarctic Tree Daisy Olearia lyallii forest.  The inland habitats contain Hebe elliptica shrubland, Poa litorosa tussock grassland and fellfield along with flowering megaherbs such as the Campbell Island Daisy Pleurophyllum speciosum, Ross Lily Bulbinella rossii and Macquarie Island Cabbage Stilbocarpa polaris.

ACAP-listed species that have been reported breeding on the main Auckland Island are the Southern Royal Albatross Diomedea epomophora, (a few in the north in 1972/73) the Gibson’s subspecies of Antipodean Albatross D. antipodensis gibsoni, White-capped Albatross Thalassarche steadi (4741 (4603 - 4879) pairs estimated by aerial photography at South West Cape in 2014), Light-mantled Sooty Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata (in numbers on coastal cliffs around the island) and Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus (a small colony near South West Cape reported in 1972/73)  No definite record of breeding by White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis has as yet been found although the species does breed on some other islands in the group.

White-capped Albatrosses, South West Cape, Auckland Island, photograph by Pete McClelland

 A White-capped Albatross pair, South West Cape, Auckland Island, photograph by Barry Baker

Alien mammals that currently occur on the island are feral Domestic Pigs Sus scrofa domesticus, feral cats Felis catus and House Mice Mus musculus, the last apparently in surprisingly low densities, based on a recent trapping exercise (click here).  Feral Domestic Goats Capra aegagrus hircus previously occurred but were eradicated by 1992.  The pigs are known to prey upon the contents of albatross nests; recently c. 70 were shot from a helicopter as a feasibility exercise.

The island group is surrounded by the Auckland Islands/Motu Maha Marine Reserve that covers an area of c. 484 000 ha (click here).

An Auckland Island pig, photograph by Pete McClelland

Auckland Island falls within the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands World Heritage Site inscribed in 1998 which includes five island groups (Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, Bounty Islands, Campbell Island and the Snares Islands).  The island is also part of the proposed Auckland Islands Important Bird Area (IBA).

With thanks to Barry Baker, Pete McClelland, Kalinka Rexer-Huber and James Russell for information and photographs.

Selected Literature:

Baker, G.B., Jensz, K. & Cunningham, R. 2013.  White-capped Albatross Population Estimate — 2011/12 and 2012/13 Final Report.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  22 pp.

Baker, G.B., Jensz, K., Cunningham, R., Holdsworth, M. & Chilvers, B.L. 2015.  White-capped albatross aerial survey 2015 Draft Final Report.  Report prepared for Department of Conservation Contract 4625.  [Kettering]: Latitude 42 Environmental Consultants.  20 pp.

Bell, B.D. 1975.  Report on the birds of the Auckland Islands Expedition 1972-73.  In: Yaldwyn, J.C. (Ed.).  Preliminary Results of the Auckland Islands Expedition 1972-73. Wellington, Department of Lands and Survey.  pp. 136-142.

Dawson, E.W. 2012.  The Auckland Islands/Motu Maha/Maungahuka/subantarctic New Zealand: a working bibliography.  The Hutton Foundation New Zealand Special Papers No. 7.  Eastbourne; Hutton Press.  507 pp.

Department of Conservation 1998.  Conservation Management Strategy Subantarctic Islands 1998-2008.  Southland Conservancy Conservation Management Planning Series No. 10.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  113 pp.

Department of Conservation 2006.  Marine Protection for the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands: a Background Resource Document & CD ROM.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  48 pp.

Eden, A.W. 1955.  Islands of Despair.  Being an Account of a Survey Expedition to the sub-Antarctic Islands of New Zealand.  London: Andrew Melrose.  212 pp.

Fraser, C. 1986.  Beyond the Roaring Forties New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands.  Wellington:  Government Printing Office Publishing.  214 pp.

Peat, N. 2003.  Subantarctic New Zealand: a Rare Heritage.  Invercargill: Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai.  96 pp.

Robertson, C.J.R. 1975.  Report on the distribution, status and breeding biology of the Royal Albatross, Wandering Albatross and White-capped Mollymawk on the Auckland Islands.  In: Yaldwyn, J.C. (Ed.).  Preliminary Results of the Auckland Islands Expedition 1972-73. Wellington, Department of Lands and Survey.  pp. 143-151.

Russ, R. & Terauds, A. 2009.  Galapagos of the Antarctic: Wild Islands South of New Zealand.  Christchurch: Heritage Expeditions.  224 pp.

Taylor, G.A. 2000.  Action Plan for Seabird Conservation in New Zealand. Part A, Threatened Seabirds.  Threatened Species Occasional Publication No. 16.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  234 pp.

Thompson, D., Sagar, P., Torres, L. 2011.  Draft Final Report.  A population and distributional study of white-capped albatross (Auckland Islands).  Contract Number: POP 2005/02.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  xx pp.

Walker, K. & Elliott, G. 1999.  Population changes and biology of the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans gibsoni at the Auckland Islands.  Emu 99: 239-247.

West, C.J. 2003.  New Zealand Subantarctic Islands Research Strategy.  Invercargill: Department of Conservation.  38 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 December 2015

Mike Bell (Chatham Islands Taiko Trust, Chatham Islands, New Zealand) has published in the annual journal Sea Swallow of the Royal Naval Birdwatching Society on efforts to establish a new breeding colony of the ACAP-listed and Vulnerable Chatham Albatross Thalassarche eremita.

A total of 110 chicks was moved from the Pyramid, the species’ sole breeding site, to Point Gap on the main Chatham Island in 2014 and 2105.  All but six, affected by heat stress, have successfully fledged after hand feeding.  Plans exist to continue translocations for a further three breeding seasons.

Chatham Albatross pair, photograph by Graham Robertson 

Access past news about the translocation exercise here.

Reference:

Bell, M. 2015.  Establishing a new colony of Chatham Island Albatross in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.  Sea Swallow 64: 4-8.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 December 2015

The Ninth Meeting of the ACAP Advisory Committee (AC9) and the preceding Working Group meetings will be held at the beach-side Hotel Club La Serena, Avenida del Mar 1000, La Serena, Region de Coquimbo, Chile over 2-13 May 2016.  La Serena is a coastal town 470 km north of Santiago, the capital of Chile.

.

Hotel Club La Serena

The Seventh Meeting of the Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG7) will be held from Monday, 2 May to Wednesday, 4 May 2016.  The Third Meeting of the Population and Conservation Status Working Group (PaCSWG3) will be held from Thursday, 5 May to Friday, 6 May 2016.  AC9 will be held from Monday 9 to Friday 13 May 2016.

Pink-footed Shearwater, breeding endemic to Chile, and ACAP's most recently-listed species, Photograph by Peter Hodum

See Circular No. 2 for more details on the Chile meetings.  Further information on the transfer services, social events and other logistical arrangements will be provided in AC9 Meeting Circular No. 3.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 8 December 2015

The corpse of a Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi collected on the coast near Wellington, New Zealand last month had swallowed an entire Seal Shark Dalatias licha, with parts of the shark protruding from the bird’s body.

A shortened account of the incident by Alan Tennyson of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa follows:

“In the lab we were astounded to see a shark’s tail protruding from its neck.  When we cut the dead bird open we found that the shark was intact and reached the entire length of the bird’s body cavity!  The shark was completely undigested – no doubt it had been protected by its tough, sandpaper-like skin – and we speculate that the bird choked on the fish."

The shark’s tail protrudes through a hole in the albatross’ neck

Northern Royal Albatross and Seal Shark after separation

Photographs by Alan Tennyson

"This was no ordinary looking shark – it was a seal shark, a worldwide species with a particularly vicious set of teeth distributed in a circular arrangement in its jaws.  It uses these teeth for bandsawing chunks out of creatures as big as whales.  We looked inside the shark’s gut also but there was no evidence that it had been eating the albatross from the inside.

As seal sharks are a deep water species, we suspect that the hungry bird gulped down the shark which it found as waste from a trawler, and thus both bird and shark met an untimely end.”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 December 2015