ACAP Latest News has regularly reported on the parlous state of Tristan Albatrosses Diomedea dabbenena on Gough Island in the South Atlantic whose downy chicks are attacked and killed by introduced House Mice Mus musculus every year, leading to a low and non-sustainable breeding success (click here).  More recently such behaviour has been reported for mice on sub-Antarctic Marion Island where four species of albatrosses are at risk (click here).

News is now in that similar attacks, this time on incubating Laysan Phoebastria immutabilis and Black-footed P. nigripes Albatrosses in the Northern Hemisphere, are taking place on the USA’ s Midway Atoll.

Laysan Albatross pair, photograph by James Lloyd

The press release from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is reproduced here in its entirety.

“Scientists Document Non-native Mice Attacking Nesting Albatrosses at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

Amongst the more than 480,000 nests of the world’s largest albatross colony, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and volunteers recently discovered house mice attacking adult nesting Laysan and black-footed albatrosses at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, part of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.  Mice attacks have been documented at other islands, on other seabirds, but never at Midway on the large albatrosses. An albatross stands almost three feet tall with a wingspan of more than six feet and has a deeply ingrained drive to steadfastly incubate its egg through adversity.  This evolutionary strategy is successful for withstanding fierce north-Pacific winter weather and aggressive neighboring birds, but leaves the albatross extremely vulnerable to non-native, predatory rodents.  As Midway’s albatrosses faithfully incubate, many are now being bitten and preyed upon by non-native mice during the night – causing debilitating injuries and often death.

This phenomenon was first observed at the end of December 2015 when Refuge scientists and volunteers found open wounds on the backs, necks, and heads of nesting albatrosses in a small area on Sand Island, Midway Atoll.  Using automatic cameras, live traps, and laboratory examination of bite marks on mortally-wounded birds; scientists rapidly identified the cause of the injuries as attacking non-native house mice. Since then, more than 300 nesting adult albatrosses are known to have been attacked and the mouse aggression has spread to 2 additional areas in the seabird colony.  Forty-eight bitten birds are known to have died and at least 46 nests have been abandoned. Death is believed to come from infection in the open wounds, as well as severe stress to the birds as mice chew at them persistently throughout the night. “Wisdom”, the world’s oldest known wild bird, is nesting roughly ¾ of a mile away, far from the mice-attack zones.

“The Service is working against the clock to determine how many birds have been attacked, what the rate of spread is, and how to stop the attacks,” reported Bob Peyton, Manager of Midway Atoll Refuge. “Albatrosses lay only one egg a season and those eggs are hatching now. Our short-term objective is to eliminate mouse predation on the albatrosses before other mice learn this behavior and attack and kill more adults and chicks.”

House mice (Mus musculus) are not native to Midway Atoll and were inadvertently introduced to the atoll decades ago.  Mice coexisted amongst the millions of seabirds that nest on the ground, in burrows, and in trees at Midway without obvious conflict most years. Refuge managers and scientists are uncertain what created the current dramatic and grisly change in mouse behavior but ground-nesting seabirds have not evolved behaviors to protect themselves from rodent predation.

“I have been working in the Pacific for over 25 years and this is an entirely new and debilitating phenomenon that I haven’t witnessed before,” noted Dr. Thierry Work a Wildlife Disease Specialist from the U.S. Geological Survey Wildlife Health Center.

Refuge managers are working with a team of rodent control and wildlife experts to develop and deploy strategies to suppress mouse population levels in order to stop the attacks or minimize their incidence.  With thousands of albatross chicks hatching out of their eggs daily on Midway over the next month, the Service and partners are determined to preserve and maintain suitable predator-free habitat where albatross parents can adequately protect and raise their chicks.”

Albatross eggs are hatching now in the Northern Hemisphere.  It remains to be seen if the Midway mice will switch to attacking chicks during the brood and guard stages, and once they are left on their own, as happens on Gough and Marion.

With thanks to Peter Ryan for the link.

Selected References:

Davies, D., Dilley, B.J., Bond, A.L., Cuthbert, R.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2015.  Trends and tactics of mouse predation on Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena chicks at Gough Island, South Atlantic Ocean.  Avian Conservation and Ecology 10(1): 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ACE-00738-100105.

Dilley, B.J., Schoombie, S., Schoombie, J. & Ryan, P.G. 2015.  ‘Scalping’ of albatross fledglings by introduced mice spreads rapidly at Marion Island.  Antarctic Science doi.org/10.1017/S0954102015000486.

Kepler, C.B. 1967.  Polynesian Rat predation on nesting Laysan Albatrosses and other Pacific seabirds.  The Auk 84: 426-430.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 February 2016

ACAP Latest News has reported on progress with an innovative attempt to establish a new breeding colony of Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis on the Hawaiian island of Oahu by artificially incubating eggs from Kauai, then hand-rearing the chicks to fledging (click here).

A candled Laysan Albatross egg ready for artifical incubation, photograph from Pacific Rim Conservation

In the first year of the translocation project 10 hand-reared birds successfully fledged from the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge.   The second year of the project is now underway and at last available report from Pacific Rim Conservation which is leading the exercise five eggs have already hatched, with another 31 close to hatching.  As in the previous season the chicks will be hand-reared at the refuge.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 February 2016

The following press release from United States Congressman Alan Lowenthal was received by ACAP from Hannah Nevins of the American Bird Conservancy yesterday.

Dancing Black-footed Albatrosses on Midway Atoll. Laysans behind.  Photograph by Pete Leary

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 4, 2016) – Congressman Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) today introduced new legislation that will protect imperiled seabirds from international fishing threats and increase ongoing conservation efforts in the United States and abroad.

The Albatross and Petrel Conservation Act would implement the international Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), a conservation agreement that has been signed by thirteen member countries since 2001.  President George W. Bush first asked the U.S. Senate to ratify the agreement in 2008, and while President Barack Obama has listed it as a priority, the Senate has yet to take action.

“By signing and implementing the ACAP agreement, the U.S. can urge other nations to adopt strong conservation standards and can take steps to ensure that foreign fishing vessels follow international conservation measures that protect endangered seabirds,” Congressman Lowenthal said.  “I hope that my legislation will get the ball rolling because this is a golden opportunity for the United States to improve wildlife conservation not just here at home, but around the world.”

Many albatross and petrel species are among the most threatened seabirds in the world because of habitat loss and fisheries bycatch (unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing for a different species), but the U.S. has been a leader in reducing fisheries bycatch.

Congressman Lowenthal’s bill ties together existing U.S. laws and statutes without substantially changing current laws in order to implement the international agreement.

“This legislation will give the U.S. more international influence to protect these endangered sea birds around the world by authorizing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service to implement fisheries conservation measures, increase international fisheries enforcement, restore habitat, reduce non-native species, develop educational programs, and cooperate internationally,” Congressman Lowenthal said.

This legislation is cosponsored by Reps. Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Bill Keating (MA-09), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), and Pedro Pierluisi (PR).

“Hook, line and sinker is literally how hundreds of thousands of seabirds die every year,” National Audubon Society president and CEO David Yarnold said.  “With more than half of the world’s albatross and petrel species facing extinction, it’s time to protect these incredible birds from such needless deaths.  This legislation makes sense for birds and makes sense for people, and we call on members of Congress to get it across the finish line.”

American Bird Conservancy Vice President Darin Schroeder added, "ACAP is the foremost international agreement bringing countries together to reduce threats and ensure the future existence of highly imperiled albatrosses and petrels, and so we wish to thank Congressman Lowenthal for his leadership in introducing this important legislation.  The U.S. is a global leader in seabird conservation and our membership in this international agreement will help encourage best practices to reduce accidental take of albatrosses and petrels by other nations - often ones supplying fish to U.S. consumers.  This will help ensure a level playing field in environmental compliance for all fisheries, as well as reassurance for American consumers who are concerned about the sustainability of the fish they are purchasing."

With thanks to Hannah Nevins.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 January 2016

Peter Ryan (FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa) and colleagues have a paper in press with Marine Pollution Bulletin that reports on plastics ingested by 868 albatrosses killed on longlines off South Africa.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“We provide data on regional differences in plastic ingestion for two Southern Ocean top predators: Arctocephalus fur seals and albatrosses (Diomedeidae).  Fur seals breeding on Macquarie Island in the 1990s excreted small (mainly 2–5 mm) plastic fragments, probably derived secondarily from myctophid fish.  No plastic was found in the scats of these seals breeding on three islands in the southwest Indian and central South Atlantic Oceans, despite myctophids dominating their diets at these locations.  Compared to recent reports of plastic ingestion by albatrosses off the east coast of South America, we confirm that plastic is seldom found in the stomachs of Thalassarche albatrosses off South Africa, but found no Diomedea albatrosses to contain plastic, compared to 26% off South America.  The reasons for such regional differences are unclear, but emphasize the importance of reporting negative as well as positive records of plastic ingestion by marine biota.”

Black-browed Albatrosses by Graham Robertson

Reference:

Ryan, P.G., de Bruyn, P.J.N. & Bester, M.N. 2016.  Regional differences in plastic ingestion among Southern Ocean fur seals and albatrosses.  Marine Pollution Bulletin doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.01.032.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 February 2016