Greg Yost holds the waterlogged Laysan Albatross rescued at sea; photograph by Howie Grene

On 26 December last year a Laysan Albatross or Mōlī Phoebastria immutabilis was found waterlogged and struggling at sea about 2.5 km offshore from the Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (KPNWR) on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

The following edited account is taken from the Save our Shearwaters website:

“It was probably only a matter of minutes or hours before the albatross drowned,” said Howie Grene, one of the bird’s rescuers, “the wings were all out as he tried to keep himself afloat, his head was just barely above water and his body was submerged.”  The rescuers were able to safely capture the albatross and bring it (gender unconfirmed, suspected female) to Kaiakea Fire Station, where Save Our Shearwaters (SOS) staff collected the bird.  Its numbered leg band allowed it to be identified as an active nester, last seen incubating on 22 December within the wildlife refuge.

ANP081 sinks in SOS's conditioning pool due to its contaminated plumage; photograph by Amanda Parrish

Upon arrival at SOS, the albatross was assigned the patient ID number ANP081 and received a full examination.  It was noted that its plumage was covered in a light-yellow contaminant.  It was placed in SOS’s conditioning pool, where water quickly penetrated through the bird’s feathers all the way to the skin.

“It is vital that pelagic birds such as mōlī are completely waterproof prior to release,” said Jacqueline Nelson, Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager for SOS, “otherwise, water can reach their skin causing them to become hypothermic or have difficulty taking flight off the water and foraging for food.”

SOS staff wash ANP081 to remove contaminants from its feathers; photograph by Keane Sammon

As this patient was an active nester, time was of the essence to get it back into the wild as quickly as possible.  Trained SOS staff completed an extensive wash procedure to remove any contaminants from ANP081’s plumage.  The bird spent two additional days at the rehabilitation facility, where staff monitored buoyancy and checked to ensure its feathers remained dry while pooling.  After passing its final waterproofing and health evaluations, the bird was released successfully at Anahola Beach on 2 January.

ANP081 on Anahola Beach prior to taking off toward the sea; photograph by Jacqueline Nelson

On 7 January, KPNWR reported on their Facebook page that 64 mōlī eggs were crushed or eaten by pigs on Nihokū beginning on 22 December (click here).  KPNWR confirmed that ANP081’s nest was one of the ones that had been depredated by a pig.  This depredation event is suspected to be the cause of ANP081’s waterproofing issues because the yolk from its destroyed egg would explain the light-yellow substance found on its feathers.

US Fish and Wildlife Service staff, in coordination with Pacific Rim Conservation, have been working to finish expanding their predator-resistant fencing to encompass the area where these mōlī nests are located.  The fence is scheduled to be completed in just a few months (click here).

Heather Abbey-Tonneson, Refuge Complex Manager for KPNWR stated, "In addition to SOS, our partnerships with Pacific Rim Conservation, Pono Pacific, State of Hawai`i Department of Land and Natural Resources, Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project, and American Bird Conservation [sic] on our nearly 2-mile [c. 3 km] predator-resistant perimeter fence will protect mōlī and other species on 168 acres. [68 ha].”

John Cooper, Emeritus ACAP Information Officer, 03 February 2023

The ‘WAD2023’ logo in Japanese

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement inaugurated World Albatross Day in 2020, to be celebrated annually on 19 June, this being the date the Agreement was signed in 2001.  For 2023 ACAP has chosen “Plastic Pollution” as its theme to mark the day.

Since 2020, ACAP has advertised World Albatross Day by producing logos in the three ACAP official languages of English, French and Spanish.  Additionally. a Portuguese version has also been released, given that Brazil, where that language is spoken, is a Party to the Agreement.

Noting that many high-seas fishing vessels, including tuna longliners, that fish in southern hemisphere waters where ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels occur, have their home ports in Asia, ACAP has now produced five new ‘WAD2023’ logos in Indonesian, Japanese, Korean and in Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

WAD2023 logo in Simplified (left) and Traditional (right) Chinese

WAD2023 logo in Indonesian (left) and Korean (right)

All nine ‘WAD2023 logo versions may be freely downloaded here.

In 2024 consideration will be given to adding more languages to the suite of nine World .Albatross Day logos in order to increase the Agreement’s outreach to high-seas fishing fleets around the world.

With thanks to Geoffry Tyler for logo design and to Woei-horng Fang, Vivian Fu, Yuna Kim, Fransisca Noni, Scott Pursner, Yasuko Suzuki and Yat-Tung Yu for providing and advising on translations.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 02 February 2023

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is recruiting for the role of Executive Secretary. The IWC is an intergovernmental organisation responsible for the conservation of whales and management of whaling. Established in 1946 and with a current membership of 88 governments across the globe, the role of the Executive Secretary entails coordinating the interests of all member Governments.

The Executive Secretary is the Head of the Commission’s Secretariat and is responsible for the effective management of the Secretariat and the delivery of its programme of work. 

The  IWC describes the role as follows, 

The Executive Secretary leads the IWC Secretariat and is responsible for overseeing and facilitating a wide range of global science and conservation initiatives including on bycatch, entanglement, marine pollution, climate change, vessel collisions, cetacean strandings and regulation of aboriginal subsistence whaling. As one of the IWC’s figureheads, this role is responsible for building and maintaining multi-disciplinary collaborations on a global stage.  

The deadline for applications is 17:00 UK time on 15 March 2023. Interviews will take place in May/June 2023 and will be conducted in English. Further information about the role, including the position description (available also in French and Spanish) can be found at the IWC website. 

1 February 2023

The female rises on a two-egg clutch on 23 January, photograph by Thando Cebekhulu

During a “Round Island” survey of breeding globally Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans on Marion Island, a nest containing two eggs was found on the west coast close to Chess Castle Beach, between Kaalkoppie and Kampkoppie on 23 January 2022.  A timeline of follow-up visits to the nest follows.

23 January 2022 - female incubating two eggs
6 February 2022- male incubating two eggs
26 February 2022 - female incubating one egg with a few small pieces of dry eggshell around the nest
29 April 2022 - downy chick with male next to the nest
Late October 2022 - chick reported as “doing well”
20 December 2022 - chick absent, presumed fledged

The genders of the attending adults were deduced from observation and photographs.

Tight fit? The male Wanderer incubating two eggs on 6 February, photograph by Eleanor Weideman

The female on a single egg with eggshell chips visible on 26 February 2022, photograph by Eleanor Weideman

Two-egg clutches in Wandering Albatrosses have been very  rarely recorded (<0.02%) on Bird Island in the South Atlantic, but not previously on Marion Island, despite now over 10 000 breeding attempts having been checked over the years, according to a 2007 scientific publication by Peter Ryan and others (see reference below).  The double- clutch record described here is thus a first for the island.  The authors consider that all double-clutch nests in albatrosses are due to laying by two females, never by a single bird laying two eggs.  Photographs of the adult birds suggest only two were involved in incubation and chick rearing, although this cannot be confirmed as the birds were not banded.

 
The male beside its chick on 29 April, with a large piece of eggshell visible, photograph by Eleanor Weideman

Read about a double clutch in an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos nest on Gough Island where both eggs hatched here.

With thanks to Thando Cebekhulu, Lucy Smyth and Eleanor Weideman for their observations and photographs, and to Maëlle Connan for facilitating communications with the island.

Reference:

Ryan, P.G., Cuthbert, R. & Cooper, J. 2007.  Two-egg clutches among albatrosses.  Emu 107: 210-213.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 31 January 2023, updated 02 February 2023