The Wandering Albatross at a marked nest on Bird Island, with a rusted longline hook through its upper mandible prior to removal; photograph from Erin Taylor

Erin Taylor (Zoological Field Assistant, British Antarctic Survey on Bird Island in the South Atlantic) writes on the Facebook page of the Albatross Task Force this month: “Just over four months ago, the team on Bird Island removed a hook from this Wandering Albatross’ bill.  Today, the adult is successfully raising a strong chick [see below] who is beginning to show some juvenile plumage!”

Following an approach by ACAP Latest News, Erin replies that “The bird in question is a female with the band number 5147573.  She was banded in 1993 as a juvenile and has bred with the same partner (5147784) 11 times since their first attempt in 2002. They have raised eight successful chicks together in Bird Sound. The chick had already hatched when the entanglement was discovered and has grown at a rate consistent with the other chicks being fed by two parents.  The hook removal was simple as it had passed through the hard part of the mandible so all we had to do was chop the hooked tip off with bolt cutters in order to get it back through the hole, the wound was then disinfected.  The bird only has a metal band as it nests in Bird Sound, not on in the Wanderer Ridge study colony. but all the Wanderers are counted across the whole island once a month from April.”

Definitely well fed!  The hooked Wanderer’s chick; photograph from Erin Taylor

This is not the first time attempts have been made this season to remove fishing hooks from Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans on Bird Island.  The previous entanglement was on 16 December 2021 and also involved a female (band no. 4003232) that fledged in 2008. She has bred twice on the island, with two different partners, being successful on her 2nd attempt. Both hooks removed this season had the same lime green multifilament line attached, so it is highly likely the birds were caught alive and released on the same fishing vessel.

The Wandering Albatross found hooked on Bird Island in December 2021; photographs by James Crymble

 
A hooked Tristan Albatross on Gough Island, photograph by Kate Lawrence

The Wanderer is not the only great albatross that succumbs to longline hooks.  The picture above is of a Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross D. dabbenena in a study colony on Gough Island with a hook in its neck.  A hooked Tristan Albatross caught at sea did not survive, despite having the longline hook removed (click here).  .  Another great albatross, the Endangered Antipodean D. antipodensis, in this case identified as from the Gibson’s subspecies (photo below), is not immune from being hooked, as another ALN account reveals, this time with a successful result.

Removing the hook from the Gibson’s Antipodean Albatross, photograph by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment

Richard Phillips of the British Antarctic Survey writes to ALN: “Live captures of seabirds are unfortunately very frequent, accounting for a mean of 40% and 11% of all bycaught birds in demersal and pelagic longline fisheries, respectively.  How often this affects individual species depends on both the degree of overlap with different fisheries and the level of interaction with gear during hauling.   In the one study to date that has examined survival of live-caught albatrosses once released, this was around 40% of that expected for the wider population. The level of monitoring of live captures is poor in many fisheries and the potentially major impacts on survival need to be taken into much better account in ecological risk assessments on the impacts of fisheries on seabirds.”

With thanks to Erin Taylor.

References:

Phillips, R.A., Ridley, C., Reid, K., Pugh, P.J.A., Tuck, G.N. & Harrison, N. 2010.  Ingestion of fishing gear and entanglements of seabirds: monitoring and implications for management.  Biological Conservation 143: 501-512. (ALN account).

Phillips, R.A. & Wood, A.G. 2020.  Variation in live-capture rates of albatrosses and petrels in fisheries, post-release survival and implications for management. Biological Conservation 247, 108641. (ALN account)

Whylie, B. 2010.  One albatross of the hook.  The Albatross 45: 7-8.

John Cooper, ACAP News Correspondent, & Richard Phillips, Higher Predators and Conservation Group, British Antarctic Survey, 27 September 2022

A Fairy Prion flys by at sea; photograph by Peter Ryan

Jennifer Lavers (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia) and colleagues have published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin on ingested plastics and body condition in wrecked Fairy Prions Pachyptila turtur.

ACAP has recently announced “Plastic Pollution” as the theme for 2023’s World Albatross Day (WAD2023). Although Fairy Prions are not an ACAP-listed species, ACAP will be highlighting all papers and news items relating to the WAD2023 theme beyond its listed species to all procellariiforms leading up to the event.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Plastic is an omnipresent pollutant in marine ecosystems and is widely documented to be ingested among seabird species. Procellariiformes are particularly vulnerable to plastic ingestion, which can cause internal damage, starvation, and occasionally mortality. In this study, 34 fledgling Fairy Prions (Pachyptila turtur) recovered during a wreck event in south-eastern Tasmania in 2022 were examined for ingested plastics and body condition (e.g., wing chord length). While many of the birds exhibited poor body condition, this was not correlated with the count or mass of ingested plastics. We hypothesise the marine heatwave event, and resulting lack of prey, contributed to bird body condition and subsequent mortality. We provide some of the first data on the size of individual plastic particles ingested by seabirds and make recommendations for future studies to report this important metric in a consistent manner that ensures data are comparable.”

REFERENCE

Lavers, J.L., de Jersey, A.M., Jones, N.R., Stewart, L.G., Charlton-Howard, H.S., Grant, M.L. & Woehler, E.J. 2022.  Ingested plastics in beach-washed Fairy Prions Pachyptila turtur from Tasmania. Marine Pollution Bulletin 184https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114096

26 September 2022

Northern Royal Albatross, OL (Orange/Lime), comes in to land at Taiaroa Head, heralding the new season for the world's only mainland breeding colony; a still photograph taken from RoyalCam

The tradition of ringing in the return of Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi to Dunedin continued this year with the city’s bells chiming yesterday at 1 pm in celebration. 12-year old female, OL (Orange/Lime) was seen on the headland by Department of Conservation rangers on Tuesday, and spotted flying in from the live stream known as Royalcam.

Otago Peninsula Trust Ecotourism Manager Hoani Langsbury, said there could never be a more appropriate time for the return of a Royal to Pukekura, than the day after Queen Elizabeth’s Tangi. Between 35 - 50 breeding pairs were expected to return this year, Mr Lansbury said in his welcome address to The Royal Albatross' bell-ringing event. He attributed the number to the healthy marine environment surrounding the peninsula, saying, "the peninsula sticks out about 30 kilometres out in the ocean, so we are a little like an offshore island so it’s a good indicator to us how healthy the place is".

Nadia Wesley-Smith, Chair of Te Poari a Pukekura Co-Management Trust Board joined the Royal Albatross Centre in celebrating the return of the first toroa for the season saying the annual return reminded the board of their ongoing responsibilities around the entire living system of the headland that contributes to the health and conservation of the Northern Royal Albatross.

Dunedin’s Northern Royal albatrosses at Taiaroa Head on the Otago Peninsula are the only mainland breeding colony in the world. Birds arrive in September to nest just as the previous year’s chicks, now juveniles, are fledging. Currently 16 out of 25 chicks are yet to fledge. Department of Conservation Ranger Sharyn Broni said OL was spotted spending time with a potential mate last summer and advised only time will tell if OL breeds during the 22/23 season.

OPT Ecotourism Manager Hoani Langsbury gives the welcome address and rings in the 2023 season at The Royal Albatross Centre where RoyalCam is located

Northern Royal Albatrosses are globally Endangered and have been selected as one of ACAP’s featured species for next year’s World Albatross Day, marked on 19 June. ACAP has chosen, “Plastic Pollution” as next year's theme, highlighting the ever increasing presence of plastic in our environment. Albatrosses are affected by a range of pollutants, of which plastics, whether ingested and then fed to chicks or causing entanglements, are certainly the most visible and well known to the general public.  However, albatrosses face other significant pollutants, including heavy metals, (such as mercury) and POPs (persistent organic pollutants, such as insecticides).  ACAP will therefore include these and other categories of pollutants along with plastics in promoting “WAD2023”.

Royalcam is a collaboration between the Department of Conservation and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to raise awareness world-wide of the lives and challenges of the royal albatrosses.

23 September 2022

A Wandering Albatross chick on Bird Island during the austral winter; photograph by Erin Taylor

For many decades, researchers from the UK’s British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have studied the seabirds of Bird Island, South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* in the South Atlantic.  Perhaps foremost, and certainly the longest uninterrupted study, has been the annual monitoring of changes in the breeding population of the globally Vulnerable Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans.  All breeding adults and chicks on the island are banded, so as well as population size, annual monitoring of survival, breeding frequency, breeding success, age at first return and age at recruitment are able to be recorded.

Richard Phillips, Higher Predators and Conservation Group, British Antarctic Survey, has written to ACAP Latest News on the current season’s work with the island’s Wanderers: “An estimated 656 pairs of Wandering Albatrosses nested on Bird Island this year.  Although this is the lowest ever recorded, the population has been largely stable since 2017.  This follows decades of population declines, such that in recent years just over a third as many birds bred as in the early 1960s.”  He further reports that 527 chicks were alive on 1 April, giving a hatching success of 80.3%.

A 2021/22 Wandering Albatross chick in the study area receives its colour band “red H56”; photograph by Erin Taylor

News also comes on the current breeding season from BAS Zoological Field Assistant on the island, Erin Taylor, via the Albatross Task Force Facebook page.  She writes: “The chick census results are in for July.  The team on Bird Island counted 504 Wandering Albatross chicks, which sadly means that we have lost three chicks in the past month.  Hurricane level winds have been hitting the island and are likely to have been the cause of death.  Extreme weather like this is a consequence of climate change and is expected to increase in frequency, so it is important that we maintain an understanding of the population on Bird Island.”

At the most recent census, all 504 chicks were metal banded, with the 73 in the intensive study area also receiving a red alphanumeric colour band.

A Wandering Albatross sits tight on its nest in summer on Bird Island; photograph by Richard Phillips

The Wandering Albatrosses breeding on South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* have been identified as forming an ACAP Priority Population for conservation because of their global importance and steep rate of decline.

With thanks to Richard Phillips and Erin Taylor.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 September 2022

*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.