The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), an autonomous organization under the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences, will host online the SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research) Open Science Conference 2022 over 1-10 August.  The theme of the conference is “Antarctica in a Changing World”.

The SCAR Open Science Conference 2022 will feature a comprehensive schedule of meetings, symposia, virtual side events and social activities, daily plenary lectures and poster sessions in an innovative online format.  The conference will include a wide range of parallel sessions from the Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Geosciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, and on Cross-Disciplinary Topics.

Proposals for additional sessions are welcomed.  Send suggestions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for consideration and contact the SCAR 2022 Project Management Team for more information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 December 2022

Street lights down ACAP-listed Westland Petrel fledglings in New Zealand - resulting in road kills from traffic

World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is an annual awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats.  It has a global outreach and is an effective tool to help raise global awareness of the threats faced by migratory birds, their ecological importance, and the need for international cooperation to conserve them. The day is celebrated twice a year, on the second Saturdays of May and October.  World Migratory Bird Day for 2022 will have the theme of Light Pollution.

“Artificial light is increasing globally by at least two per cent per year and it is known to adversely affect many bird species.  Light pollution is a significant threat to migratory birds, causing disorientation when they fly at night, leading to collisions with buildings, perturbing their internal clocks, or interfering with their ability to undertake long-distance migrations.

Solutions to light pollution are readily available. For instance, more and more cities in the world are taking measures to dim building lights during migration phases in spring and autumn. Best practice guidelines are also being developed under the Convention on Migratory Species to address this growing issue and ensure that action is taken globally to help birds migrate safely.”

Downed Westland Petrels ready for release

Light pollution affects ACAP-listed species and other procellariiform seabirds in two main ways: during breeding on land and at sea.  On-land threats are related to breeding adults and especially fledglings becoming disoriented and falling to the ground (where they are at risk of being run over on roads or being killed by domestic or feral cats and other predators) or being killed by collisions with overhead wires when traversing from breeding site to the shore in the vicinity of well-lit areas.  Such events can happen on foggy nights and are related to phases of the moon.  ACAP-listed species known to be at risk are the Westland Petrel Procellaria westlandica, the Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus and the Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus.  Other procellariiform species seriously affected include Newell’s Puffinus newelli and Wedge-tailed Ardenna pacifica Shearwaters and Hawaiian Petrels Pterodroma sandwichensis on inhabited Hawaiian islands and Hutton’s Shearwater Puffinus huttoni that breeds inland on New Zealand’s South Island. Searching on these species’ names will lead to several news posts on the subject of light pollution on this website.

At-sea threats relate to bright deck lighting at night attracting mainly the smaller procellariiform birds on fishing, expedition and cruise vessels, primarily in the Southern Ocean and especially during calm, foggy conditions in the vicinity of breeding islands (click here for an example).

Testing green street lighting in Chile to reduce fall out of Pink-footed Shearwaters; photograph from Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge

To become involved with World Migratory Bird Day for 2022 and to register events visit the campaign’s website.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 December 2022

An A4 calendar of photographs of the albatrosses which breed on Bird Island, South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* has been produced by Alex Dodds who writes “I spent 18 months based on this remote, sub-Antarctic island … undertaking research for the British Antarctic Survey.”

Aleks Dodds displays her ‘World Albatross Day 2020’ banner in front of Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans chicks on Bird Island

UK£1 from the sale of each calendar (priced at AU$29.44) will be donated to the Albatross Task Force.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 December 2021

*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.

 
Two Shy Albatrosses interact

NOTE:  This post continues an occasional series that features photographs of the 31 ACAP-listed species, along with information from and about their photographers.  Here, Kris Carlyon, Section Head, Wildlife Health and Marine with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE Tas), writes about the population research he has been involved with over the past 11 years on the globally Near Threatened Shy Albatross Thalassarche cauta, endemic to Tasmania, Australia.

Kris Carlyon on Macquarie Island

The long-term (now in its 42nd season) monitoring programme on Shy Albatrosses was instigated by Nigel Brothers in 1980/81.  Since then, there have been numerous contributions and collaborations from a range of government and university personnel (hence the attached publication list from several researchers).

Albatross Island from the air

I first visited 18-ha Albatross Island in the Bass Strait north-west of Tasmania, one of just three global breeding colonies for this species, in 2010.  This was my first field trip in my shiny new role with DPIPWE’s Marine Conservation Program (now NRE Tas) and set the tone for what has been an incredibly rewarding decade contributing to the long-term monitoring of Shy Albatrosses.  None of the three breeding islands is easy to visit.  However, access to Albatross Island in Tasmania’s north-west is relatively straightforward compared to the imposing rock pyramids of Pedra Branca and the Mewstone off the southern Tasmanian coastline, and it is here that the bulk of our monitoring efforts is undertaken.  Aerial photography provides an option for the regular monitoring of the two south coast colonies.

Shy Albatrosses wheel above Albatross Island

A 90-minute boat ride through the Hunter Island Group, followed by an intense offloading of the field team and a mountain of gear, heralds the start of one of two main monitoring trips to Albatross Island each year.  Watching the boat retreat into the agitated waters of the Bass Strait, leaving us to a week or more of living and working amongst these amazing birds, is a perpetual highlight.  A lengthy gear shuffle sees us set up camp in the huge sea cave at the north of the island, all the while welcomed by continuous chatter from the albatross colony above and barks from the island’s increasing fur seal Arctocephalus spp. residents; both species on the long road of recovery after sealers heavily exploited both the seal and albatross populations in the early 1800s.  As darkness falls and we eat dinner under torchlight, masses of Fairy Prions Pachyptila turtur return to the cave and commence their nightly and sometimes deafening chorus that continues unbroken until dawn.  I don’t sleep better anywhere else.

A Shy Albatross chick close to fledging (right) begs for a meal

The rest of the trip is a happy routine of long days amongst the wind and the birds.  On a good evening, some cheap wine amongst the tussock grass, watching curious albatross or an occasional White-bellied Sea Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster glide overhead, is a great way to recover from hours of clambering over rough ground and dodging sharp beaks.  As the sun sinks below the waves of the western Bass Strait, evenings also offer the best light for photography and the addictive but unending pursuit of trying to capture a good image of these beautiful birds.

Shy Albatrosses on Albatross Island in the evening light

Our long-term population monitoring, including tracking and diet studies and investigation of climate-change impacts, tells the story of gradual colony recovery.  But these birds continue to face significant threats.  Like most procellariforms, the impacts from fisheries bycatch mortality and environmental change at breeding sites and foraging areas due to a changing climate are an increasing concern for the Shy Albatross.  Our precious trips to these island outposts certainly have a sobering serious purpose and become only more important as the impacts of global heating become more apparent.  Documenting population trends is now coupled with testing of climate adaptation tools to help ensure intervention options are available if needed.

Cleared for landing: a Shy Albatross returns to its nest site on Albatross Island,; photographs by Kris Carlyon

And, in the background, we continue to raise public awareness of our unique Tasmanian resident.  For this, a single photograph can prove invaluable.

With thanks to Sheryl Hamilton.

Selected publications:

Alderman, R., Gales, R., Hobday, A.J. & Candy, S. 2010.  Post-fledging survival and dispersal of shy albatrosses from three breeding colonies in Tasmania.  Marine Ecology Progress Series  405: 271-285.

Alderman, R., Gales, R., Tuck, G. & Lebreton, J.D. 2011.  Global population status of shy albatross and an assessment of colony-specific trends and drivers.  Wildlife Research  38: 672-686.

Alderman, R. & Hobday, A. 2016.  Developing a climate adaptation strategy for vulnerable seabirds based on prioritization of intervention options.  Deep Sea Research II 140: 2960-2967.

Baker, G.B., Double, M.C., Gales, R., Tuck, G.N., Abbott, C.L., Ryan, P.G., Petersen, S.L., Robertson C.R. & Alderman, R. 2007.  A global assessment of the impact of fisheries-related mortality on shy and white-capped albatrosses: conservation implications.  Biological Conservation 137: 319-333.

Baker, G.B., Gales, R., Hamilton, S. & Wilkinson, V. 2002.  Albatrosses and petrels in Australia: a review of their conservation and management.  Emu 102: 71-97.

Brothers, N., Pemberton, D., Pryor, H. & Halley, V. 2001.  Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: Seabirds and other Natural Features.  Hobart: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.  641 pp.

Hedd, A. & Gales, R. 2001.  The diet of Shy Albatrosses Thalassarche cauta at Albatross Island, Tasmania.  Journal of Zoology 2 253: 69-90.

Hedd. A. & Gales, R. 2005.  Breeding and overwintering ecology of Shy Albatrosses in southern Australia: year-round patterns of colony attendance and foraging-trip durations.  The Condor  107: 375-387.

Mason C., Alderman, R., McGowan, J., Possingham, H.P., Hobday, A.J., Sumner, M. & Shaw, J. 2018.  Telemetry reveals existing marine protected areas are worse than random for protecting the foraging habitat of threatened Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta).  Diversity and Distributions  24: 1744-1755.

McInnes, J.C., Alderman, R., Deagle, B., Lea, M.-A., Raymond, B. & Jarman, S.N. 2017.  Optimised scat collection protocols for dietary DNA metabarcoding in vertebrates.  Methods in Ecology and Evolution  8: 192-202.

Thomson, R.B., Alderman, R.L., Tuck, G.N. & Hobday, A.J. 2015.  Effects of climate change and fisheries bycatch on Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta) in Southern Australia.  PLOS ONE   DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127006.

Kris Carlyon, Marine Conservation Program, Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, Hobart, Australia, 10 December 2021, corrected 28 December 2021