Far from home: an Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross visits Gough Island

Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross on Gough Island, photograph by Chris Jones

Peter Ryan (FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa) and colleagues have published open access in the annual journal Seabird on three new seabirds recorded from the Tristan da Cunha- Gough Islands in the South Atlantic: Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri, Fairy Prion Pachyptila turtur and a gannet Morus sp..

The Endangered albatross, which breeds only on islands in the southern Indian Ocean, was seen on Gough Island on 17 January 2019 (click here for an earlier report).  Three other sightings are now reported at sea within the 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone around the Tristan da Cunha Archipelago.

Previously, two sightings of vagrant Salvin’s Albatrosses T. salvini have been made on Gough Island (click here).

References:

Ryan, P.G., Dilley, B.J., Risi, M.M., Jones, C.W., Osborne, A., Schofield, A., Repetto, J. & Ratcliffe, N. 2019.  Three new seabird species recorded at Tristan da Cunha archipelago. Seabird 32: 122-125.

Visser, P., Louw, H., Cuthbert, R. & Ryan, P. 2009. Salvin’s Albatross Thalassarche salvini on Gough Island, South Atlantic. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 16: 215–216.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 December 2020