Amsterdam Island before the fire, photograph by Thierry Micol

ACAP Latest News has previously reported on the January wildfire that caused the evacuation of the personnel manning France’s Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean.  More information comes from a 15.34-minute video narrated in French and entitled "What will remain of this unique island?".

“This giant fire has been gaining ground for several hours.  And we're on this French base, without a fire station, on one of the most isolated islands in the world...  Lucas is going to immerse us in this true story today.  That of Amsterdam Island, a French island isolated from the rest of the world, home to a handful of people and a unique flora and fauna... all threatened by a giant fire." [Google Translate]

With thanks to Maëlle Connan.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 09 April 2025

Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna pacifica breed on Raivavae

Vincent Bretagnolle (Centre d’Études Biologiques de Chizé, Beauvoir sur Niort, France) and colleagues have published in the open access journal Marine Ornithology on procellariid seabirds breeding n the French Polynesian island of Raivavae, including three species of shearwaters and five species of gadfly petrels.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Raivavae is a small island in the Austral Islands of French Polynesia that is surrounded by a lagoon with 28 islets.  Its marine avifauna is one of the least known and least studied in French Polynesia.  Overall, seabird surveys in the various Austral Islands have been extremely sparse.  This study addresses this need, using both historical and recent findings.  The results show high species richness, with 10 breeding procellarid [sic] species, though none are numerous.  We also update the knowledge on breeding petrels from other Austral Islands (except Rapa) and discuss the consequences of these findings in terms of their conservation on an island with cats Felis sp. and rats Rattus sp.”

Reference:

Bretagnolle, V., David, Y., Ghestemme, T., Butaud, J.-F., Withers, T., Shirihai, H. & Thibault, J.-C. 2025.  A petrel breeding diversity hotspot: Raivavae Island (Austral Islands, French Polynesia), with a need for conservation action.  Marine Ornithology 53: 163-171.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 08 April 2025

An Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross tends its chick in the Falaises d'Entrecasteaux colony on Amsterdam Island, watercolour by ABUN artist, Silvia Abramant, after a photograph by Dominique Filippi

For the sixth year, ACAP is collaborating with with the international collective Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) to produce artworks in support of World Albatross Day on 19 June.  This year ACAP’s theme for WAD2025 is “Effects of Disease”, featuring the Endangered Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis, endemic to France’s Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean, and the Endangered Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri.  Both species are at risk from several diseases on Amsterdam Island.  ABUN Project #49 commenced on 01 April and will run until 31 May.

Silvia Abramant in her studio working on a botanical illustration

Most pleasant to report that within 24 hours the first painting had been submitted by Brazilian artist Silvia Abramant.  This might well be a record!  ACAP Latest News got in touch with Silvia to learn more about her and her art.  She writes that she lives in São Paulo, Brazil, has been painting for over 20 years and worked as an art teacher, following professional training at the Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo and taking courses in botanical illustration. She says watercolour is her favourite medium.  “I love drawing the peace of nature and being able to contribute through art and conservation”.

Albatrosses at sunset, artwork by Silvia Abraman for World Albatross Day, 19 June 2020, from a photograph by Dimas Gianuca

Silvia is no stranger to painting for ACAP, going back to the inaugural World Albatross Day in 2020, with two of her previous works illustrated here.

White-capped Albatross by Silvia Abramant for World Albatross Day, 19 June 2020, from a photograph by Laurie Smaglick Johnson

With the first artwork for ABUN Project #49 arriving the day after launching, ACAP has high hopes of quite a few more artworks arriving in support of albatross conservation over the next two months.  Get your brushes out!

With thanks to Silvia Abramant and Marion Schön, Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 07 April 2025

Succumbed to HPAI.  Corpse of a Wandering Albatross chick in the Goney Plain long-term monitoring colony, Marion Island, November 2024, photograph by Rhiannon Gill

“My worst day was checking areas of Prinsloomeer and the Goney Plain monitoring colony on 20 November 2024 and coming across carcass after carcass.  I counted 53 carcasses of Wandering Albatross chicks and two still alive but ill, both of which later died.  I removed 18 metal bands from corpses of chicks I had banded earlier in the breeding season”- Rhiannon Gill, Marion Island Field Researcher

I feel Rhiannon's pain at finding so many dead chicks in a single day. In the late 1970s/early 1980s I, along with colleagues, set up long-term monitoring colonies for Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans and Northern Giant Petrels Macronectes halli on Marion Island.  Since then these study colonies have resulted in many scientific papers being published, as well as quite a few MSc and PhD degrees being awarded.  As well as threats to the study birds from pelagic longline fisheries in the Southern Ocean, they are at risk from attacks by the island’s introduced House Mice.  Now the birds, as well as other species on the island, face a new threat, from the High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus.  In November last year came the news that the HPAI virus was suspected to be killing Wandering Albatrosses on Marion.  Due to the infrequent visits by ships to the sub-Antarctic island, it has taken until last month to bring samples back to South Africa for analysis.

Close to fledging: another 2023/25 Wandering Albatross chick that succumbed to the HJPAI virus on Marion Island, photograph by Rhiannon Gill

The South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has now confirmed the presence of the HPAI H5N1virus on Marion Island, affecting at least six seabird species.  Excerpts from the DFFE media release follow:

“The presence of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus on Marion Island has been confirmed.  Samples collected between September and December 2024 were all shipped back to mainland South Africa, via the S.A. Agulhas II, in February 2025.  In March, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing confirmed infection in six bird species, comprising Wandering Albatross, King Penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus, Brown (Subantarctic) Skua Stercorarius [Catharacta] antarcticus, Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus, Northern Giant Petrel and Sooty Albatross Phoebetria fusca.

Among Wandering Albatrosses, chicks were mostly affected, with at least 150 of approximately 1900 chicks from the [2024/25] cohort having died.  Much smaller numbers of affected giant petrels (at least 20 Southern and four Northern) and Sooty Albatrosses (five) have been observed.  The deaths of adult seabirds are of greater concern than chicks, because most species only start to breed at 3 to 10 years of age, and most affected species raise at most one chick per year.”

Also at risk to HPAI: Albatross Valley on Prince Edward Island with its densely breeding Wandering Albatrosses, photograph by Bruce Dyer

Visits to nearby Prince Edward Island are limited to one every four years to limit human impacts.  The last survey was undertaken in November 2023, so it is unknown whether HPAI has arrived.  However, it seems likely, given that banded Marion birds, including Wandering Albatrosses, giant petrels and skuas, have been seen on Prince Edward.

Having spread around much of the globe since 2021, HPAI (H5N1) has now been detected in seabirds on a number of sub-Antarctic islands, including the French Crozets, where interchanges of banded Wandering Albatrosses with both Marion and Prince Edward Islands have occurred, allowing the potential spread of the HPAI virus.

Together, South Africa’s Marion and Prince Edward Islands support approximately half the world’s population of Wandering Albatrosses.  The presence of this new threat is placing the globally Vulnerable species at increased risk.  At least Prince Edward Island is thankfully free of Marion’s albatross-killing mice.

Read a media article about the Marion Island HPAI announcement here. ACAP’s theme for World Albatross Day on 18 June 2025 is “Effects of Disease”

With thanks to Rhiannon Gill, Marion Island Field Researcher, South African Polar Research Infrastructure.

References:

Brown, C.R. & Oatley, T.B. 1982.  Bird ringing at Marion and Pr9ince Edward Islands, 1977-1982.  South African Journal of Antarctic Research 12: 45-48.

Cooper, J. & Weimerskirch, H. 2003.  Exchange of Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans between the Prince Edward and Crozet Islands: implications for conservation.  African Journal of Marine Science 25: 519-523.

Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment 2024.  Protocol for the Management of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) for the South African National Antarctic Programme. [Cape Town]: Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.  25 pp.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. 01 April 2025