Northern Royal Albatrosses are having a good breeding season on New Zealand’s Taiaroa Head

Taiaroa Head, at the end of the Otago Peninsula near Dunedin in New Zealand’s South Island, is one of the very few places in the World where the general public can view breeding albatrosses without the need of joining a sea-going expedition.  Globally Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi have bred at Taiaroa Head, now a nature reserve, since 1938 and it is has become a major tourist attraction.

Northern Royal Albatross and chick at Taiaroa Head, photograph by Lyndon Perriman

In December last year ACAP Latest News reported that 32 eggs had been laid in the 2014/15 season (click here).  The Royal Albatross Centre now informs that 27 chicks are heading towards fledging and “are doing very well, receiving regular feedings from their parents”.

If all 27 chicks fledge then a breeding success of 84% will have been attained for the latest breeding season.

Click here to view a 30-minute film shot in the 1980s on Taiaroa Head’s albatrosses.

The Royal Albatross Centre is operated by the Otago Peninsula Trust and the Department of Conservation.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 March 2015