Breeding female Gibson’s Antipodean Albatross with a satellite tracker on Adams Island, Auckland Islands; from the report

Kalinka Rexer-Huber (Parker Conservation, Dunedin, New Zealand) and colleagues have reported to the Conservation Service Programme of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation on research conducted on the Gibson’s subspecies of the Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni and on White-capped Albatross Thalassarche steadi on the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands.

The report’s summary follows:

“This report details the mark-recapture methods and findings for Gibson’s albatross and white-capped albatross at the Auckland Islands. We present data on the size of the Gibson’s albatross nesting population on Adams Island in 2020 and update estimates of survival, productivity, recruitment and foraging range to help identify causes of current population size and trends. For white-capped albatrosses we focus on estimating adult survival and document tracking methods and device recoveries.

Gibson’s albatross. Nesting success was 56%. The survival rate of adult females and males is once again similar, having recuperated from the dramatically low female survival recorded 2006–08. However, at 90% the survival rate for both sexes remains 6% lower than before the population crash in 2005, and is probably incompatible with population recovery given ongoing limited chick production. The total estimated number of breeding pairs of Gibson’s wandering albatrosses showed slow improvement 2008–13, but these gains appear to have stalled. In 2019–20 the island-wide breeding population (3,861 pairs) was the lowest recorded since the years following the crash (2008–10). In the study area 96 albatross pairs bred in 2019–20. This is the first time nest numbers there have fallen below 100 since the crash 2006–08. There were only seventeen new recruits into the study colony (new breeding birds banded). Breeding and non-breeding/failed females have different survival rates. Satellite tracking in 2019 showed breeding birds foraging largely in the Tasman Sea, while those that had failed moved further west into the Great Australian Bight. Together, survival, breeding numbers and recruitment show the slow Gibson’s albatross population recovery recorded over the decade 2007–16 has stalled.

White-capped albatross. Banded white-capped albatrosses were resighted at a rate of 0.26 in the study colony of 679 banded birds. Four GLS tracking devices were retrieved, and one further bird which had lost its GLS (or had it removed) was resighted. Adult survival is estimated as 90% (95% CI 86–93), taking into account different detection rates of nesting birds and those not on nest during colony visits.”

Foraging ranges of six breeding female Gibson’s Antipodean Albatrosses from Adams Island, February – September 2019; from the report

Reference:

Rexer-Huber K., Elliott G., Walker K., Thompson D. & Parker G.C. 2020.  Gibson’s albatross and white-capped albatross in the Auckland Islands 2019-20.  Final report to Department of Conservation, Conservation Services Programme 10 June 2020.  Dunedin: Parker Conservation.  30 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 October 2020

Smiles behind the masks?  From left: Michelle Risi, Ria Olivier, ACAP's Information Officer and Chris Jones

Most comments received by ACAP suggest that this year’s inaugural World Albatross Day went off well, with the conservation crisis facing albatrosses being brought to the attention of new audiences around the world.  With 19 June now long past it is perhaps surprising there is still a need to thank some of the supporters of ‘WAD2020’: we can blame COVID-19 pandemic for that!  ACAP’s Information Officer has been largely self-isolating in his Cape Town home during 2021, but with South Africa easing restrictions by moving to Level One last month he has been able cautiously to get out to thank colleagues for their WAD2020 contributions – at a social distance in the open air of course.

This week he met up with Michelle Risi, who had returned a few days previously from two years working for the Gough Island Restoration Programme (GIRP) on the island (click here) to offer his personal and ACAP’s thanks for her support of WAD2020 and to hand over some albatross posters and postcards.  Indeed, the original impetus for a World Albatross Day came from Michelle’s suggestion, and following her co-option to ACAP’s WAD Intersessional Group she persuaded her contacts to help by designing pro bono a WAD2020 logo by commercial artist Geoffry Tyler and a poster by award-winning illustrator Owen Davey.  Along with Melanie Wells from Australia, she led on setting up the popular World Albatross Day Great Albicake Bake Off – and baking a couple of cakes for the competition herself.  Michelle is an excellent photographer, and some of her best work has been made into WAD2020 posters as well inspiring artworks by the Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) group.

Michelle Risi meets a globally Endangered Sooty Albatross on mountainous Gough Island

Michelle and husband Chris Jones hope to return to Gough next year to help with the GIRP mouse eradication exercise, called off this year as a consequence of the pandemic causing a disruption of international travel.

With grateful thanks to Ria Olivier of the Antarctic Legacy of South Africa project which sponsored the printing of WAD2020 posters and postcards as well as donating island books published by ALSA as competition prizes.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 October 2020

A banded Flesh-footed Shearwater at night on Ohinau Island, photograph by Kaila Ritchie

Patrick Crowe (Wildlife Management International, Blenheim, New Zealand) has reported to the Conservation Service Programme of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation on research conducted on two breeding populations of the globally Near Threatened Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carnepeis

The report’s abstract follows:

“This report covers the findings from the second of three years’ flesh-footed shearwater (Puffinus carneipes) research under Conservation Services Programme project POP2018-04. Here we report on the ongoing population monitoring of flesh-footed shearwaters on Ohinau and Lady Alice Islands and the results of GPS tracking of breeding birds from both islands.

During the 2019/20 breeding seasons we monitored 274 and 288 study burrows on Ohinau and Lady Alice Islands respectively.  A total of 216 study burrows on Ohinau Island were breeding and we were able to identify 408 of the 432 (94%) partners occupying these study burrows.  On Lady Alice Island, 202 study burrows were breeding and 358 of 404 (89%) of partners occupying these study burrows were identified.  We were unable to determine breeding success for the 2019/20 season but the rate of failure during incubation in January was similar to the 2018/19 season.

Breeding flesh-footed shearwaters were tracked simultaneously on Ohinau and Lady Alice Islands during the incubation and chick-rearing stages. On Ohinau Island, GPS devices were deployed on 26 individuals during incubation and 27 individuals during chick-rearing and this yielded 21 tracks and 50 tracks respectively.  On Lady Alice Island, GPS devices were deployed on 29 individuals during incubation and 34 individuals during chick-rearing and this yielded 20 tracks and 55 tracks respectively.

The average length of incubation foraging trips was 11.8 days and 4665 km for Ohinau Island birds and 16.6 days and 4734 km for Lady Alice Island birds. Lady Alice birds undertook significantly longer trips in respect to duration.  The average length of foraging trips during chick-rearing was 3.1 days and 1205 km for Ohinau birds, and was 4.8 days and 1536 km for Lady Alice birds. There was considerable variation in all aspects of foraging trips during chick-rearing which is likely due to a dual-foraging strategy.

There was considerable overlap of foraging areas between Ohinau and Lady Alice birds indicating that birds from different populations mix at sea during the breeding season.  All birds from Ohinau Island foraged either down the East Coast of the North Island or out towards the Louisville Ridge. During incubation, nearly half of Lady Alice birds foraged in the same locations while the remaining birds foraged inshore off the West Coast of the North Island or offshore in the Tasman Sea. During chick-rearing, areas closer to each of the colonies had greater importance but birds still utilised some of the more distant foraging locations identified during incubation in order to maintain their own body weight and condition.”

The Flesh-footed Shearwater has been identified as a potential candidate for ACAP listing (click here).

Reference:

Crowe, P. 2020.  Flesh-footed shearwater population monitoring and at-sea distribution: 2019/20 season.  Blenheim: Wildlife Management International Ltd.  39 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 October 2020

Balearic Shearwater at sea, photograph by Pep Arcos

R. Costa (Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal) and colleagues have published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin on entangled seabirds received by a rehabilitation centre in Portugal, including six out of 77 Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwaters Puffinus mauretanicus.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Plastic pollution and the subsequent entanglement of marine animals is a global and increasing problem.  In this study we present an analysis of the seabirds recorded as entangled by a rehabilitation centre and an associated marine animal stranding network, along the central coast of Portugal, between 2008 and 2018.  Results show a high annual rate of entangled seabirds (average 6.9%) compared to other studies and fisheries related materials are a relevant cause of seabird entanglement (82%) compared to other debris.  When comparing age classes, juveniles were more vulnerable to entanglement than other age classes in the species studied.  Regarding the rehabilitation of entangled seabirds, the release rate was higher in non-fishing material entanglement cases.  In conclusion, this study highlights the impact of fisheries related material on marine fauna and the need for reinforcement of the existing legislation for protecting seabirds and the implementation of mitigation measures associated with fishing activities.”

Reference:

Costa, R.A., Sá, S., Pereira, A.T., Ângelo, A.R., Vaqueiro, J., Ferreira, M. & Eira, C. 2020.  Prevalence of entanglements of seabirds in marine debris in the central Portuguese coast.  Marine Pollution Bulletin doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111746.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 October 2020