Have time on your hands while in COVID-19-induced quarantine or self isolating?  To mark the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June the Albatross and Petrel Agreement (ACAP) invites you to bake an albatross-themed cake while in lockdown and enter the World Albatross Day Great Albicake Bake Off competition.

To participate in the Albicake Bake Off submit an image of your creation along with a title, a brief descriptive text, and your name and e-mail address to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with “AlbiCake Bake Off” in the subject field by 15 June 2020.  No limit is placed on the number of entries per individual but each should be submitted in a separate e-mail.

Each entrant will receive a specially designed colour certificate bearing an image of an albatross artwork from the Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN)’s World Albatross Day Project to download and print out.  Category winners will receive WAD 2020 posters.  A special book prize on South Africa’s Sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands co-authored and signed by ACAP’s Information Officer will be awarded to the cake judged as the overall winner.

Three Guest Judges invited for their significant contributions to the conservation of albatrosses (and their ability to enjoy a good cake) will choose winning entries based on the following themes:

• Best presentation
• Most creative
• Morphological accuracy
• People’s choice (based on Facebook likes)
• Eradicating Island Pests (WAD2020 theme)
• Rainbow theme in recognition of global health care workers in the face of COVID-19
• Best Albicake overall

MEET THE WAD2020 GREAT ALBICAKE BAKE-OFF JUDGES

Cleo Cunningham, Deputy Head, Conserving Land and Seascapes, United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre; past Head, Marine Programme, BirdLife International

“Albatrosses face multiple threats both on land and out at sea.  World Albatross Day represents an excellent opportunity to draw attention to the issues we must address to protect these extraordinary birds, as well as the opportunities and challenges associated with each of these threats.”

Keith Springer, past Manager, Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project, Parks & Wildlife Service, Tasmania

“Albatrosses already face so many threats at sea.  On some of the islands they breed on, they face existential threats from introduced predators as well, so the populations are getting squeezed from both land and sea.  World Albatross Day is a great opportunity to highlight not only the threats faced by these normally long-lived birds, but also some of the measures that can be taken to reduce the risks to them.  Without actions to reduce fishing mortality and introduced predators on their breeding islands, we face the sad but very real possibility of a world without albatrosses.”

Tatiana Neves, Founder & General Coordinator, Projeto Albatroz; Vice-Chair, ACAP Advisory Committee

“Having a World Albatross Day is a great idea.  I have dedicated a lifetime to the conservation of albatrosses and petrels, so having a World Albatross Day, as recognition of the global importance of those magnificent birds and the threats they face, is important in increasing global awareness of the importance of actions to prevent their extinction.”

“Ter um Dia do Albatroz é uma ótima ideia.  I tenho dedicado todo uma vida para a conservação de albatrozes e petreis, e ter um Dia do Albatroz, como um reconhecimento da importância global para essas aves magníficas e das ameaças que elas enfrentam, é crucial para aumentar a consciência global sobre a importância das ações para prevenir sua extinção

And meet the competition organizers and their cakes:

Michelle Risi records the band number of an inquisitive Tristan Albatross in the Tafelkop study colony on Gough Island.  The bird was banded as a chick in 2013 and was yet to breed; photograph by Chris Jones.  Michelle made the Sooty Albatross cake on Gough Island with colleagues for a birthday

Melanie Wells prepares to band Grey-headed Albatrosses on Macquarie Island as a Light-mantled Albatross flies by; photograph by Julie McInnes. Mel's cake is actually of a white-phase Southern Giant Petrel after a grisly feed

 Michelle Risi, Gough Island & Melanie Wells, Macquarie Island, Competition Organizers, aspiring bakers and sub-Antarctic ornithologists, 20 May 2020

A pair of Northern Royal Albatrosses on their nest on Pukekura/Taiaroa Head mark World Albatross Day, 19 June 2020

As part of its efforts to raise awareness of this year’s inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June, ACAP Latest News contacted New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) which manages the Northern Royal Albatross colony on South Island’s Pukekura/Taiaroa Head with a request to join in the ‘WAD2020 Banner Challenge’ by making and photographing a suitably-worded banner in the field.

Pukekura/Taiaroa Head is the only locality on New Zealand’s mainland where albatrosses breed.  The carefully managed population of globally Endangered and nationally Naturally Uncommon Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi can, under normal conditions, be viewed through large one-way glass windows in the visitor’s observatory run by the Royal Albatross Centre of the Otago Peninsula Trust.  However, movement restrictions and social-distancing requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in the centre being closed and has thus thwarted DOC’s plan to display and photograph a banner with a breeding albatross within the frame.

No problem for Kiwi ingenuity, as DOC Biodiversity Ranger, Sharyn Broni, who ordinarily works closely with the birds, regularly weighing the chicks and supplementary-feeding those deemed underweight, has come up with the first virtual WAD2020 banner.  In sending in her ‘banner’ Sharyn has commented:

“The Northern Royal Albatross has only four breeding sites in the entire world and they spend 85% of their time away from these sites circumnavigating the Southern Ocean searching for food.  Here at the mainland site of Pukekura/Taiaroa Head, New Zealand we manage a 250+ population but it is up to humanity to look after the world's oceans and fish stocks.”

A view of Pukekura/Taiaroa Head from the sea, photograph by Junichi Sugishita

A sentiment supported by ACAP Latest News!

A live-streaming ‘royalcam’ operated by DOC in conjunction with the USA’s Cornell Lab of Ornithology allows on-line visitors to view a breeding pair of albatrosses on a 24-hour basis in both COVID-19 and ‘normal’ times.

With thanks to Sharyn Broni, Wildlife Ranger, Taiaroa Head, Department of Conservation

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 May 2020

The Kaua’i Albatross Network is dedicated to helping preserve the vitality of the globally Near Threatened Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis and promoting safe habitat on which this magnificent bird depends.  It serves as a resource to promote safe nesting habitat for Laysan Albatrosses and other native birds by respectful cooperation with private landowners, government agencies, scientists, businesses, schools, and conservation organizations on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i.  Founded in 2010, the network maintains active links with key individuals in organizations such as the American Bird Conservancy, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Hawai`i Wildlife Center, The Nature Conservancy, The Safina Center, Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, Save our Shearwaters, State of Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources, United States Fish and Wildlife Service and more.  Among its priorities are to promote safe nesting habitat on Kaua’i; collect banding data and overall nesting success on private rural lands on Kaua’i; participate in predator control efforts; and publish photos and stories about Laysan Albatrosses – by way of books, videos and an active Facebook page.

Hob Osterlund on Kaua'i

The network was founded by renowned author and photographer, Hob Osterlund, a sixth-generation Hawai`i resident living on Kaua’i,  Hob has written to ACAP Latest News in support of this year’s inauguration of a World Albatross Day on 19 June: “The Kaua’i Albatross Network is excited about supporting World Albatross Day.  We had already booked events to help celebrate.  As for all of us, the formats made need adjustment, but our enthusiasm is constant.”

Holy Mōli: Albatross and Other Ancestors

Read ACAP Latest News’ review of Hob’s 2016 book Holy Mōli: Albatross and Other Ancestors.  She has also produced an award-winning eight-minute video, Kalama’s Journey, that tracks the hatching and growing up of a Laysan Albatross chick on Kauai that had been filmed by a live-streaming ‘bird cam’.

ALN looks forward to reporting on what Hob and the network get up to come 19 June. Whatever it might be in these difficult times of COVID-19, expect some good photography!

With thanks to Hob Osterlund.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 May 2020

Pink-footed Shearwater, photograph by Peter Hodum

Pablo García-Díaz (Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand) and colleagues have published in the journal Environmental Conservation on effects of introduced European Rabbits on globally Vulnerable (and ACAP-listed) Pink-footed Shearwaters Ardenna creatopus.

The abstract follows:

“Alien species are a driver of biodiversity loss, with impacts of different aliens on native species varying considerably. Identifying the contributions of alien species to native species declines could help target management efforts.  Globally, seabirds breeding on islands have proven to be highly susceptible to alien species.  The breeding colonies of the  pink-footed shearwater (Ardenna creatopus) are threatened by the negative impacts of alien mammals. We combined breeding monitoring data with a hierarchical model to separate the effects of different alien mammal assemblages on the burrow occupancy and hatching success of the pink-footed shearwater in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile.  We show that alien mammals affected the rates of burrow occupancy, but had little effect on hatching success.  Rabbits produced the highest negative impacts on burrow occupancy, whereas the effects of other alien mammals were more uncertain.  In addition, we found differences in burrow occupancy between islands regardless of their alien mammal assemblages.  Managing rabbits will improve the reproductive performance of this shearwater, but research is needed to clarify the mechanisms by which alien mammals affect the shearwaters and to explain why burrow occupancy varies between islands.”

Reference:

García-Díaz, P., Hodum, P., Colodro, V., Hester, M. & Carle, R.D. 2020.  Alien mammal assemblage effects on burrow occupancy and hatching success of the vulnerable pink-footed shearwater in Chile.  Environmental Conservation  doi.org/10.1017/S0376892920000132.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 May 2020