Short-tailed Albatrosses gather around  a chick on Mukojima

Mukojima (commonly known as Keta Island) is located in the northernmost part of the Japanese Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands south of Japan and about 60 km north of the inhabited island of Chichijima.  With an area of 2.6 km², it is the largest island of the Mukojima Island Group, which is made up of four main islands, along with smaller islets and rocks.  From the end of 1800s the island was inhabited by cattle ranchers and farmers, but since 1944 the island has been mostly uninhabited.  The highest point reaches 88 m in the eastern part, but the island is mainly flat.

Mukojima from the sea

After residents left Mukojima, feral Domestic Goats Capra aegagrus hircus seriously damaged the once mainly forested island that supported endemic invertebrates and plants, resulting in severe vegetation loss and erosion.  The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) undertook an eradication programme from 1998 for four years that removed 940 goats from Mukojima.  It also managed to eradicate the Black Rat Rattus rattus from the island by 2009.  Today, the island is mostly a dry grassland with a few small forested patches near the shoreline.

A view of Mukojima

Three North Pacific albatross species breed on Mukojima: Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes, Laysan P. immutabilis (both Near Threatened) and the globally Vulnerable Short-tailed P. albatrus.  The Black-footed Albatross is the most abundant species of the three, producing over 50 fledglings in recent years.  On an islet called Mukotori-shima, just off Mukojima, there are about 200 fledglings produced.  In the whole Mukojima Island Group about 1000 Black-footed Albatrosses fledge each year from five islands (Mukojima, Mukotori-shima, Nakodojima, Nakodojima-torishima and Yomejima – all uninhabited).  The total number has been increasing, almost doubling in the last 15 years.

Black-footed Albatross on Mukojima

The Mukojima Island Group is the only breeding site for Laysan Albatrosses in the western North Pacific.  In 2013 there were 11 occupied nests on Mukojima, with 15 on Mukotori-shima and one on Yomejima.  Unlike for Black-footed Albatrosses, Laysan Albatross numbers have shown no discernable trend in recent years.  The number of chicks fledging varied from five to 19 a year from 1990 to 2013.  Monitoring and banding studies have been conducted by the TMG and the Institute of Boninology since 2004.

Mukojima is best known as a translocation site for the Short-tailed Albatross.  Over five years from 2008 to 2012 70 Short-tailed Albatross chicks were translocated from Torishima – the species’ main breeding site - to Mukojima, where they were hand fed until 69 of them fledged.  The aim was to create a new colony on an island not at risk to volcanic activity, as is Torishima.  Some of the hand-reared individuals have come back to the island and started to breed.  One pair has been successfully breeding on the island, and as of 2020, two individuals that have fledged naturally from Mukojima have been seen to return to the island.  The translocation project was conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Japanese Ministry of the Environment, and the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology (YIO). The breeding and behaviour of the Short-tailed Albatrosses on Mukojima have been monitored by the TMG and YIO since 2012.  Access ACAP Latest News posts about the translocation project here.

Short-tailed Albatross chick on Mukojima, photograph by T. Minami

A Short-tailed Albatross chick fledged from uninhabited and now goat-free Nakodojima, five kilometres away from from Mukojima, in 2014; an island where approaching a thousand Black-footed Albatrosses also breed (click here).

The Ogasawara Islands were designated as a World Heritage Natural Site in 2011.

References:

Deguchi, T., Sato, F., Eda, M., Izumi, H., Suzuki , H., Suryan, R.M., Lance, E.W., Hasegawa, H. & Ozaki, K. 2016  Translocation and hand-rearing result in short-tailed albatrosses returning to breed in the Ogasawara Islands 80 years after extirpation.  Animal Conservation 20: 341-349.

Government of Japan 2010.  Nomination of the Ogasawara Islands for Inscription on the World Heritage List.  [Tokyo]: Government of Japan.  228 pp.

Horikoshi, K., Suzuki, H. & Chiba, H. 2015.  Breeding status of Laysan Albatross in Mukojima Island Group.  Ogasawara-Kenkyu-Nenpo (Annual Report of Ogasawara Research) 38: 51-64 (in Japanese).

Ministry of the Environment 2009.  Management Plan for the Ogasawara Islands World Natural Heritage Nominated Site (Draft).  Tokyo: Ministry of the Environment.  31 pp. [in Japanese].

The Mukojima Short-tailed Albatross translocation site is on the centre horizon, photographs by Teru Yuta

Teru Yuta, Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, Japan & John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 May 2020

In recent years a few pairs of globally Near Threatened Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis have attempted to breed on the north coast of the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu at Kahuku Point (also known as Kalaeokaunaʻoa).  However, it was only in the 2018/19 season after years of failed attempts that three chicks fledged from the seven eggs laid, a success attributed to reduced disturbance (click here).

With advice from Dr Sheldon Plentovich, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Pacific Islands Coastal Program Coordinator, the North Shore Community Land Trust has taken up the stewardship of guarding the breeding birds against disturbance and improving their habitats as part of its mission from 1997 “to protect, steward, and enhance the natural landscapes, cultural heritage, and rural character of ahupuaʻa (land divisions) from Kahuku (Oʻahu’s northernmost point) to Kaʻena (Oʻahu’s westernmst point)”.

Following an approach to the trust, its Executive Director, Adam Borrello, has replied  to ACAP Latest News in support of this year’s inaugural World Albatross Day: “As we remove invasive species and clear the way for more natives to thrive, the coastal strand habitat at Kahuku Point is returning to a more pristine condition.  We see the presence of the albatross as their endorsement of our restoration efforts in an area more resistant to sea level rise than the majority of their current habitat.  Ensuring the safety of the chicks, so that they can successfully fledge, is the culmination of a great deal of hard work and cooperation.  We are honoured to steward this land and are excited for the future of this growing colony.”

The North Shore Community Land Trust’s ‘WAD2020’ sign near a Laysan Albatross chick at Kahuku Point, sign and photograph by Alice Terry

With COVID-19 restrictions in Hawaii halting both a planned World Albatross Day banner display with local school children at Kahuku Point this month and the making of a professional-looking banner, the Trust did the next best thing and took along a hand-illustrated sign on a clipboard to photograph with one of the 2019/20 season’s chicks.  This season with the improved protection from the Trust breeding numbers have increased to nine pairs, from which three chicks currently survive.

With thanks to Adam Borrello, Executive Secretary and Alice Terry, Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator, North Shore Community Land Trust and Dr Sheldon Plentovich, Pacific Islands Coastal Program Coordinator, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 May 2020

World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is celebrated bi-annually on the second Saturday in May and in October.  Migration is the long-distance movement of animals as a result of seasonal change.  Birds migrate in response to local climate, food availability, seasonal changes and for breeding purposes.  WMBD is led by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and aims to raise awareness of the threats faced by migratory birds, their ecological importance, and highlight the need for their conservation and of their habitats.

“This year the theme of World Migratory Bird Day is “Birds Connect Our World” and was chosen to highlight the importance of conserving and restoring the ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystems that support the natural cycles that are essential for the survival and well-being of migratory birds.  The theme also underlines the fact that migratory birds are part of our shared natural heritage and they depend on a network of sites along their migration routes for breeding, feeding, resting and overwintering.

Last year, over 870 events were registered, including many gatherings of school groups and other public events which took place in city parks, wetlands and other places around the world often frequented by migratory birds. In comparison to past years, the global celebration of our avian friends and their fascinating annual migrations will look very different this year because of the unprecedented global health crisis the world is facing from COVID-19.”

Suggested ideas to celebrate WMBD virtually in the face of COVID-19 restrictions include posting to social media, arranging a photographic competition and hosting craft lessons.

Today is also Global Big Day where birders are encouraged by the USA’s Cornell Lab of Ornithology to record their bird sightings on the eBird website.

“eBird is a worldwide bird checklist program used by millions of birders.  It’s what allows us to compile everyone’s sightings into a single massive Global Big Day list - while at the same time collecting the data to help scientists better understand birds.  You don’t need to be a bird expert or go out all day long, even 10 minutes in your backyard counts. Global Big Day runs from midnight to midnight in your local time zone. You can report what you find from anywhere in the world.”

And please do not forget the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June - albatrosses migrate!

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 May 2020

The University of Tasmania’s Adrift Lab is described as a dedicated group of researchers studying all things adrift in the ocean, including plastic, chemicals, and wildlife.  The Lab is  headed by Jennifer Lavers, a Lecturer in Marine Science in the university’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies in Hobart, Australia.  She describes the Lab as a research-focused centre where students are encouraged to be inclusive and tackle the tough, but important questions in pollution science.  Much of its work has concentrated on the incidence and effects of plastic pollution on seabirds, including shearwaters such as the globally Near Threatened Flesh-footed Ardenna carnepeis, a contender for ACAP-listing.  The Lab’s 20-year study of this species on now thought to be rodent-free Lord Howe Island has unfortunately had to take a break this year due to Australia's COVID-19 restrictions – surely not the only long-term seabird study around the world that is being disrupted by the pandemic.

A Flesh-footed Shearwater on Lord Howe Island  reveals its plastic load, photograph by Ian Hutton

Jenn  Lavers in the Adrift Lab

Jenn Lavers, a member of the Specialist Committee on Seabirds and Plastic Pollution with the World Seabird Union, has written to ACAP Latest News on behalf of Adrift Lab: “As a child, I recall stretching my arms out as wide as I could only to realise my “wings” were tiny compared to those of an albatross.  This was one of my first memories of forming a picture of just how vast and magical our world was.  World Albatross Day is an opportunity to reconnect with wonder, and in doing so, remind society why it’s so important to protect these iconic birds.”

With thanks to Jennifer Lavers.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 May 2020