Patricia Zurita, Chief Executive, BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global partnership of 121 conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources.  As the world’s largest nature conservation partnership, BirdLife has more than 10 million members and supporters, with a global staff of nearly 8000, supported by 5000 volunteers.

 In response to an approach by ACAP Latest News BirdLife’s Chief Executive, Patricia Zurita has replied, offering the support of the partnership for this year’s inauguration of a World Albatross Day.  She writes to ACAP Latest News, fittingly on the United Nations’ International Day of Women and Girls in Science: “Besides being a stark reminder of the beauty of the natural world, albatrosses act as indicators of ocean health.  Only by united action will we accomplish the change needed to secure a future for these birds and the habitats they depend on.  As a global partnership of conservation organisations, BirdLife International therefore fully supports the inauguration of World Albatross Day”.

Cleo Small

Cleo Small, Head of the BirdLife International Marine Programme (and who is a member of ACAP’s Seabird Bycatch Working Group) has also written in support: “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”.

Maria Dias on Bugio Island, Ilhas Desertas, Portugal

Maria Dias, Marine Science Coordinator at BirdLife International adds: “Albatrosses are one of the most threatened groups of animals.  Two thirds of the species suffer from predation by invasive alien species at their colonies, and almost all species are affected by fisheries bycatch while at sea.  World Albatross Day provides an excellent opportunity to raise awareness on the conservation problems faced by these fascinating birds”.

Six national BirdLife partners, all in countries which are Parties to the Albatross and Petrel Agreement, have already offered their support for ‘WAD2020’.  They are Australia, France, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom.  ACAP will keep close contact with the BirdLife partnership over marking the very first World Albatross Day come 19 June.

With thanks to Nina da Rocha, Project Officer, Albatross Task Force, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 February 2020

A Laysan Albatross feeds its chick on Mexico's Guadalupe Island, photograph by J.A. Soriano, GECI

The Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C. (GECI) is a Mexican environmental civil society organization whose mission is the comprehensive restoration of the islands of Mexico and the conservation of their species.  Since its founding in 1998, in strong partnership with the Mexican Government, in particular with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the National Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO), and the Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR), GECI has worked towards reducing threats facing the country’s islands by eradicating introduced species on them.  A few of Mexico’s offshore and remote islands, Guadalupe, Alijos, Clarión and San Benedicto - all Protected Areas under management by CONANP - support mainly small breeding populations of Near Threatened Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis – the most easterly of the species’ wide distribution in the North Pacific.

ACAP Latest News got in touch recently with GECI’s Executive Director, Federico Méndez-Sánchez, who quickly replied, expressing enthusiastic support for the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June this year.  At ALN’s request Federico and two of his senior colleagues have written, fittingly in both English and Spanish, describing some of their conservation work on their albatross islands.

Federico explains: “For over 20 years, Mexico has undertaken significant actions to protect and conserve the Laysan Albatross. Keeping its breeding colonies in Mexico free from island pests has been one of the most relevant conservation actions. Particularly, great efforts have been made on Guadalupe Island to eliminate predation by feral cats on Laysan Albatrosses. In 2003, we started cat control around breeding colonies; in 2014 we installed a cat-exclusion fence in the southern part of the island, thus liberating 62 hectares from the threat.  Finally, in 2017 we began with an island-wide cat eradication campaign, aiming to have a cat-free Guadalupe Island by 2021. Thanks to these conservation actions, the Laysan Albatross population on Guadalupe Island is growing and considating as the most important breeding colony for the species in the eastern Pacific.”

“Por más de 20 años, México ha realizado importantes acciones para proteger y conservar al albatros de Laysan, siendo una acción muy relevante el mantener libres de especies exóticas invasoras las colonias reproductivas de esta especie. En particular, en Isla Guadalupe se han realizado grandes esfuerzos para eliminar la depredación del gato feral sobre el albatros: en el año 2003 se inició el control poblacional de gato feral alrededor de las colonias reproductivas de albatros; en el 2014 se instaló un cerco de exclusión de gatos en la parte sur de la isla, generando 62 hectáreas libres de esta amenaza; en 2017 inició la erradicación de gatos en toda la isla, misma que culminará en 2021. Gracias a estas acciones de conservación, la población de albatros de Laysan en Isla Guadalupe está creciendo y consolidándose como la colonia reproductiva más importante de pacífico oriental”.

Federico’s colleague, Yuliana Bedolla-Guzmán, is the group’s Marine Birds Project Director. She writes: “Guadalupe Island has become the main breeding site for the Laysan Albatross in the eastern Pacific. Its population has steadily increased since its first record in 1983. Nowadays, there are over 1400 breeding pairs nesting on Guadalupe and two of its islets: Morro Prieto and Zapato. Here, its breeding success is one of the highest recorded globally for the species (74-83%). Guadalupe Island has its own peculiarities as a breeding site: its height and temperate climate; its proximity to nutrient-rich productive zones, such as the California Current where the albatrosses feed during the breeding season; and less plastic pollution. These characteristics make Guadalupe Island an ideal home for the Laysan Albatross to support the conservation of the species at a global scale”.

“Isla Guadalupe se ha convertido en el principal sitio de anidación del albatros de Laysan en el pacífico oriental. Su población ha estado en constante crecimiento desde su primer registro en 1983. Actualmente, la población es de más de 1,400 parejas reproductivas entre Isla Guadalupe y sus islotes Morro Prieto y Zapato. Aquí, su éxito reproductivo es de los más altos registrados para esta especie a nivel mundial (74-83%). Isla Guadalupe presenta particularidades únicas como colonia de anidación: su imponente altura y clima templado; la cercanía a zonas de alta productividad oceánica como la corriente de california, en donde se alimentan en temporada reproductiva; y menor contaminación de plásticos en el mar. Todas estas características hacen que Isla Guadalupe sea el hogar ideal de los albatros y una alternativa para la conservación de esta especie a nivel mundial”.

Julio Hernández-Montoya, GECI’s Guadalupe Island Project Director, has his say: “Congratulations to albatrosses on their day!  It is a special day for everyone who has ever had the opportunity to interact with these marvellous birds.  For the last 13 years, I have had the pleasure to admire their extraordinary fortitude, dedication to their nest, commitment to their partner, tender care for their chicks, spirit of freedom and courage during their feeding trips, great lessons of survival to allow chicks to fledge from their nests, and an astonishing love for their birthplace.  These traits never cease to amaze me and have shaped the way I see the world.  It is a commitment for me and my colleagues in Mexico to continue working to conserve these majestic birds so that they continue to fill the skies of the world with inspiration, wonder and beauty”.

“¡Muchas felicidades a los albatros en su día! Es un día especial para todas las personas que hemos tenido la oportunidad de conocer e interactuar con estas maravillosas aves. Durante estos últimos 13 años, he tenido la dicha de admirar su inagotable nobleza, extraordinaria fortaleza, dedicación al nido, compromiso con su pareja, tiernos y sutiles cuidados a las crías, incansable espíritu de libertad, valentía y arrojo en sus viajes de alimentación, grandes lecciones de sobrevivencia para que los pollos abandonen el nido, y un asombroso apego al lugar donde nacen. Todas estas características no dejan de asombrarme año tras año y han formado parte de mi manera de ver el mundo. Es un compromiso para mí y mis colegas en México, el continuar conservando estas majestuosas aves para que sigan llenando de inspiración, asombro y belleza los cielos del mundo.”

Federico holds a Townsend's Shearwater Puffinus auricularis on Socorro Island, Yuliana is holding a Black-vented Shearwater P. opisthomelas on San Benito Oeste Island, and Julio is recording calls from an inquisitive Laysan Alabatross on Zapato Islet, next to Guadalupe Island.

Although Mexico is a breeding range state for an ACAP-listed species, it is not a Party to the Agreement.  However, delegates from Mexico have attended and contributed to past ACAP meetings as observers and contacts are maintained between the ACAP Secretariat and Mexican officials.

With thanks to Federico Méndez-Sánchez, GECI Executive Director.  All photographs by J.A. Soriano, GECI

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 February 2020

Sooty Shearwater, Photograph from West Coast Penguin Trust

Colin Miskelly (Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand) and colleagues have published in the ornithological journal Notornis on a survey of burrowing petrels on islands in Fiordland, New Zealand.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Forty breeding colonies of three petrel species were found on 35 of 71 islands surveyed in southern Fiordland, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand, in November and December 2017. Almost all islands in Chalky Inlet, Preservation Inlet, Cunaris Sound, Long Sound, and Isthmus Sound were surveyed. Sooty shearwater (Ardenna grisea) was the most widespread and abundant species, with an estimated 23,425 burrows on 25 islands. Broad-billed prions (Pachyptila vittata) were breeding on nine islands (9,940 burrows estimated), and mottled petrels (Pterodroma inexpectata) on five islands (1,240 burrows estimated). This is a 3-fold increase in the number of petrel colonies in Chalky and Preservation Inlets and associated waterways identified in published accounts, and the first estimate of the number of burrows on each island. Long-term survival of most of these colonies is dependent on ongoing control of stoats (Mustela erminea) on islands in these southern fjords. The persistence of remnant petrel colonies on small islands is probably due to stoats being infrequent invaders that are unable to persist when migratory petrels depart at the end of the breeding season.”

Read a popular account of the publication.

Reference:

Miskelly, C.M., Bishop, C.R., Taylor, G.A. & Tennyson, A.J.D. 2019. Breeding petrels of Chalky and Preservation Inlets, southern Fiordland – a test of the ‘refugia from resident stoats’ hypothesis.  Notornis 66: 74-90.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 February 2020

Ana Carneiro (BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK) and colleagues have published open access in the Journal of Applied Ecology on new developments in mapping the distribution of Southern Ocean seabirds.

The paper’s abstract follows

“1. The identification of geographic areas where the densities of animals are highest across their annual cycles is a crucial step in conservation planning.  In marine environments, however, it can be particularly difficult to map the distribution of species, and the methods used are usually biased towards adults, neglecting the distribution of other life-history stages even though they can represent a substantial proportion of the total population.

2. Here we develop a methodological framework for estimating population-level density distributions of seabirds, integrating tracking data across the main life-history stages (adult breeders and non-breeders, juveniles and immatures).  We incorporate demographic information (adult and juvenile/immature survival, breeding frequency and success, age at first breeding) and phenological data (average timing of breeding and migration) to weight distribution maps according to the proportion of the population represented by each life-history stage.

3. We demonstrate the utility of this framework by applying it to 22 species of albatrosses and petrels that are of conservation concern due to interactions with fisheries.  Because juveniles, immatures and non-breeding adults account for 47–81% of all individuals of the populations analysed, ignoring the distributions of birds in these stages leads to biased estimates of overlap with threats, and may misdirect management and conservation efforts. Population-level distribution maps using only adult distributions underestimated exposure to longline fishing effort by 18–42%, compared with overlap scores based on data from all life-history stages.

4. Synthesis and applications.  Our framework synthesizes and improves on previous approaches to estimate seabird densities at sea, is applicable for data-poor situations, and provides a standard and repeatable method that can be easily updated as new tracking and demographic data become available.  We provide scripts in the R language and a Shiny app to facilitate future applications of our approach.  We recommend that where sufficient tracking data are available, this framework be used to assess overlap of seabirds with at-sea threats such as overharvesting, fisheries bycatch, shipping, offshore industry and pollutants.  Based on such an analysis, conservation interventions could be directed towards areas where they have the greatest impact on populations.”

With thanks to Richard Phillips, British Antarctic Survey.

Reference:

Carneiro, A.P.B., Pearman, E.J., Oppel, S., Clay, T.A., Phillips, R.A., Bonnet-Lebrun, A.-S. et al. 2020.  A framework for mapping the distribution of Southern Ocean seabirds across life-history stages, by integrating tracking, demography and phenology.  Journal of Applied Ecology  doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13568.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 February 2020