Jaimie Cleeland (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia) and colleagues have written in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series on the results of at-sea tracking of the four species of albatrosses that breed at Australia’s sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Differences in habitat use of sympatric species is influenced by variability in functional morphology and life history trade-offs and is expected to shape species resilience to environmental change.  To determine differences in year-round habitat use and gain insight into how morphological and life history traits influence foraging of an albatross community from subantarctic Macquarie Island (54.6° S, 158.9° E), we quantified the physical features associated with high residence time for 10 black-browed, Thalassarche melanophris; 10 grey-headed, T. chrysostoma; 15 light-mantled, Phoebetria palpebrata; and 12 wandering albatrosses, Diomedea exulans tracked in 1994-2009.  Overlap among the four species was greatest close to the island during the breeding season, extending north into the Tasman Sea.  Nevertheless, black-browed albatrosses ranged more locally than the other species, perhaps because they have a shorter breeding cycle and morphological traits that result in less efficient flight and greater capacity to outcompete other species for prey.  Nonbreeding albatrosses showed high variability in habitat use across wide ocean expanses, but all used productive frontal regions and mesoscale eddies.  Increased residence times during the breeding and nonbreeding periods were associated with moderate wind speeds for all species (excluding breeding black-browed albatrosses), indicating that birds used areas where aerodynamic performance was enhanced.  Given patterns in residence time at sea, and the functional and life history adaptations of each species, we suggest that black-browed albatross breeding on Macquarie Island will be more vulnerable to expected future climate-driven changes to wind patterns in the Southern Ocean, and potential latitudinal shifts in the Subantarctic Front.”

A Wandering Albatross stands over its nest on Macquarie Island, photograph by Kate Lawrence

With thanks to Richard Phillips, British Antarctic Survey.

Reference:

Cleeland, J.B., Alderman, R., Bindoff, A., Lea, M.-A., McMahon, C.R., Phillips, R.A., Raymond, B., Sumner, M.D., Terauds, A., Wotherspoon, S.J. & Hindell, M.A. 2019.  Factors influencing the habitat use of sympatric albatrosses from Macquarie Island.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 609: 221-237.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 February 2019

Lauren Roman (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia) and colleagues have reviewed open access in the online journal Scientific Reports levels of marine debris found in collected corpses of 51 procellariiform seabird species from the Australasian region, including a number of ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Procellariiform seabirds are both the most threatened bird group globally, and the group with the highest incidence of marine debris ingestion. We examined the incidence and ecological factors associated with marine debris ingestion in Procellariiformes by examining seabirds collected at a global seabird hotspot, the Australasian - Southern Ocean boundary. We examined marine debris ingestion trends in 1734 individuals of 51 Procellariform species, finding significant variation in the incidence of marine debris abundance among species. Variation in the incidence of marine debris ingestion between species was influenced by the taxonomy, foraging ecology, diet, and foraging range overlaps with oceanic regions polluted with marine debris.  Among the ecological drivers of marine debris ingestion variability in Procellariiformes, we demonstrate that the combination of taxonomy, foraging method, diet, and exposure to marine debris are the most important determinants of incidence of ingestion. We use these results to develop a global forecast for Procellariiform taxa at the risk of highest incidence of marine debris ingestion. We find seabirds that forage at the surface; especially by surface seizing, diving and filtering, those with a crustacean dominant diet, and those that forage in or near marine debris hotspots are at highest risk of debris ingestion. We predict that family with the highest risk are the storm petrels (Hydrobatidae and Oceanitidae). We demonstrate that the greater the exposure of high-risk groups to marine debris while foraging, the greater the incidence and number of marine debris items will be ingested.”

Plastic fragments are removed from the stomach of a Flesh-footed Shearwater, photograph by Ian Dutton

Reference:

Roman, L., Bell, E., Wilcox, C., Hardesty, B.D. & Hindell, M. 2019.  Ecological drivers of marine debris ingestion in procellariiform seabirds.  Scientific Reports 9: 916.  DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37324-w.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 February 2019

An Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarchi carteri was photographed ashore after first being seen in fllght on Gough Island in the South Atlantic on 17 January this year, resting among breeding Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses T. chlororhynchos - from which it was distinguished by its paler head, as well as by other diagnostic features. This is the first record of the globally Endangered species for Gough, far from its breeding grounds on French and South African sub-Antarctic islands in the southern Indian Ocean (click here).

The vagrant Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross ashore on Gough Island, 17 January 2019; despite efforts to resight and band, it has not been seen again

The vagrant Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross with its paler head is on the right, next to an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross. On landing it engaged in bill fencing with an Atlantic Yellow-nosed but no other displays were noted

Photographs by Christopher Jones

A recent review of breeding-site vagrancy in albatrosses did not include any records for the Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross.  Fledglings from South Africa’s Prince Edward Island (and at least two adults) have been occasionally seen ashore away from albatross colonies on nearby Marion Island, where they do not breed (click here).  The 2007 Tristan-Gough field guide lists the species only as a “possible vagrant”.  However, more recently it has been reported that Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses have “been spotted around Tristan da Cunha at sea” (click here)

Read more here.

With thanks to Chris Jones and Michelle Risi for information and use of photographs.

References:

Phillips, R.A., Cooper, J. & Burg, T.M. 2018.  Breeding‐site vagrancy and hybridization in albatross.  Ibis 160: 907-913.

Ryan, P.G. (Ed.). 2007.  Field Guide to the Animals and Plants of Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island.  Newbury: Pisces Publications.  162 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 February 2019, updated 13 February 2019

The BirdLife International Marine Programme has commenced a new initiative to increase awareness of the conservation threats faced by albatrosses by setting up nest cameras that take hourly still photographs to follow the breeding cycles of four South Atlantic species.  The cameras, set up in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey, will record the birds’ breeding seasons from eggs being laid to chicks fledging from the nest.  These Southern Ocean albatrosses, three of which are considered globally threatened, are Wandering Diomedea exulans, Grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma, Black-browed T. melanophris and Light-mantled Phoebetria palpebrata.

Georgia Darby of BirdLife International has written to ACAP Latest News: “#'AlbatrossStories' is a communications project which will run throughout 2019, aiming to raise awareness of albatross species and the threats they face.  The cameras have been set up on Bird Island, South Georgia [Islas Georgias del Sur]*, which will follow four specially chosen albatross.  We will follow the lives of these birds on social media, as they find their partners, breed and raise their chicks. We will also involve schools in the project through running a competition to name the birds, and various creative writing and drawing competitions throughout the year too. We hope that by capturing the public imagination with these amazing birds, both in the UK, and in Japan, Taiwan and China where the project is also running, we can raise awareness of these amazing birds, and encourage their conservation and protection out at sea.”

Follow #AlbatrossStories on Facebook (Albatross Task Force), Instagram (@albatross_stories) or Twitter (@albytaskforce).

The four Bird Island ‘albicams’ complement two live-streaming webcams that have followed the breeding efforts of Near Threatened Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis on the Hawaiian island of Kauai since 2012 (but not operating in 2019 after five years of live streaming; see the  2014-2018 greatest hits) and of globally Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses D. sanfordi at Taiaroa Head on New Zealand’s South Island via the 'Royal Cam' every year since 2015.  You can also follow a globally Endangered Bermuda Petrel or Cahow Pterodroma cahow breeding pair via a ‘burrowcam’ (click here).

With thanks to Georgia Darby, BirdLife International Marine Team, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 February 2019

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.