A juvenile Chatham Albatross Thalassarche eremita banded with black, white-engraved alphanumeric colour band E17 on the right leg and a metal band on the left leg was photographed by Matias Garrido on a pelagic trip run by Albatross Birding and Nature Tours out of Valparaiso, Chile on 10 December (click here for the trip report).

E17 off South America, photograph by Matias Garrido

E17 on its artificial nest prior to fledging, photograph by Danny Burgin

The bird was one of 50 chicks transferred from New Zealand’s Pyramid (the species’ sole breeding site) to Point Gap on the main Chatham Island back in February, part of a Chatham Island Taiko Trust project trying to establish a second colony.  After being fed for two months it fledged in April this year, the third year of the translocation project (click here).  It is intended to continue translocations for a further two years. 

“It’s fantastic to know the transferred chicks can cross the Pacific to spend the winter off South America even though it will still be a few years before birds from the first year [2014] return to the Chathams.”

Information taken from Facebook pages - with thanks.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 December 2016

The 19th Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission’s Scientific Committee was held in Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles over 01-05 December.

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement was represented by Anton Wolfaardt, Convenor of its Seabird Bycatch Working Group.  The Scientific Committee considered a number of seabird-related recommendations from the Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB), which met in September this year (click here).  One of the key recommendations from the WPEB was that when the IOTC Seabird Conservation and Management Measure (Resolution 12/06 On reducing the incidental bycatch of seabirds in longline fisheries) is next reviewed, the line-weighting specifications be updated to conform with the latest ACAP advice.  It further recommended that the two hook-shielding devices recommended by ACAP as best-practice measures be incorporated into a revised IOTC Seabird Conservation and Management Measure as additional mitigation options for use in IOTC fisheries operating south of 25°S (the area of application of Resolution 12/06).

Following consideration of these matters, the Scientific Committee endorsed the WPEB recommendations regarding ACAP’s best-practice advice, and in so doing have provided scientific support for a proposal to update Resolution 12/06.  Such a proposal would need to be submitted by an IOTC Contracting Party to the Commission for their consideration and final adoption.  The next meeting of the IOTC Commission will take place in May 2017.

Anton Wolfaardt, Convenor, ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group, 21 December 2016

She’s back!  ACAP Latest News has mentioned the World’s oldest known bird in no less than 25 news items over the last five years.  Now back on Midway Atoll at an estimated age of 66, Wisdom the Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis just keeps going with yet another egg laid, following on from at least nine chicks successfully fledged since 2006 (click here).

Wisdom this month with her latest egg, photograph from the US Fish & Wildlife Service

Wisdom and her mate in an earlier year, photograph by Pete Leary

Click here to see more of this season's photos of Wisdom.  Her current mate, Akeakamai (Hawaiian for “love of wisdom” ), has also been clocked in for the season.

Biologist Chandler Robbins, now 98, first banded Wisdom – as an adult -in 1956.  Among other oldies, ACAP’s Information Officer enters his eighth decade next month – let’s hope Wisdom follows suit in 2020.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 20 December 2016

Genevieve Jones (FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa) and colleagues have published in the journal Polar Biology on breeding of Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans at South Africa’s Marion Island

The paper’s abstract’s follows:

“South Africa’s Prince Edward Islands support a large proportion (44 %) of the global Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans breeding population, yet most breeding phenology data are recorded from smaller and geographically distant populations. Timing of breeding at Marion Island was remarkably constant across three successive years (2007–2009), providing a good baseline against which future changes can be assessed. Male (but not female) early arrival and presence at the colony during the pre-laying period was positively related to breeding success.  Earlier hatching chicks were more likely to survive, but timing of egg laying and incubation periods did not influence fledging success. Although there was considerable individual variation in breeding phenology, average dates of male arrival, laying and hatching were later at Marion (47_S), Crozet (46_S) and Kerguelen (49_S) than at more southerly Bird Island, South Georgia (54_S).  Earlier breeding at South Georgia may ensure that chicks have time to grow sufficiently to survive harsh winter conditions that set in earlier at South Georgia.”

Wandering Albatrosses - and the author - at Marion Island

With thanks to Genevieve Jones – and for mentioning me in the acknowledgements!

Reference:

Jones, M.G.W., Dilley, B.J., Hagens, Q.A., Louw, H, Mertz, E.M., Visser, P. &. Ryan, P.G. 2016.  Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans breeding phenology at Marion Island.  Polar Biology DOI 10.1007/s00300-016-2042-7.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 December 2016