The ACAP-listed Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis breeds only on Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean.  Since 1994 it has been listed as Critically Endangered.

Following a review the BirdLife International Threatened Seabird Forum has proposed down-listing the threatened species to Endangered due to a “steadily increasing” population (click here).

Amsterdam Albatross, photograph by Scott Shaffer

However, following expert comment arguing for retaining its current threatened status, BirdLife has now proposed that a decision on down-listing will be postponed, allowing for continued discussion into 2017, while leaving the current Red List category of Critically Endangered for the Amsterdam Albatross in place.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 December 2016

BirdLife Australia’s Threatened Species Committee has recognised an improved conservation outlook for eight of the 14 seabird species that breed on Macquarie Island following the success of the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project (MIPEP) in eradicating rodents and rabbits (click here).

This has resulted in an improved threatened status being recommended for three of the four ACAP-listed albatrosses that breed on the island as follows:

Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris:  down-list to Least Concern from Endangered

Grey-headed Albatross T. chrysostoma:  down-list to Endangered from Critically Endangered

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata:  down-list to Least Concern from Endangered

Note that these changes do not affect the species’ global threatened status which currently stay unchanged, nor the categories of threat listed for the species in Australia's  Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The domestic threatened conservation status of the fourth albatross species at Macquarie, the Wandering Diomedea exulans that only breeds in small numbers on the island, remains unchanged.

Grey-headed Albatrosses on Macquarie Island, photograph by Aleks Terauds

Read more here.

With thanks to Rachael Alderman, Stephen Garnett and Keith Springer for information

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 December 2016

The Australian Antarctic Division has reported on research being conducted on the Near Threatened and ACAP-listed Grey Petrel Procellaria cinerea on Macquarie Island, following the successful eradication of the island’s alien mammals (click here).  The island supports a small population of at least 94 breeding pairs.

An incubating Grey Petrel, photograph by Peter Ryan

The AAD’s (slightly edited) report follows:

Scientists on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island have used satellite tags to track the foraging behaviour of a threatened seabird, the Grey Petrel, for the first time.  Parks Wildlife Ranger, Marcus Salton, said researchers have been studying the birds on the island for the past 16 years but until now knew nothing about their at-sea foraging behaviour and habitat use.

“Over winter for the first time we attached small satellite transmitters to 10 adult Grey Petrels to track their movements over more than 100 days.  The results were astounding, showing the birds foraged over a very broad area.  Some flew as far as 3000 km east of Macquarie Island past New Zealand, while other birds foraged several thousand kilometres north-west near to Australia.”

“The tags also show the birds regularly return to their burrows on the island during the breeding season,” Mr Salton said.  “This at-sea foraging data will help identify key feeding grounds for Grey Petrels during their breeding season.

“With this information, we can better manage fisheries interactions with the birds and explore the potential impacts of changing ocean conditions on the health of [Macquarie’s] Grey Petrel population.”

For a similar report click here and here for some photos.

Read more about Macca’s Grey Petrels here.

With thanks to Keith Springer.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 December 2016

Glenn Crossin (Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) and colleagues have published in the journal Antarctic Science on costs of reproduction in annually-breeding Black-browed Thalassarche melanophris and biennially breeding Grey-headed T. chrysostoma Albatrosses based on blood and feather corticosterone levels.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“We investigated the physiology of two closely related albatross species relative to their breeding strategy: black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) breed annually, while grey-headed albatrosses (T. chrysostoma) breed biennially.  From observations of breeding fate and blood samples collected at the end of breeding in one season and feather corticosterone levels (fCort) sampled at the beginning of the next breeding season, we found that in both species some post-breeding physiological parameters differed according to breeding outcome (successful, failed, deferred).  Correlations between post-breeding physiology and fCort, and links to future breeding decisions, were examined.  In black-browed albatrosses, post-breeding physiology and fCort were not significantly correlated, but fCort independently predicted breeding decision the next year, which we interpret as a possible migratory carry-over effect.  In grey-headed albatrosses, post-breeding triglyceride levels were negatively correlated with fCort, but only in females, which we interpret as a potential cost of reproduction.  However, this potential cost did not carry-over to future breeding in the grey-headed albatrosses.  None of the variables predicted future breeding decisions.  We suggest that biennial breeding in the grey-headed albatrosses may have evolved as a strategy to buffer against the apparent susceptibility of females to negative physiological costs of reproduction.  Future studies are needed to confirm this.”

With thanks to Richard Phillips 

Grey-headed Albatrosses, photograph by Rowan Treblico

Reference:

Crossin, G.T., Phillips, R.A., Lattin, C.R., Romero, L.M., Bordeleau, X., Harris, C.M., Love, O.P. & Williams, T.D. 2016.  Costs of reproduction and carry-over effects in breeding albatrosses.  Antarctic Science doi.org/10.1017/S0954102016000560.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 5 December 2016