An Endangered Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi with an injured left eye and in poor body condition found at Moa Point, near Wellington’s Airport, New Zealand last week was taken to Wellington Zoo by Department of Conservation workers.  The zoo’s avian specialist, Dr Baukje Lenting and her team operated on the injured bird in the veterinary hospital The Nest Te Kōhanga on Friday.

"The injured eye was too damaged to recover, so it was removed … to prevent the risk of infection."  A spokeswoman for the zoo said the bird was thought to be a female but vets were still working out its gender.  The zoo plans to nurse the bird back to full health and weight before releasing it back into the wild.

Read more here.  The Wellington Zoo's hospital has previously treated a Northern Royal Albatross that had an injured wing (click here). 

There are several cases of seemingly healthy one-eyed albatrosses, of at least four species, being photographed in the wild (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 January 2016

The Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) informs of a new funding opportunity.  The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund supports the protection of endangered species.

The grant promotes objectives that are consistent with those of the Convention and its specialized agreements, such as ACAP, and may thus provide a source of funding to assist the CMS Family with the implementation of conservation activities on the ground.

The Secretariat encourages Parties to the Convention and partner organizations to propose projects that contribute to the implementation of any plans, actions or initiatives developed under CMS and its instruments, and will strive to support these proposals with letters of endorsement.

White-capped Albatross, photograph by Graham Parker

The deadline for applying for this grant is 29 February 2016. Instructions for applicants can be found here.

Anyone who is eligible and interested in submitting a project proposal to the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund that supports CMS goals is kindly asked to contact:

Laura Cerasi, Associate Partnerships and Fundraising Officer, UNEP/CMS Secretariat, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 January 2016

The 106-ha island of Skokholm lies off the coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales.  It first operated as a bird observatory in 1933, and is currently owned and administered by The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.

The observatory’s seabird report for 2015 is now available.  It gives detailed information of ongoing monitoring of the island’s breeding populations of Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus (the World’s third largest), Arctic Fulmars Fulmarus glacialis and European Storm Petrels Hydrobates pelagicus.

Manx Shearwater chick approaching fledging, photograph by Jaclyn Pearson

 Skokholm is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.  The surrounding waters are a marine reserve and together form part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.  The island became a national nature reserve in December 2008.  Along with the nearby island of Skomer the island is an Important Bird Area designated by BirdLife International.

Reference:

[Anon 2015]. Skokholm Bird Observatory Seabird Report 2015.  [Bridgend]: The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.  50 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 January 2016

Following on from the news of incubating Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis being killed and their eggs smashed by night-time human intruder(s) at the Kaena Point colony on the Hawaiian island of Oahu on 27 December, Pacific Rim Conservation reports:

“There was a miraculous survivor of the attacks at Kaena Point - the egg pictured with the dead parent in our previous post was still alive despite being exposed and parent-less for close to two days.  We put the egg in another nest whose egg was infertile.  As of today [6 January], the egg is still alive and being incubated by its new foster parents pictured below.  While they destroyed 17 nests and an unknown number of adults, there are still 55 nests going strong.”

 A mutilated Laysan Albatross corpse lies next to the egg which survived

The rescued egg under a foster parent

Photographs by Pacific Rim Conservation  

ACAP Latest News will continue to report developments with this shocking incident as news emerges.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 January 2016