Candling of Near Threatened Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis eggs by Pacific Rim Conservation has commenced to determine which will be selected for translocation next year from the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) at Barking Sands, Kauai to the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu in the USA’s Hawaiian Islands.  Twenty of 24 eggs candled so far were deemed to be fertile (click here).  This is the second of three planned seasons to establish a new breeding colony.  Ten hand-fed chicks hatched from artificially-incubated eggs successfully fledged earlier this year (click here and follow the string backwards).

A candled Laysan Albatross egg shows a developing embryo

Photograph by Pacific Rim Conservation

“PMRF’s runway area has swift wind conditions and wide, open topography that make for perfect albatross breeding terrain.  The problem is that the birds pose a collision hazard in the runway zone, putting themselves, the aircraft and flight crews at risk.”  Because of this about 70 eggs are removed annually.  Some of the fertile eggs have been given to incubating birds elsewhere on Kauai that have infertile eggs, some laid by female-female pairs.  Along with removing eggs from the runway area about 200 birds are moved each year to elsewhere on the island.  Read more on the translocation of Laysan Albatrosses and their eggs here.

Meanwhile on Kauai the last of 10 translocated Vulnerable Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandvicensis chicks have fledged from the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.  Read more on this exercise here.

A translocated Hawaiian Petrel chick approaches fledging, photograph by Andre Raine

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 December 2015

Harry Carter (Carter Biological Consulting, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) and Spenser Sealy have written in the British Columbian journal Wildlife Afield on historical records of Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatrosses Phoebastria albatrus in North American waters.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“We collated historical records of Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) in British Columbia and Washington to better describe occurrence prior to 1958.  The earliest records were obtained off the outer coasts of Washington and Oregon between 1841 and 1857.  Almost annual occurrence in the Juan de Fuca Strait region from 1862 to 1896 was documented through 14 records of 20 individuals with sporadic observer effort.  Only 1 record was recorded outside Juan de Fuca Strait at this time, west of Haida Gwaii in 1896.  A massive reduction in the global population that once stood at over 1 million individuals occurred in the mid-1890s.  From 1897 to 1907, sporadic occurrences likely occurred, based on a 1907 record in the Juan de Fuca Strait region and 1898 and 1904 records in California.  The species was apparently absent from British Columbia, Washington, and the rest of the northeastern Pacific from 1907 to 1940, reflecting near extinction between 1920 and the 1950s.  From 1940 to 1958, it was not reported in British Columbia and Washington but 4 records were obtained elsewhere in the northeastern Pacific.  Beginning in 1958 in British Columbia (but not until 1993 in Washington), the species was again recorded sporadically, following limited recovery at breeding colonies.  Since 1994, more observation effort indicated that Short-tailed Albatrosses occurred annually in British Columbia.”

Short-tailed Albatross at sea, photograph by Aleks Terauds

With thanks to Ken Morgan for information.

Reference:

Carter, H.R. & Sealy, S.G. 2014.  Historical occurrence of the Short-tailed Albatross in British Columbia and Washington, 1841–1958.  Wildlife Afield 11: 24-38.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 December 2015

The Tasmanian Albatross Fund aims to raise money to help support monitoring and conservation of the Near Threatened Shy Albatross Thalassarche cauta, endemic to three small islands off the coast of Australia’s Tasmania. It also helps fund ongoing education and outreach activities.

To support the fund, photographer Matthew Newton and artist Richard Wastell spent 10 days ashore on Albatross Island last year.  They have compiled an exhibition “On Albatross Island” of the works they produced which opened last month in the Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania and will continue until 3 April next year.  It is accompanied by a similar exhibition aimed at children named “Albatrossity”.  The exhibition will then open in the Moonah Arts Centre on 23 April in Hobart.

Photographer Matthew Newton and artist Richard Wastell set up the exhibition

  Exhibition photographs from Albatross Island by Matthew Newton

Charcoal drawing of a Shy Albatross chick by Richard Wastell

Only five persons are allowed at a time on Albatross Island when monitoring is underway and access is strictly forbidden at all other times to prevent the introduction of diseases, feral animals and other potential threats.

Read more about research on Albatross Island and about the exhibition here and here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 16 December 2015

The Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan, a potential candidate for ACAP listing, is endemic to the Mediterranean.  Its global status assessment is complicated by the fact that little information exists for the species from Turkey; although birds pass through the Bosphorus from the Mediterranean into the Black Sea every year on migration.

Yelkouan Shearwater, photograph by Alex Olle

“The spectacular migration in the Bosphorus, which occurs in early February, is a total mystery.  Except that they occur in high numbers, very little is known about these birds passing the Bosphorus, such as where are they coming from and going to.  The most interesting part of the migration is the synchrony of thousands of birds; they all pass in a very short time” (click here).

The Yelkouan Shearwater Project–Turkey has monitored this migration for the last five years with 90 000 counted in 2014 (click here).  The project is now organizing the third Coastal Count Marathon over 1 - 7 February 2016 with a call for volunteers to help with counting.

Volunteer here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 December 2015