An ACAP-listed and Endangered Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi has made an unusual flight after recently being found injured off the Kaikoura coast of New Zealand’s South Island.  Air New Zealand gave the bird a free ticket to Wellington in the North Island for specialist treatment by the city zoo’s animal hospital, The Nest Te Kohanga.

The albatross was captured by fishers who thought it had a broken wing.  It was initially treated at VetCARE Kaikoura where it weighed less than 5 kg, below the average of 6 - 9 kg for the species.  X-rays were taken of the damaged wing before it was immobilised with a bandage and given pain relief before being transported.

The injured Northern Royal Albatross from Kaikoura

VetCARE’s Tom Dunnett and Department of Conservation Ranger Jody Weir treat the injured Northern Royal Albatross

The bird found off Kaikoura is thought likely to be from the Chatham Islands as it did not have any bands that would have identified it as coming from the mainland colony at Taiaroa Head near Dunedin.

Air New Zealand has a partnership with the Department of Conservation for transporting threatened species between regional centres as part of an active recovery programme.

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 November 2015

Regular readers of ACAP Latest News will know of Wisdom the 60-something Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis, the oldest known albatross in the World (click here).  Wisdom, a female first banded on the USA’s Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 1956 in adult plumage, failed at the egg stage last breeding season after a number of successful years (click here) but she and her banded partner are now back for yet another go.  Because Laysan Albatrosses do not return to breed until they are at least five years old, it is estimated that Wisdom is at least 64 years old, but she could well be even older.

Wisdom and her mate were first spotted on 19 November by Kiah Walker, a Midway volunteer.  Following mating they have now left the island for sea but are expected back when their egg will be laid (click here).

Wisdom and mate at their nest site, November 2015, photographs by Kiah Walker

“Although Laysan albatrosses typically mate for life, Wisdom has likely had more than one mate and has raised as many as 36 chicks.  Laying only one egg per year, a breeding albatross and their mate will spend approximately six months rearing and feeding their young.  When not tending to their chicks, albatross forage hundreds of miles out at sea periodically returning with meals of squid or flying fish eggs. Wisdom has likely clocked over six million ocean miles of flight time.”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 November 2015

So far five of the 10 translocated Vulnerable Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandvicensis chicks have fledged following hand feeding on the USA’s Hawaiian island of Kauai.  The chicks had been moved from their mountain breeding sites (where they are at risk to feral cats Felis catus) to an area surrounded by a predator-proof fence within the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (click here).

Within the secure area artificial burrows had been prepared and a drip irrigation system set up to help establish native vegetation within the Nihoku part of the refuge.  The project also involves restoring native habitat in what was once an area full of invasive and non-native plants.

Marilou Knight removes a translocated Hawaiian Petrel chick for feeding in the Nihoku fenced area

A partially downy Hawaiian Petrel chick

Photographs by Andre Raine, Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project

Click here to read how the birds have been cared for and fed by Robby Kohley and Marilou Knight of Pacific Rim Conservation on a slurry of squid and fish until fledging.

The translocation effort is being led on the ground by Pacific Rim Conservation; Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project; Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge and the American Bird Conservancy.  The National Tropical Botanical Garden provided important assistance with vegetation restoration at the translocation site.  The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation provided funding support.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 November 2015

Taiaroa Head on the Otago Peninsula of New Zealand’s South Island is one of the very few places in the World where breeding albatrosses can be viewed by the general public without a sea voyage to an oceanic island.  The locality supports a small population of Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi.  News is in that a total of 108 birds has returned for the new breeding season with 32 nests established so far (click here).

A pair of Northern Royal Albatrosses display, photograph courtesy of the Royal Albatross Centre 

Northern Royal Albatross and chick at Taiaroa Head, photograph by Lyndon Perriman

In recent years about 30-35 pairs have attempted to breed annually at the locality.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 November 2015