An adult Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis blind in its left eye has been seen in the north-east of Kauai, one of the USA’s Hawaiian Islands, for the last two breeding seasons.  The bird has been observed courting on a private property but had not as yet commenced breeding (click here).

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One eye good enough? The courting bird on the right is half blind, photographs by Hob Osterlund

It has now returned to the island for the third year in a row.  The bird was seen to be engaging in brief courtship activities and calling to birds flying by.  It will be interesting to see if it is successful in attracting a partner this time.  It is thought that the blindness, and a minor cossed bill, could have been caused by avian pox contracted from mosquitoes when the albatross was a young chick – which would mean it had survived for several years with only one good eye before becoming a prospecting adult.

With thanks to Hob Osterlund for information and the photographs.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 March 2015

ACAP Latest News has been receiving daily reports by e-mail of progress with helicopter baiting the southern part of South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* as Phase 3 of the ambitious plan by the South Georgia Heritage Trust to eradicate rodents over the whole island moves towards completion.

Team Rat’s latest report for 14 March is given below in full.  With 80% of the Phase 3 target area baited and the smaller species of birds returning, things are starting to look positive for success, following a long period of poor weather that did not allow flying this and last month.

Air-lifting bait pods to the island

“Dawn this morning revealed that rare thing on South Georgia - a clear, starry sky - and Team Rat was in the air shortly afterwards, heading for the southernmost FOB at Wirik Bay to see if conditions were similarly promising there. They were.

And so started a bad day for some of the most southerly rats in the world.   We sowed 26 pods from that site, completed an area of land we're calling Cooper East, and started Cooper Island before wind and rain swept in and brought a rapid end to events by early evening. In the three weeks prior to Friday we managed just 20% of the Phase 3 target, and anxiety was beginning to creep in, but in the past 3 days we have suddenly jumped another 20%, and now stand at just over 80% of the target accomplished.”

“Today in front of Larsen House I saw a flock of four pipits [South Georgia Pipit Anthus antarcticus]- further confirmation that this charming SG endemic is coming back in strength as a result of the Habitat Restoration Project.  And, on the water not 10 metres away from the pipits, all day long I've been entranced by 15 Wilson's storm petrels [Oceanites oceanicus]. Just like the pipits, storm petrels can't breed successfully when rats are present, and this unprecedented number of birds in front of the base here at KEP [King Edward Point]  may well indicate that the species is already exploring local scree slopes for future nesting opportunities.  The birds really are reclaiming this island, even while we're still here finishing the job of removing their persecutors.”

Wilson's Storm Petrel, Photograph by Tony Martin

Baiting on the afternoon of the 15th following a night and morning of bad weather has now taken coverage up to 84%.  Team Rat reports "another one and a half days flying should see us done - we have about 45 loads of bait left to spread."  Poor weather again stopped flying on the 16th, but good weather is forecast for the coming weekend.  Let's hope so!

Click here to access Team Rat’s monthly newsletters.

With thanks to Anthony Martin, Director, South Georgia Habitat Restoration Project for information and photographs.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 March 2015

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

Two-egg clutches in albatrosses are rare but are not unknown for several species.  For Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses Thalassarche chlororhynchos they have been recorded at levels (0.1-1.0%) higher than for several other albatrosses.  They are thought always to be due to two females laying eggs in the same nest, and never due to a single female laying two eggs in a single season.

Chris Jones and Michelle Risi, field researchers currently on Gough Island with the University of Cape Town’s FitzPatrick Institute, have reported to ACAP Latest News on the unusual case of a two-chick brood for the species as follows.

A CatTraQ GPS tracker was deployed on a female Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross (sexed assumed from culmen measurement) on a nest containing two eggs on 17 November last year.  On 3 December the assumed male was observed to be brooding two chicks.  The tracker was removed from the female on 9 December while it was sitting next to the brooding male.  The two chicks were together in the nest bowl until at least 15 December when they were photographed.  By 19 December the smaller of the two chicks had fallen out of the nest and by 21 December the nest site was deserted.

The Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross two-chick brood, photographs by Chris Jones and Michelle Risi

There is a single previous published record of two Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross chicks in the same nest, with one chick dying during hatching that was observed on Inaccessible Island.  Whether the remaining, and older, chick survived to fledging was not reported.  The Gough observation is thus still the first record of the species managing to successfully hatch two eggs in the same nest.

Apparent two-chick broods have been occasionally reported for Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis but this seems to be mainly due to a neighbouring chick “moving in” and becoming adopted once old enough to walk away from its own nest site, rather than as a result of two eggs being laid in the same nest.  Their often tall pedestal nests would presumably not allow this to happen with Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses, or likely, with any other mollymauk albatross of the genus Thalassarche.

Two-egg clutches have been reported for both Laysan and for Short-tailed P. albatrus Albatrosses from time to time as a result of female-female pairs.  These eggs are usually infertile and one of them is often lost early on in incubation (click here).  However, Hob Osterlund has reported to ALN: “a few years ago there was a two-chick LAAL [Laysan Albatross] nest on Kauai.  F-F [female-female] parents, both eggs candled as fertile, chicks hatched in same nest.  Neither survived to fledge.”

Two-chick Laysan Albatross brood on Kauai, photographs by Hob Osterlund

It seems probable that rearing two chicks to fledging is not possible for a single albatross pair; certainly it seems that it has not been recorded.  But if a case comes up, ALN will report it!

With thanks to Chris Jones, Margaret Koopman, Hob Osterlund, Michelle Risi and Peter Ryan for information and photographs.

Selected Literature:

Fraser, M.W., Ryan, P G. & Watkins, B.P. 1988.  The seabirds of Inaccessible Island, South Atlantic Ocean. Cormorant 16: 7-33.

Ryan, P.G., Cuthbert, R. & Cooper, J. 2007.  Two-egg clutches among albatrosses.  Emu 107: 210-213.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 March 2015

The Departament Biologia Animal (Vertebrats) of Spain’s Universitat de Barcelona has recently published a manual in Spanish to help reduce seabird bycatch when longline fishing entitled “Manual de buenas practicas en la pesca de palangre de fondo” (click here).  This best-practice manual (click here to download the PDF) has been produced by the university’s Jacob González Solís and PhD student Vero Cortés.

A Yelkouan Shearwater caught on a longline, photograph by Vero Cortés

In the Mediterranean, the problem of longline bycatch particularly affects the ACAP-listed and Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus which only breeds on Spanish islands, as well the other two shearwaters that occur in the Mediterranean: Yelkouan P. yelkouan and Scopoli’s Calonectris diomedea.

Balearic Shearwater

Yelkouan Shearwaters

Scopoli's Shearwater

Photographs by Pep Arcos

A press release in English “Non-hooked birds: how to avoid seabird bycatch in the Mediterranean?” is also available. It states that “[n]ight setting; bird scaring lines; weighted branchlines that sink rapidly; fish offal and bait covered on board so it doesn’t attract seabirds to the boats; deck lights kept at the minimum level, and discards not thrown back into the sea” are some of the best strategies to avoid seabird bycatch in longline fisheries in the Mediterranean (click here).

A bird-scaring line, photograph by Vero Cortés

Two relevant videos in Spanish have also been produced by the university team:

Anzuelos sin aves: el sur del Levante español and Anzuelos sin pájaros.

The manual is a product of a scientific project undertaken at the University of Barcelona, with the collaboration of SEO/BirdLife.

Click here for a related ACAP Latest News item.

With thanks to Vero Cortés for information and photographs.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 March 2015