A Northern Buller’s Albatross off Peru, photograph by Javier Quiñones

Javier Quiñones (Instituto del Mar del Peru) and colleagues have published in the journal Notornis on the occurrence of both subspecies of the Near Threatened Buller’s Albatross Thalassarche bulleri off southern Peru.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The current Buller’s albatross taxa (Thalassarche bulleri bulleri [southern] and T. b. platei [northern]) engage in transpacific migrations from breeding sites on New Zealand offshore islands to non-breeding areas in the south-eastern Pacific Ocean. Both taxa are identifiable from a combination of plumage colour features in the head and bill that are easy to detect at short distance (<15 m). There is also breeding allopatry between the taxa, with the onset of breeding 2.5 months earlier in the ‘northern taxon’. In this study, close-range sightings and captures of lured Buller ́s albatross individuals off southern Perú were carried out during two pelagic trips in May–July 2021 onboard a small- scale longline fishery wooden boat (12 m long), during their normal operations when targeting sharks. We report on the presence of 41 Buller ́s albatross, of which 40 were recognized as ‘northern taxon’ and one as ‘southern taxon’. The great majority of the ‘northern taxon’ were adults (92.5%), with the remaining identified as sub-adults (7.5%). Birds were sighted between 126 and 223 km offshore west-south-west from the port of Ilo, Perú (17°38.64 ́S, 71°20.77 ́W). Birds sighted were preferentially in oceanic areas above the abyssal plain (68% of sightings), with a mean depth of 4,537 m, demonstrating that the ‘northern taxon’ is a truly oceanic species. No birds were observed by us over the continental shelf. Discrimination of ‘northern taxon’ from ‘southern taxon’ is possible from a combination of the plumage colour features in the head and bill. However, identification and comparison of photographs for both taxa taken at sea can be problematic, due to varying light conditions, unless the birds can be drawn close to the photographer using attractants, such as offal discards.”

From the publication: differences between Northern and Southern Buller’s Albatrosses

His publication reported here is an outcome of his ACAP Small Grants project in 2021 entitled “Integrating an onboard observer program and remote tracking data to evaluate the interactions between the small-scale longline fisheries and adult Chatham albatrosses in their wintering grounds off Peru.”

Read about Javier’s -funded secondment in 2022 with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation that included addressing distribution data gaps of Buller’s Albatrosses and other ACAP-listed species and their overlap with the artisanal fishing effort of Peruvian longline, drift gillnet and coastal gillnet fisheries here. Access Javier’s publication on albatrosses and other seabirds in Peruvian waters from here.

A Northern Buller’s Albatross off Peru, photograph by Javier Quiñones

With thanks to Javier Quiñones.

Reference:

Quiñones, J., Zavalaga, C. & Robertson, C.J.R. 2023. Identifying northern Buller ́s albatross (Thalassarche bulleri subsp.) in offshore waters of southern Perú. Notornis 70: 49-59.

18 July 2023

The logo for 'Albatrosses and Petrels: Conservation Education Programme for Primary Schools', created by Oxford Brookes University Masters student, Zoe Jacobs

An international conservation education programme about albatrosses and petrels has been released today as a freely downloadable resource under Educational Resources on the ACAP website. It includes materials for four separate lessons, covering the biology and ecology of albatrosses and petrels, each of their main threats and conservation actions. 

The programme, Albatrosses and Petrels: Conservation Education Programme for Primary Schools, has been produced for use in primary schools (roughly for children aged 9-11) for four of ACAP’s Parties - United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - by aligning with their national school curricula, to assist in achieving Section 6 of ACAP’s Action Plan: Education and Public Awareness.

The programme was created by Zoe Jacobs as part of her MSc in Conservation Ecology at Oxford Brookes University in the UK. Zoe approached ACAP in January of this year with her idea and two requests: would ACAP be able to put her in touch with experts in Procellariiformes who could help review her programme, and could the programme be made available on the website once completed. 

Programme creator, Zoe Jacobs

In a Q & A for ACAP Latest News, ALN asked Zoe about the programme and how she came to create it. 

How did the idea for the programme emerge?

I developed an interest in marine ornithology during my MSc and chose to focus most of my research projects on threatened albatrosses and petrels and their habitats. My bachelor’s degree is in linguistics, and I believe this interest in language led me to become passionate about the importance of scientific communication, education and outreach as a tool for conservation. 

In studying the need for international cooperation for the conservation of migratory, transboundary taxa, such as albatrosses and petrels, I noticed a gap in the research surrounding conservation education for this type of taxa and decided to address it through the creation of this programme for my final MSc dissertation. 

Can you describe the experience of creating the programme? 

Creating this programme has been so interesting and fulfilling for me and I would like to extend a big thank you to all the international experts in education, seabird ecology and conservation - Dr Richard Phillips, Mariëtte Wheeler, Megan Tierney, Glenn Welch, instructors from Aves Argentina, and school teachers from across the world -  who have assisted me to determine the best practices for creating conservation education programmes about transboundary taxa. 

Who is the programme for?

The programme is designed for use by primary school educators in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These countries were chosen as they are four of the Parties to ACAP (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland form a singular party as the United Kingdom). It was created to align with the national curricula for the following grades of primary education, which roughly coincide with ages 9-11:

• Australia: Year 5, Year 6
• New Zealand: Level 3
• South Africa: Grade 5, Grade 6
• England: Year 5, Year 6
• Scotland: Second Level
• Wales: Progression Step 3
• Northern Ireland: Key Stage 2

The programme integrates a number of curriculum subjects for each country. It aligns predominantly with topics in science, and therefore is recommended for use in science lessons. It also includes opportunities to develop mathematics and literacy (or English) skills, which are cross-curriculum values or skills for each country. Elements of social sciences, life skills and citizenship, performative and visual arts, design and technology, and digital or computing studies are also included. Specific curriculum connections for each country are provided in the Lesson Plans document of the programme.

 A snapshot of 'Peak Beaks', a card game Zoe created which is inspired by the much-loved UK children's game, 'Top Trumps'

Why was the programme produced?

Global populations of albatrosses and petrels are rapidly declining, mostly driven by bycatch in commercial fisheries, climate change, introduction of invasive alien species to their breeding sites, and marine plastic pollution (Phillips et al., 2016). These human drivers of decline mean changing our behaviours is an essential part of the solution (CBD, 2020). This can be achieved through conservation education, which aims to increase knowledge and awareness of, and care for, the natural world, and providing the necessary skills to do so (Jacobson, McDuff and Monroe, 2015). The global, transboundary migration of albatrosses and petrels means international cooperation is required for their conservation. Under the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, the 13 Parties implement the Action Plan through legislation and conservation practices. One focus area of the Action Plan is Education and Public Awareness (ACAP, 2018) – therefore, conservation education for these seabirds should be effective on an international scale.

Educating children, as our future generations, on the importance of and threats to species is vital for long-term biodiversity conservation (Jacobson, McDuff and Monroe, 2015). However, countries vary in their academic standards and methods, meaning international conservation education programmes are currently few and far between. This resource seeks to address this gap by providing primary school educators, in seven different countries, with an educational programme that aligns with, and enriches, their national curriculum, using albatrosses and petrels as an important and topical case study for conservation.

The programme has six goals:

• Support academic standards of each country as far as possible, aligning with curriculum topics and cross-curriculum values.
• Teacher capacity: provide educators with sufficient resources to be able to effectively teach these lessons. As much as possible, enable them to deliver the lessons with comfort, passion, charisma and showing a high level of knowledge surrounding the subject.
• Increase knowledge and awareness of students about threatened wildlife, focusing on albatrosses and petrels, their importance for us and the world, the threats they are facing and how these threats can be reduced.
• Attitudes: by increasing knowledge and awareness and using affective (emotional) messaging, the programme aims to elicit wonder, excitement, interest, and empathy towards wildlife, focusing on albatrosses and petrels.
• Skills: provide students with the skills to become responsible, caring global citizens who are able to protect the natural world.
• Empowerment and self-efficacy: provide students with the knowledge and skills to believe they can become responsible global citizens who can make a difference in protecting the natural world.

 The graphics for each of the Lesson presentations in the programme

What does the programme include?

 The programme provides materials to guide educators in delivering four separate Lessons:

1. The life of a seabird
2. Fishing and food webs
3. Plastic pollution
4. Climate change

Materials include:

• Introduction and References documents, providing a background to the programme, printing instructions for the materials and references for the information and media used in the programme.
• Lesson plans, including:
  • Overviews of curriculum connections, keywords, additional resources and time needed. Each Lesson requires a maximum of 60 minutes.
  • Step-by-step guidance for each Lesson. The Lessons include elements of teaching, discussion, games, and group research activities with opportunities for creating, presenting and performing.
  • At least one optional extension activity and homework per Lesson.
• Presentations, coinciding with the Lesson Plans.
• Fact File, providing information on the topics of each Lesson to guide the educator and students, definitions of keywords and other important vocabulary, and species profiles for 16 of the ACAP-listed albatross and petrel species that can be used as case studies in the Lessons.
• Workbooks for students.
• Peak Beaks seabird biology and ecology card game for Lesson 1.

Albatrosses and Petrels: Conservation Education Programme for Primary Schools is free to access and now available to download from Educational Resources under the World Albatross Day menu item on the homepage of ACAP's website, or here.

If you have any questions or feedback regarding the programme, please contact the ACAP Communications Advisor, Bree Forrer using the contact form.

The Agreement would like to thank Dr Richard Philips, Seabird Ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey and Co-convenor of the ACAP Populations and Conservation Status working group, and Mariëtte Wheeler, Zoologist and Life and Natural Sciences Educator at Protea Heights Academy in South Africa for assisting Zoe in the development of the programme.

References:

Phillips, R.A. et al. (2016) ‘The conservation status and priorities for albatrosses and large petrels’, BiologicalConservation, 201, pp. 169–183. Available at: doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.06.017 (Accessed: 21 June 2023).

CBD (2020) Aichi Biodiversity Target 1 and Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA). Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Available at: www.cbd.int/cepa/target1/ (Accessed: 21 June 2023).

Jacobson, S.K., McDuff, M.D. and Monroe, C.M. (2015) Conservation Education and Outreach Techniques. 2nd edn.Oxford University Press.

ACAP (2018) ‘Action Plan’, in Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels: Amended by theSixth Session of the Meeting of the Parties (Skukuza, South Africa, 7 - 11 May 2018). Skukuza, South Africa.Available at:

www.acap.aq/agreement-text/206-agreement-on-the-conservation-of-albatrosses-and-petrel s/file (Accessed: 21June 2023).

Note: An error was discovered in the 'Fact File' resource for the Black-browed Albatross where the ages for the 'First breeding age' and 'Generation length' were transposed. 'First breeding age' should be, 10 years old, with 'Generation length' as, 21.5 years old. If you downloaded the 'Fact File' before the 17 July (AEST) then please download the corrected version here,  

The Agreement apologises for the error and thanks the keen-eyed reader who spotted it.

14 July 2023 (updated 18 July)

 
The first stop on the Wisdom Storybook Trail, Bel-Aire Park, Clarksville, Tennessee, USA

The Clarksville Arts & Heritage Council, in partnership with Clarksville Parks & Recreation, unveiled their Storybook Trail at Bel-Aire Park in Clarksville, Tennessee, USA on 22 June, just three days after World Albatross Day, this year with its theme of “Plastic Pollution”. The 800-m trail winds its way through the park with 18 stops along the way with information panels that tell a story in words and illustration about Wisdom, the famous Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis of Midway Atoll, the world’s oldest known wild bird, now around 71 years old.

Ellen Kanervo, Executive Director, Clarksville Arts & Heritage Council speaks at the start of the Wisdom Storybook Trail: “We have put up a trail where children and families can go along and walk while reading a book about an albatross named Wisdom”, photograph by Lee Erwin

Eighteen story boards are spaced out along the winding trail, photograph by Lee Erwin

The information of each storyboard comes from the book about Wisdom written by Darcy Pattison and illustrated by long-time ACAP supporter, Kitty Harvill, Co-founder, Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (and a Clarksville native). Kitty writes to ACAP Latest News: “It's so gratifying to feel that I'm contributing back to the community that raised me. This Storybook Trail is a wonderful opportunity to have fun and get some exercise while learning something new, about a species far away, and how the daily activities of humans can eventually reach and harm them.”

Kitty Harvill (left) poses with a sculpture of Wisdom, along with a student who holds a copy of Wisdom’s book

Also at the opening event was Christoph Hrdina, Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature Co-founder, with his model of Wisdom made out of recycled materials, made especially to mark “WAD2023” and its theme. Each individual feather was cut out from recycled milk jugs with the help of Arts for Hearts Clarkesville volunteers led by Barbara Kane, and Norman Smith Elementary School students. Christoph writes: “Albatrosses are fascinating birds from any point of view. As a sculptor, I wanted to show them in their real dimensions: over six-feet [1.8 m] wingspan and show one of their main enemies during their 70-year or more lifespan - Plastic Pollution, mainly created by humans' disrespectful behaviour toward Nature. My sculpture is entirely made of recycled wood, plastic and metal to serve as an educational tool.”

Life-sized sculpture of Wisdom the Laysan Albatross, made from recycled plastic, by Christoph Hrdina, Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature with Barbara Kane, Arts for Hearts Clarksville

At the event, local artist and musician Leo Adames performed his song, “Fly Wisdom Fly” that was inspired by Wisdom’s book and children were invited to make albatross puppets to fly along the trail.

Big bird! Christoph Hrdina stands behind his albatross sculpture of Wisdom, along with artist/musician Leo Adames who performed at the trail-opening event (right)

Read more on the trail and the opening event in local media here and here.

 
Wisdom meets the Mayor!  From left: Leo Adames, Christoph Hrdina, Kitty Harvill, Wisdom, Barbara Kane and Mayor Joe Pitts, photograph by Michael Rios

After the trail opening, Christoph's sculpture of Wisdom has been on display in the office of the City of Clarksville Mayor, Joe Pitts. The Mayor writes: "When I saw Wisdom at the Storybook Trail dedication her story resonated with me and I wanted to help tell the story.  It is such a magnificent art piece made extra special by those who had a hand in her making.  I am looking forward to telling the story to the hundreds of people who will pass through the doors of the Mayor's office over the next few weeks." 

With thanks to Kitty Harvill and Christoph Hrdina, Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 13 July 2023

An opportunity has arisen with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation for a Senior International Policy Advisor to join the team to progress the Department's international seabird work.

The position is described in the Department’s advertisement as follows:

“This is a rare and exciting opportunity to champion conservation through international collaboration and policy negotiations. The primary focus of this role is addressing international threats to seabirds. Seabirds are amongst the most threatened group of birds globally, particularly albatrosses and petrels. New Zealand is a global seabird hotspot, and ninety percent of them are in trouble (threatened or at risk of extinction).

Many of our threatened taonga seabirds are highly migratory and face imminent danger in waters beyond our jurisdiction, either in the high seas or in coastal waters or other range states. Addressing bycatch risks and other at-sea threats across the range of seabirds is vital to fully realise the conservation benefits from investment made domestically in breeding site and domestic fisheries management.

Ideally, you'll be looking to take the next step in your career to broaden your international focus and experience. Working alongside subject matter experts, you'll support the implementation of our bycatch mitigation strategy.  There will also be opportunities to support the team's wider international engagement functions.

This is a true engagement role where whanaungatanga will be a foundation principle throughout your mahi. You'll join a passionate advisory team and work closely alongside key partners including our internal policy and technical teams, whānau, hapū and iwi, government agencies and other international and domestic stakeholders working together to support the delivery of the Government's international conservation obligations.

This role requires the ability and willingness to travel internationally for meetings and in some cases, to attend virtual international meetings at night. If you're not based in Wellington, let us know in your cover letter where you'd prefer to be based.”

Applications close on the 19^th of July. 

The complete Position Description can be found here: https://careers.doc.govt.nz/jobs/DOC-600021006WLG.

12 July 2023