The Black-browed Albatross of Grey-headed Albatross Ridge loafing on an empty nest, January 2014; photograph by Kim Stevens

Sub-Antarctic Marion Island in the southern Indian Oceans supports significant breeding populations of four albatross species – the Wandering Diomedea exulans, Grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma, Light-mantled Phoebetria palpebrata and Sooty Albatross P. fusca.  In addition to these, two other species of albatrosses have been seen ashore on the island – Black-Browed T. melanophris and Indian Yellow-nosed T. carteri.  The latter species has occasionally been seen ashore over the years, as either adults or fledglings, all thought to have come from the nearby breeding colony on Prince Edward Island (click here).  The former, in contrast, is represented by only two individuals, one of a bird that bred several times, as summarized below.

The first Black-browed Albatross gets a colour band red H53 in 2006, photograph by Michelle Thompson

The first Black-browed Albatross recorded ashore on Marion was seen on Grey-headed Albatross Ridge in 2000; it was metal banded as 9A-16339 on 2 December that year.  A plastic colour band (red H53) was added in 2006.  Identified genetically as a female, it attempted breeding at least four times between 2000 and 2009 with a Grey-headed Albatross.  The social partner seen at the nest was also colour banded, as red H54, in 2006.  The pair successfully fledged a chick in the 2006/07 season which was metal banded before it fledged, allowing it to be identified when it returned to the colony nine and 11 years later in 2016 and 2018.  The other three breeding attempts failed at the egg stage.  The Black-browed Albatross’ partner red H54 was last seen in 2008.

The 2006/07 hybrid chick returns to occupy a nest site, photograph taken on 1 February 2018 by Christopher Jones

Genetic testing of the chick revealed it to be the hybrid offspring of the Black-browed Albatross and a different Grey-headed Albatross – not its social partner red H54.  Intriguingly, a different but similar-looking hybrid was seen near the mixed pair’s breeding site in 2017, raising the possibility that the Black-browed Albatross had bred successfully with a Grey-headed Albatross more than once.

The Black-browed Albatross was seen loafing near its nest site in most breeding seasons on Grey-headed Albatross Ridge from 2009 until 2020, with no further breeding attempts having been recorded since that of 2008/09.  To date, repeated searches for the bird during the current (2022/23) breeding season have met with no success.

The second Black-browed Albatross on Marion Island.  Above Ship’s Cove on 29 October 2008, photograph by Linda Clokie

A second adult Black-browed Albatross was photographed on the cliff top above Ship’s Cove on Marion’s north-east coast on 29 October 2008.  The bird appeared to be associating with several Sooty Albatrosses.  This record has not been previously published.  The closest regular breeding site of the Black-browed Albatross is on the Crozet Islands, some 950 km to the east, where the species breeds in mixed colonies with Grey-headed Albatrosses.

The Ship’s Cove Black-browed Albatross was seen close to several Sooty Albatrosses resting on the cliff top, photograph by Linda Clokie

All avian research on Marion Island is conducted by experienced ornithologists under a research permit issued in terms of the island’s management plan and with ethics approval.

With thanks to Linda Clokie, Maëlle Connan, Bruce Dyer, Chris Jones, Danielle Keys, Lucy Smyth, Michelle Thompson and Eleanor Weideman for their photographs and information.

Selected Publications:

Jones, M.G.W., Techow, N.M.S., Risi, M.M., Jones, C.W., Hagens, Q.A., Taylor, F. & Ryan, P.G. 2019.  Hybridization and cuckoldry between black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses.  Antarctic Science 32-10-14.

Phillips, R.A., Cooper, J. & Burg, T.M. 2018.  Breeding‐site vagrancy and hybridization in albatross.  Ibis 160: 907-913.

Ryan, P.G., Jones, M.G.W., Dyer, B.M., Upfold, L. & Crawford, R.J.M. 2009.  Recent population estimates and trends in numbers of albatrosses and giant petrels breeding at the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands.  African Journal of Marine Science 31: 409-417.

Weimerskirch, H., Jouventin, P. & Stahl, J.C. 1986.  Comparative ecology of the six albatross species breeding in the Crozet Islands.  Ibis 128: 195-213.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels & Kim Stevens, FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 12 January 2023

A Wandering Albatross incubating an egg on the nest; photograph by Alexis Wandering

Fionnuala R. McCully (School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK) and colleagues have published open access in Ecology and Evolution on the influence of Wandering Albatross pair members’ traits in foraging behaviour.

The abstract follows:

“Long-lived monogamous species gain long-term fitness benefits by equalizing effort during biparental care. For example, many seabird species coordinate care by matching foraging trip durations within pairs. Age affects coordination in some seabird species; however, the impact of other intrinsic traits, including personality, on potential intraspecific variation in coordination strength is less well understood. The impacts of pair members' intrinsic traits on trip duration and coordination strength were investigated using data from saltwater immersion loggers deployed on 71 pairs of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans. These were modeled against pair members' age, boldness, and their partner's previous trip duration. At the population level, the birds exhibited some coordination of parental care that was of equal strength during incubation and chick-brooding. However, there was low variation in coordination between pairs and coordination strength was unaffected by the birds' boldness or age in either breeding stage. Surprisingly, during incubation, foraging trip duration was mainly driven by partner traits, as birds which were paired to older and bolder partners took shorter trips. During chick-brooding, shorter foraging trips were associated with greater boldness in focal birds and their partners, but age had no effect. These results suggest that an individual's assessment of their partner's capacity or willingness to provide care may be a major driver of trip duration, thereby highlighting the importance of accounting for pair behavior when studying parental care strategies.”

Reference:

McCully, F.R., Weimerskirch, H., Cornell, S. J., Hatchwell, B. J., Cairo, M., & Patrick, S.C. 2022 . Partner intrinsic characteristics influence foraging trip duration, but not coordination of care in wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans. Ecology and Evolution 12, e9621. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9621

11 January 2023

Black-browed Albatross on Marion Island by Snah, after a photograph by Kim Stevens, with a disposable plastic bottle

A ballpoint pen artist, who goes under the pseudonym Snah, has created the first artworks for ABUN Project #43 “Plastic Pollution” in support of this year’s World Albatross Day.  The project, which will run until 31 March, is the fourth collaboration between ACAP and Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature in support of World Albatross Day on 19 June.

A Black-footed Albatross by Snah, after a photograph by Cynthia Vanderlip taken on Kure Atoll, stands next to a washed-up plastic bottle

Snah writes to ACAP Latest News:  “I live in Germany in a little town near Hanover.  I have been painting with a ballpoint pen for the last three years.  I haven't had any professional training.  I also work with aquarell, pastel chalk, airbrush, charcoal and acrylic.  But I now prefer to use ballpoint pens, because I can use them while sitting on my sofa.”

A collage of Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses by Snah for ‘WAD2022’

Snah also produced ballpoint pen artwork to help illustrate last year’s World Albatross Day, with its theme of Climate Change.

Thanks Snah!

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 10 January 2023

Flesh-footed Shearwaters; photograph by Ian Hutton

Bianca Keys (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Tasmania, Australia) and colleagues have published in Environmental Science & Technology on a new detection method for nano- and ultrafine plastics using Flesh-footed and Short-tailed shearwaters as case studies.

 The paper’s abstract follows:

“Plastic ingestion has been documented in a plethora of taxa. However, there is a significant gap in the detection of nano- and ultrafine particles due to size limitations of commonly used techniques. Using two Australian seabird species as case studies, the flesh-footed shearwater (FFSH) Ardenna carneipes and short-tailed shearwater (STSH) A. tenuirostris, we tested a novel approach of flow cytometry to quantify ingested particles <70 μm in the fecal precursor (guano; colon and cloacal contents) of both species. This method provided the first baseline data set for these species for plastics in the 200 nm–70 μm particle size ranges and detected a mean of 553.50 ± 91.21 and 350.70 ± 52.08 plastics (count/mg fecal precursor, wet mass) in STSH and FFSH, respectively, whereas Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) provided accurate measurements of polymer compositions and quantities in the size range above 5.5 × 5.5 μm2. The abundance of nano- and ultrafine particles in the guano (count/mg) was not significantly different between species (p-value = 0.051), suggesting that foraging distribution or prey items, but not species, may contribute to the consumption of small plastics. In addition, there was no correlation between macroplastics in the stomach compared to the fecal precursor, indicating that small particles are likely bioaccumulating (e.g., through shedding and digestive fragmentation) and/or being directly ingested. Combining flow cytometry with FT-IR provides a powerful quantitative and qualitative analysis tool for detecting particles orders of magnitude smaller than that are currently explored with wider applications across taxa and marine environments.”

Reference:

Keys, B.C., Grant, M.L., Rodemann, R., Mylius, K.A., Pinfold, T.L., Rivers-Auty, J. & Lavers, J.L. 2022. New Methods for the Quantification of Ingested Nano- and Ultrafine Plastics in Seabirds. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c06973.

9 January 2023