Not your usual view, but this Northern Royal Albatross clearly shows in orange leg band, photograph by Michael Mason

Although the use of technology to follow albatrosses and other pelagic seabirds at sea via the use of bird-mounted electronic loggers and transmitters (“biologging”) has hugely increased our understanding of quite where seabirds go away from their breeding islands, there is still value and an interest in learning about at-sea movements from recoveries and sightings of birds bearing leg-mounted bands.  The use of alphanumeric colour bands and digital zoom cameras is allowing birds photographed at sea on tourist pelagic tours to be individually identified, and their ‘back stories’ obtained from national banding schemes.  Two recent examples of colour-banded great albatrosses, Diomedea photographed at sea follow.

This 2018/19 cohort Northern Royal Albatross shows its orange leg band in flight, photograph by Trevor Hardaker

Northern Royal Albatross

One of three Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi seen on a Zest for Birds pelagic trip on 5 September 2024 off the coast of South Africa’s Cape Peninsula was photographed bearing a plain orange plastic band on its left leg and a metal band on its right,  The bird was banded as a chick in the mainland colony on New Zealand’s Pukekura/Taiaroa Head on the tip of the Otago Peninsula near Dunedin.  That colour was used to band the approximately 30 birds that fledged in 2019, which would make the photographed bird five years old.

 
Alphanumeric colour bands have been used on Northern Royal Albatross chicks at Taiaroa Head from the 2022/23 breeding season, allowing banded birds to be individually recognized from photographs taken at sea, photograph from the Royal Cam Albatross Group New Zealand Facebook page.

An old male Wandering Albatross White W94 off Tasmania, photograph by Xu Shi

Wandering Albatross

The Seabirds and Pelagics Australia Facebook page has reported a Vulnerable Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans with colour band White W94 photographed on an Eaglehawk pelagic trip off the south-eastern coast of Tasmania on the weekend of 7/8 September 2024.

Karine Delord, Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, France reports to ACAP Latest News that the bird was banded as a chick in the Pointe Basse colony on France’s Possession Island, Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean on 01 October 1981 (making it now 43 years old).  Subsequently identified to be a male, it was regularly observed breeding in its natal colony from 1988 to 2013 with two different partners over the periods 1988 to 2005 and 2010 to 2013.  Since then it has been recorded back on the island during the pre-breeding period but without any subsequent signs of it breeding, with the last sighting being made in 2022.

Another view of White W94, photograph by Xu Shi

Karine Delord writes: “Biologging has enabled us to gain a better understanding of the distribution at sea of large albatrosses breeding in the French Austral Islands, such as on Possession.  Juveniles, immatures and sabbatical adults travel around the Southern Ocean, with the Tasman Sea appearing to be of particular importance as a region to visit.”

It seems banded Wandering Albatrosses are quite often identified from Eaglehawk pelagic trips, including four different birds that have been previously reported by ACAP Latest News coming from four different breeding islands: Bird Island in the South Atlantic, Marion and Possession Islands in the southern Indian and Macquarie Island in the southern Pacific.  Quite a cosmopolitan meeting place!

With thanks to Karine Delord, Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, France and Trevor Hardaker, Zest for Birds.

References:

Delord, K., Barbraud, C., Bost, C.-A, Cherel, Y., Guinet, C. et al. 2014.  Atlas of Top Predators from French Southern Territories in the Southern Indian Ocean.  CNRS Research Report.  253 pp.

Weimerskirch, H., Cherel, Y., Delord, K., Jaeger, A., Patrick, S.C. & Riotte-Lambert, L. 2014.  Lifetime foraging patterns of the wandering albatross: life on the move!  Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 450: 68-78.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 20 September 2024

Successful applicants to ACAP's Secondment Programme, clockwise from top left: Four of the fourteen members of the ACAP HPAI H5Nx Intersessional Group; photo supplied: ACAP Secondee Maximiliano Hernandez from Argentina (right); photograph courtesy of Sarah Wilcox: Naomi Cordeiro with her detection dog, Sammy; photo supplied: 2022 ACAP Secondment Applicant, Cristián Suazo, from Chile; photo supplied: Argentina's Agustina Iwan; photo supplied: Javier Quiñones from Peru; photo supplied

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) is pleased to invite applications to its Secondment Programme.

The programme aims to build capacity within its Parties and advance tasks outlined in the Advisory Committee and Secretariat Work Programmes (see Annex 5, AC14 Report and AC14 Doc 24).

Applications will only be accepted from ACAP Parties.

The proposed secondment should meet the following criteria:

1. The work to be undertaken addresses a task or tasks identified in the Advisory Committee’s or Secretariat’s Work Programme, and/or is deemed to be of high importance to achievement of the Agreement’s objective.
2. The work proposed is international in nature (i.e. the outcomes will be of relevance to more than one country).However, this does not preclude secondments to a host institution within the applicant’s country of residence, provided the international relevance of the capacity building is clear.
3. The funds allocated will not be used for the purpose of paying applicants’ salaries. It is expected that the applicant’s institution will continue to pay the applicant’s salary. However, funds may be used to contract a suitable professional to develop/present a training webinar or online workshop.
4. The task to be undertaken has a capacity building focus. 
5. The funds allocated will generally be used for travel, accommodation and per diem costs, but can also be used for online training activities including one-on-one mentoring, enrolment in a training course from a reputable educational institution, organisation of webinars/online workshops, and other relevant activities which enhance ACAP capacity.
6. The applicant has received in-principle agreement from the host or collaborating institution to participate in this work.

Applicants are encouraged to contact the Working Group Convenors, the Advisory Committee Chair, Vice-chair, or the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to help identify ACAP priority areas for their proposal.  

Secondment Application Forms are available in all Agreement languages from the ACAP website: https://acap.aq/news/awards-grants-and-scholarships. Completed applications are to be submitted to relevant ACAP National Contact Points, who will then forward them to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Applications close on Tuesday, 19 November 2024 AEDT (UTC +11h), and the outcome will be announced by Wednesday, 15 January 2025. 

For further details on the application process and to download the application forms, please visit the Awards, Grants & Scholarships page of the ACAP website.

18 September 2024

Projects that have been supported by ACAP's Small Grants Programme include (clockwise from top left): Mitigation measures with curtain systems in demersal trawl; image © ATF Chile: Update on EM device for compliance with bird scaring lines; Sihle Victor Ncongo holding the device he developed: Bycatch mitigation in longline SSF in Southern Peru; a section of Figure 6 from the paper: ACAP Small Grant 2023-10 - Manufacture of heavy hook; Nigel Brothers presents on the Procella hook (thumbnail of Figure 1. from the paper) to ACAP's Advisory Committee

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) is now accepting applications for its Small Grants Programme. The programme, now in its sixteenth year, provides support for projects aimed at improving the conservation status of albatrosses and petrels. 

Project proposals should focus on tasks within the Advisory Committee Work Programme (see Annex 5, AC14 Report) and any research priorities identified by the AC Working Groups (see AC14 Doc 12 Rev 1: SBWG Report, AC14 Doc 13 Rev 1: Joint SBWG12-PaCSWG8 Report, and AC14 Doc 14 Rev 2: PaCSWG Report). Innovative proposals that make a significant contribution to the Agreement’s objective will also be considered.

Past projects have included studies on seabird bycatch reduction, population monitoring, and habitat restoration. 

Researchers, conservation organisations, and institutions from ACAP Parties are encouraged to apply. Applications will only be accepted from ACAP Parties, however, proposals can involve collaboration with institutions or individuals based elsewhere. 

Applicants are encouraged to contact the relevant Working Group Convenors or the Advisory Committee Chair to discuss the development and relevance of their application to ensure it addresses the requirements of the AC Work Programme.

Applications close 12 November 2024 AEDT (UTC+11).  

Applications can be completed in English, French or Spanish and should be forwarded to relevant  ACAP National Contact Points, who will then submit them to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Applicants will be advised of the outcome of their applications by 18 March 2025.

Details on the eligibility criteria and the application process are available at the ACAP website. 

17 September 2024

 
Seasonality in sea-ice extent and breeding schedules of the study species, and temporal coverage of tracking data (see the paper for a full description)

Ewan Wakefield (Department of Geography, Durham University UK) and colleagues have published open access in the journal on Progress in Oceanography on tracking seven species of sub-Antarctic albatrosses and petrels in relation to their use of the Antarctic seasonal sea-ice zone.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The Antarctic seasonal sea-ice zone (SIZ) is one of the most extensive and dynamic habitats on Earth. In summer, increased insolation and ice melt cause primary production to peak, sustaining large populations of locally-breeding seabirds. Due to their hypermobility, large Procellariiformes, including albatrosses, breeding in the subantarctic also have the potential to access the SIZ and track macroscale resource waves over the Sothern Ocean but the extent to which they do this is poorly known. Here, we analysed the foraging movements of breeding albatrosses and large petrels (seven species, 1298 individuals) recorded using GPS loggers and satellite-transmitters to quantify their use of sea-ice habitats and test whether they tracked seasonal drivers of primary production. Foraging latitudes of white-chinned petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis and black-browed Thalassarche melanophris, grey-headed T. chrysostoma and wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans varied sinusoidally over the breeding season, presumably in response to lagged effects of solar irradiance on primary production. Foraging latitudes of northern and southern giant petrels (Macronectes halli and M. giganteus), and light-mantled albatrosses Phoebetria palpebrata, exhibited no strong seasonal trend, but the latter two species spent ≥ 20 % of their time in the SIZ during incubation and post-brood, prior to or at the time of the spring ice breakup. Southern giant petrels travelled hundreds of km into the pack ice, encountering sea-ice concentrations up to 100 %, whereas light-mantled albatrosses remained almost exclusively in open water near the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ). The remaining species spent up to 15 % of their time in the SIZ, typically from 5-7 weeks after breakup, and avoided the MIZ. This supports hypotheses that sea ice presents albatrosses but not giant petrels with physical barriers to flight or foraging, and that open-water-affiliated species use the SIZ only after primary production stimulated by ice melt transfers to intermediate trophic levels. Given that all seven species used the SIZ, it is likely that the phenology and demography of these and many other subantarctic-breeding seabirds are mechanistically linked to sea-ice dynamics. Declines in Antarctic sea ice predicted under climate change could therefore modulate and exacerbate the already unsustainable anthropogenic impacts being experienced by these populations.”

Read a popular account on the publication here.

Reference:

Wakefield, E.D., McClymont , E.L., Carneiro, A,P.B., Croxall, J.P., Gonzalez-Solís, J., Granroth-Wilding, H.M.V., Thorne, L., Evans, V.W., Wood, A.G., Xavier, J.C., Phillips, R.A. 2024.  Progress in Oceanography. 103334.

16 September 2024