The ACAP-listed Black Petrel - a species included in the study linking seabird groundings to light pollution; photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Ariel-Micaiah Heswall (School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand) and colleagues have published open access in the journal PeerJ on the link between light pollution and seabird groundings for seabird species, including the ACAP-listed Black Petrel. 

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a growing conservation concern for seabirds, which can become disoriented and grounded by lights from buildings, bridges and boats. Many fledgling seabirds, especially Procellariiformes such as petrels and shearwaters, are susceptible to light pollution. The Hauraki Gulf, a seabird hotspot located near Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Aotearoa—New Zealand’s largest urban city, with a considerable amount of light pollution and regularly documented events of seabird groundings. We aim to identify the characteristics of locations especially prone to seabird groundings. We used an online database of seabirds taken to a wildlife rescue facility by the public to map 3 years of seabird groundings and test for correlations between seabird groundings and the natural night sky brightness. We found that areas with lower amounts of natural night sky brightness and greater light pollution often had a higher number of seabirds grounded. Further, we identified important seasonal patterns and species differences in groundings. Such differences may be a by-product of species ecology, visual ecology and breeding locations, all of which may influence attraction to lights. In general, seabird groundings correlate with the brightness of the area and are species-specific. Groundings may not be indicative of human or seabird population abundance considering some areas have a lower human population with high light levels and had high amounts of seabird groundings. These findings can be applied worldwide to mitigate groundings by searching and targeting specific brightly lit anthropogenic structures. Those targeted structures and areas can then be the focus of light mitigation efforts to reduce seabird groundings. Finally, this study illustrates how a combination of community science, and a concern for seabirds grounded from light attraction, in addition to detailed animal welfare data and natural night sky brightness data can be a powerful, collaborative tool to aid global conservation efforts for highly-at-risk animals such as seabirds.”

Reference

Heswall A., Miller L., McNaughton E.J., Brunton-Martin A.L., Cain K.E., Friesen M.R. & Gaskett A.C. 2022. Artificial light at night correlates with seabird groundings: mapping city lights near a seabird breeding hotspot. PeerJ 10:e14237 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14237

7 November 2022

A  Southern Giant Petrel downy chick and adult on Bird Island; photograph by Alex Dodds

Do you have any unpublished counts of Southern Giant Petrels at Antarctic breeding sites that ACAP might not be aware of?

Would you consider becoming a database Site Custodian?

Why are we collating the data? The data are used by ACAP to determine trends, identify globally important sites, carry out gap analyses, help determine priorities for data collection or conservation action.

Most of the sites for ACAP species outside the Antarctic Treaty area have a site custodian, but there are very few for the Antarctic breeding sites.

What does a Site Custodian do? Essentially it involves entering any new data on population size each year, and letting ACAP know if there are any substantive changes to site management or protection. So, if you are involved in monitoring of population trends at any of the Antarctic sites for Southern Giant Petrels please consider getting involved

Note that the count data can be from a whole breeding site (usually an island/peninsula) or from a standardised part-site (e.g. sub-colony or study area) counted annually or every few years.

Any questions? Get in touch with the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

04 November 2022

Word Albatross Day is celebrated each year on 19 June.  Initiated by the Albatross and Petrel Agreement, 2023 will be the fourth year the day has been marked.  Planning necessarily starts early, with the first step being the production of a logo.

As in previous years, the ‘WAD2023’ logo has been produced in the three ACAP languages of English, French and Spanish, as well as in Portuguese.  This last language is spoken in Angola, Brazil and Portugal, all significant range states for ACAP-listed species; Brazil also being a Party to the Agreement.  For the first time, four more versions of the logo, in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean, are planned to mark the importance of Asian high-seas fishing fleets in working towards the conservation of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters.

From the new year, ACAP will be releasing posters and species infographics in the three official languages to mark WAD2023 and its chosen theme of “Plastic Pollution”.  We might even have another competition, noting the success of those held in the inaugural year.

Geoffry Tyler is thanked once more for updating the logo he designed.

John Cooper, ACAP News Correspondent, 03 November 2022

A Southern Giant Petrel sits alongside its two chicks in the nest; photograph by Júlia Finger

Chilean seabird ecologist Júlia Finger has provided ACAP Latest News with an account of a rare sighting of two two-egg Southern Giant Petrel clutches spotted at Harmony Point, Nelson Island in maritime Antarctica. The clutches were observed whilst Julia and fellow team members were conducting fieldwork for a Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) project in the austral summer of 2022.

When asked about her reaction to the discovery Júlia stated, "I've been working with giant petrels for the last 10 years, so it was a huge surprise to see two-egg clutches for the first time after all these years. But if there's one thing that giant petrels can do well is to surprise us with novel behaviours (which later I found iweren't that novel)! The team was excited with the unusual find and also happy to see that the two chicks looked healthy and well-nourished. We could only hope for a two-chick fledge!"

Her official record states in translation: 

On 23 January 2022 we first observed two Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus nests with two-egg clutches at Harmony Point, Nelson Island (maritime Antarctica). One nest had two chicks about two weeks old. One was younger than the other and was being guarded underneath the body of the male. The other was lying beside the adult. Chicks had similar body size to other chicks at the area. The other nest had two eggs, but we believe at least one was spoiled because it had a crack. Also, hatching was two weeks overdue. As we were about to leave the area a few days later, we did not check if the pair were able to successfully raise two chicks until fledging.

Two-egg clutches are rare for the species. In 1962, John Warham described the frequency of occurrence to be 0.14 to 0.18% (4 - 5) of all nests at Macquarie Island.  Harmony Point holds a population of ca 480 nests, and after checking all nests from a distance, we assume the frequency of two-egg clutches in this population to be at least 0.41%. Warham also states that the birds were capable of covering both eggs during incubation.  However, he wasn't able to confirm if the brood patch covered both eggs. Nevertheless, three of the nests Warham found did not hatch and in the other two nests that did, neither of the pairs succeeded in rearing both chicks. Other sites with records of two-egg clutches of Southern Giant Petrels are Îles des Pétrels in Terre-Adélie, Antarctica  (Prévost 1953), where one nest among 120 was found to have two eggs; and Anvers Island, Western Antarctic Peninsula, where five nests were recorded (Shaughnessy 2017).

The second Southern Giant Petrel clutch containing two eggs; photograph by Júlia Finger

Two-egg clutches are also known to occur among albatrosses, with ACAP covering an account from Chris Jones and Michelle Risi of an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross pair with a two-egg clutch on Gough Island in 2015. 

With thanks to Júlia Finger for translating her account.

REFERENCES:

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

Warham, J. 1962. The biology of the Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus.  Auk 79: 139-160.

Prévost J. 1953. Note sur l'écologie des pétrels de Terre Adélie. Alauda 21: 205-222.

Shaughnessy, P.D. 2017. A two-egg clutch or polygyny?  Two white-phase chicks in the nest of a Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus at Macquarie Island. Marine Ornithology 45: 43-46. [click here for ACAP review]

2 November 2022