"A Northern Giant Petrel grabs an unfortunate Cape Gannet by the neck"

Jean Tresfon is a marine conservation photographer noted for his work along and off the South African coastline.  His recent observation of an ACAP-listed Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes halli (Least Concern) attacking and killing an Endangered Cape Gannet Morus capensis, and then feeding from its corpse, is noteworthy, both for his photographs and his use of dramatic language, made offshore from Tshani on the Wild Coast, Eastern Cape in the Indian Ocean.

 
"The Northern Giant Petrel forcibly holds a Cape Gannet by the neck and shoves its head underwater"

He writes; “The ocean is full of surprises and despite having been on the sardine run [of South African Pilchard Sardinops sagax] almost every year since 2009, I continue to witness animal behaviour that I would not have thought possible.  This year was no different and on one particular morning, shortly after having launched, we spotted circling gannets nearby and went to take a closer look.  The gannets were circling high up, clearly interested in the splashing that was happening on the surface below them but making no attempt to dive.  Getting closer we could see a pair of large brown wings flapping and something white.  As we arrived it turned into the amazing sight of a Northern Giant Petrel fighting with a Cape Gannet.

 
"Using its savage look beak to good effect, the Northern Giant Petrel rips flesh from the back of a Cape Gannet and eats it"

Gannets are big birds, with a 1.8-m wingspan and weighing in at around 2.5 kg, but this was not an even match. The Northern Giant Petrel is in another class entirely, with a wingspan of over 2 m and weighing up to 5 kg.  But why was it attacking the gannet?  The giant petrel grabbed the gannet by the neck, shoved its head underwater and proceeded to drown it.  The gannet put up a good fight, but the outcome was inevitable, and the gannet finally succumbed to its brutal attacker.

The giant petrel then proceeded use its savage-looking beak to pluck feathers from the gannet before ripping it open and partially eating the belly innards as well as some of the meat from the gannet's lower back” [edited].

"The remains of the Cape Gannet immediately after being killed and partially eaten by a Northern Giant Petrel"

Information and photographs from the Facebook page of Jean Tresfon.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 20 July 2022

Grey Petrel at sea, watercolour by ABUN artist, Walt Anderson; after a photograph by Hadoram Shirihai

The corpse of an ACAP-listed Grey Petrel Procellaria cinerea (Near Threatened) was collected on 11 June 2022 from Middleton Beach, South Australia (35° 31’S, 138° 43’E) wearing metal leg band No. DZ17839 and white engraved plastic band 042, as first reported by Wildlife Welfare Organisation (SA) on its Facebook page.

The French-banded Grey Petrel recovered in Australia; its leg bands have been removed

The petrel was banded by Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, France as part of the project “Seabirds and Marine Mammals as Sentinels of Global Change in the Southern Ocean” (Project: 109 ORNITHOECO), supported by the French Polar Institute Paul Emile Victor (IPEV) on 01 April 1994 as an adult of unknown gender on Mayes Island, Kerguelen Archipelago (49° 28′S, 69° 57′E). The bird was thus at least 28 years’ old when recovered thousands of kilometres from its banding site.  The bird was regularly observed in its study colony from 1994 – 2007, during which time it raised at least four chicks to fledging.  From the photograph the bird was not in a fresh condition when found, making identifying a cause of death problematic.

With thanks to Karine Delord, Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, who received recovery details from Rebekah Collins, Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme.

Relevant Literature:

Delord, K., Barbraud, C., Pinaud, D., Ruault, S., Patrick, S. & Weimerskirch, H. 2019.  Individual consistency in non-breeding behavior in a long-distance migrant seabird, the Grey Petrel Procellaria cinerea.  Marine Ornithology 47: 90-103.

Torres, L.G., Sutton, P.J.H., Thompson, D.R., Delord, K., Weimerskirch, H., Sagar, P.M., Sommer, E., Dilley, B.J., Ryan, P.G. & Phillips, R.A. 2015.  Poor transferability of species distribution models for a pelagic predator, the Grey Petrel, indicates contrasting habitat preferences across Ocean Basins.  PLoS ONE. 2015, 10 (3), e0120014.

Barbraud, C., Delord, K., Marteau, C. & Weimerskirch, H. 2009.  Estimates of population size of white-chinned petrels and grey petrels at Kerguelen Islands and sensitivity to fisheries.  Animal Conservation 12: 258-265.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 July 2022

The Diomedeidae 2021 Grolleau Noir

In November 2004, Australia hosted the First Session of the Meeting of the Partier to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.  MoP1 was held in Hobart, Tasmania and closed with a dinner in the city’s Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.  With live seven-string guitar music composed and played by Cary Lewincamp, a guided visit to view the museum’s collection of specimens (including a skin) of the extinct Thylacine (or Tasmanian Tiger) Thylacinus cynocephalus in a locked storeroom, it was a memorable affair, enlivened by the tables adorned by wine especially bottled for the occasion.  A 2004 Pinot Noir produced in Tasmania, it went down well among the MoP1 attendees.  The ACAP Information Officer still has an unopened bottle which he brought all the way back to South Africa after the meeting as a souvenir.

The MoP1 Pinot Noir

Now France has joined the “Albatross Wine Club” by bottling a Grolleau Noir under the label “Diomedeidae 2021”.  Wine maker Jean Derrien produces “Mine de rien” wines, which he describes to ACAP Latest News as being “without pretension, completely natural and eco-friendly”.  His albatross wine is made from vines grown organically and biodynamically in the Loire Region in the west of France.

The grapes were handpicked in October 2020.   They were then pressed for 36 hours utilizing a vertical hydraulic press, macerated for three weeks, followed by four months in a “troglodyte cave” without the addition of sulphur, nitrogen or yeasts; making the red wine a 100% product from the fermentation of grapes.  Bottling is by gravity.

Jean describes himself as having been a vineyard worker for 10 years and a natural winemaker for five, creating his natural wine company in 2019.  He explains he is sensitive to ecological issues and is dedicated to sustainable grape production and that the wine’s name Diomedeidae pays homage to the albatross, which is also the nickname of a friend who has helped produce his wines.

Jérémy Dechartre, who has also helped with the production of Diomedeidae 2021 by supplying photographs (including those here), is a marine ornithologist and mammologist who conducted field research on France’s Amsterdam Island with the 70th Mission over 2019/20 on the project “Birds and Marine Mammals, Sentinels of Global Changes in the Southern Ocean”. While on the island he supported the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June 2020 by displaying a banner (click here).

À votre santé !

The ACAP Information Officer, who is no longer a consumer of alcohol, natural or otherwise, wonders what his 2004 ACAP Pinot Noir might taste like after 18 years in the bottle.  Ideas anybody?  He also thinks Jean and Jérémy could collaborate once more to produce a Grolleau Noir to celebrate the Fourth World Albatross Day/Journée mondiale de l’albatros on 19 June 2023.

With thanks to Jérémy Dechartre and Jean Dessin.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 July 2022

Jean Dessin also sent ALN notes on his albatross wine in his home language, repeated verbatim here.

DIOMEDEIDAE 2021

The Butterfly Art Project was founded in 2010 in greater Cape Town to train and mentor Community Art Facilitators who provide psychosocial support to children in under-resourced South African communities through art therapeutic classes.  The project’s art classes help children develop healthy coping mechanisms for processing stress and healing from trauma.  It aims to encourage creativity and healing through art to build strong communities of active, artistic and stable citizens that can recognise and utilise opportunities.  This year, 249 facilitators are serving over 10 200 children in 112 communities.

This year’s theme for the project is entitled Trial of Courage, focusing on print making via the linocut process.  Albatrosses were chosen as the theme’s inspiration, taking note of how introduced House Mice on South Africa's sub-Antarctic Marion Island had become a threat, both to the island’s albatrosses and to their environment.  Sanet Visser, a Community Art Facilitator based in Vrygrond, has written to ACAP Latest News explaining that the project asked children in the participating schools whether they knew albatrosses shared with us the same danger to health caused by mice.  She went on to say that the children enjoyed the process of producing artworks via lino printing; three of which are illustrated here. The children's art will be on display in a Cape Town shopping mall from Mandela Day on 18 July to 31 July.

Read more about the Butterfly Art Project on its Facebook page.

With thanks to Sanet Visser, Community Art Facilitator, Vrygrond and Robyn Adams, Communications Officer, Mouse-Free Marion Project.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 July 2022