Yesterday was World Oceans Day – a day to celebrate and bring attention to our ocean and the wildlife that relies on it, including seabirds. Did you know seabirds are one of the most threatened groups of vertebrates in the world? Out of 362 species, a massive 43% are listed as threatened or near threatened. Want to know more about the threats that seabirds are facing? Check out the video here.

This animation by Hannah Whitman and funded by the United Kingdom's Darwin Plus government grants scheme is the first in a series created as part of the British Antarctic Survey and BirdLife International's Seabird Sentinels Project. Keep your eyes out for more videos in the coming days.

With thanks to Bernadette Butfield, International Marine Conservation Officer, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Richard Phillips, British Antarctic Survey.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 June 2022

Pink-footed Shearwaters near a fishing vessel, waiting for a meal.  Coastal Marine Protected Area, Mar de Juan Fernández
Fardela blanca cercana a un bote de pesca, esperando algo de comida.  Área Marina Costera Protegida Mar de Juan Fernández

NOTE:  This post continues an occasional series that features photographs of the 31 ACAP listed species, along with information from and about their photographers. Here Héctor Gutiérrez Guzmán of Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge writes of the Vulnerable Pink-footed Shearwater / Fardela Blanca in Chile Ardenna creatopus he has worked with for 13 years in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile.  Hector’s original text in Spanish has not been edited; the English translation by Google Translate has been edited for readability.

My first visit to Isla Santa Clara in 2014, where I met the shearwaters and saw my first chick
Mi primera visita a la isla Santa Clara (2014), lugar donde conocí a las fardelas y vi al primer polluelo

My personal connection to the Pink-footed Shearwater

Their long flights across the Pacific, travelling thousands of kilometres and returning each year to their home to nest, is what excites me the most about this species and many other seabirds.  The shearwaters have taught me to remember where I come from and where I belong, to trust that when I return home there will be the protection and care I need.  Pink-footed Shearwaters are a regular part of my life.  Every day I mention the word fardela at least thtree times, including when I sing like them. Since 2014, I have worked  together with Oikonos and the community of the Juan Fernández Archipelago to protect the breeding ecosystem of the shearwater. It fills me with emotion when the children of the town of San Juan Bautista learn things that we have investigated for years, and when they learn of their migratory routes, what they eat and the life of a shearwater.  Communicating the scientific knowledge of the life of these birds and their relationship with the place where they live, drives me to create new challenges and inspire more people to take care of them. The at-sea movements of the shearwaters also invite me to discover the world, to never stop travelling and meeting new friends in different regions.

The Juan Fernández Archipelago in the South Pacific is the breeding habitat for 30% of the world population of the Pink-footed Shearwater
El archipiélago Juan Fernández, en el Pacífico Sur, es el hábitat de nidificación para el 30% de la población mundial de fardela blanca

Isla Santa Clara, one of the important breeding sites for the Pink-footed Shearwater in Chile
Isla Santa Clara, uno de los importantes sitios de nidificación de la fardela blanca en Chile

My encounters

I had never heard of a Pink-footed Shearwater until I saw a chick for the first time on Isla Santa Clara, when I was invited by Oikonos to monitor the burrows during the nesting season in 2014. I barely reacted when I saw that chick come out of the nest. Apparently, it was a few days before starting its first flight, when I took my camera and managed to capture a ball of grey fluff that was looking at me. I never thought that day would mark my life forever. Nor did I think that the next few years were going to be dedicated to studying and carrying out conservation actions to protect the breeding sites and the threatened ecosystems where the shearwaters breed.  I never imagined that I would think about them all day and that I would communicate about the importance of seabirds to the entire world. That day, when that chick looked at me, my life changed forever. Today, every time I see a chick through the burrewscope camera we use to monitor reproductive success, I thank it for having awakened in me that desire to protect our planet and transmit the message through scientific communication and photography. Every time I get on a boat I always go with many memory cards and batteries to take many photographs and videos that will serve to admire and learn more about this species. We currently work with multiple organizations to reduce one of its great threats, light pollution. It is a great challenge when people want more and more light, but Chile has advanced protection of its skies, biodiversity and people's health, by modifying regulations that had become obsolete and were not in line with environmental challenges. It motivates me to help my country protect our ecosystems and reduce the impacts on seabirds. There is certainly a long way to go, but we are moving forward together with the communities that live in the same places as the Pink-footed Shearwaters.

 
Reproductive monitoring in a breeding colony on Isla Santa Clara, Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile
Monitoreo reproductivo en una de las colonias de nidificación en la isla Santa Clara del Archipiélago Juan Fernández en Chile

A Pink-footed Shearwater chick a few days after starting its first flight from Isla Santa Clara in 2014
Un polluelo de fardela blanca a pocos días de iniciar su primer vuelo. Isla Santa Clara en 2014

 Un largo vuelo por el Pacífico, recorriendo miles de kilómetros y volviendo cada año a su hogar para nidificar, es lo que más me emociona de esta especie y de las aves marinas en general. Las fardelas me han enseñado a recordar de dónde vengo y cuál es mi lugar, confiar en que al regresa a mi casa estará la protección y el cuidado que necesito. Las fardelas son parte habitual de mi vida. Todos los días menciono al menos tres veces la palabra fardela, incluso cuando canto como ellas. He trabajado por 6 años junto a Oikonos y la comunidad del Archipiélago Juan Fernández para proteger los ecosistemas de nidificación de la fardela blanca. Me llena de emoción cuando los niños del poblado de San Juan Bautista aprenden cosas que hemos investigado por años. Cuando conocen las rutas migratoria, su alimentación y la vida de una fardela. Transmitir y comunicar el conocimiento científico de la vida de estas aves y cómo es su relación con el lugar donde habitan, me impulsa a crear nuevos desafíos y contagiar a más personas para cuidarlas. Los viajes de las fardelas también me invitan a conocer el mundo, a nunca parar de viajar y encontrar nuevos amigos en rutas diferentes.

Construction of an exclusion fence to protect the breeding habitat of Pink-footed Shearwaters on Isla Robinson Crusoe
Construcción de un cerco de exclusión para proteger el hábitat reproductivo de fardela blanca en la isla Robinson Crusoe

Nunca oí hablar de una fardela hasta que ví un polluelo por primera vez en la isla Santa Clara, cuando fui invitado por Oikonos a monitorear las madrigueras durante la época de nidificación en 2014. Casi no reacciono cuando ví a ese polluelo salir del nido. Al parecer estaba a pocos días de inciar su primer vuelo, cuando tomé mi cámara y logré capturar una bola de pelusas grises que me miraba. Nunca pensé que ese día marcaría mi vida para siempre. Tampoco pensé que los próximos años los iba a dedicar a estudiar y a realizar acciones de conservación para proteger los sitios de nidificación y los ecosistemas amenazados donde ellas habitan. Jamás pensé en que iba a pensar todo el día en ellas y que iba a comunicar sobre la importancia de las aves marinas para el mundo entero. Ese día, cuando ese polluelo me miró, mi vida cambió para siempre. Hoy, cada vez que veo un polluelo a través de la cámara boroscópica con la que monitoreamos el éxito reproductivo, le agradezco por haber despertado en mí esas ganas de proteger nuestro planeta y transmitir el mensaje a través de la comunicación científica y la fotografía. Cada vez que puedo subirme a un bote, voy siempre con muchas tarjetas de memoria y baterias para tomar la mayor cantidad de fotografías y videos que servirán para admirar y conocer aún más esta especie.

Pink-footed Shearwater in flight. Juan Fernandez Archipelago, Chile
Fardela blanca en vuelo. Archipiélago Juan Fernández, Chile

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge all those who have contributed to our research, especially CONAF, NFWF, Island Conservation, Peter Hodum, Valentina Colodro, and the local Oikonos Team living and working on Robinson Crusoe Island, Paola González, Guillermo De Rodt, Cabila Manríquez, Iva Vásquez, Pablo Manríquez. They have all facilitated these memories and photo opportunities. Editorial thanks to Michelle Hester, Oikonos.

Selected Publications:

Carle, R.D., Fleishman, A.B., Varela, T., Manríquez Angulo, P., De Rodt, G., Hodum, P, Colodro, V., López, V. & Gutiérrez-Guzmán, H. 2021.  Introduced and native vertebrates in pink-footed shearwater (Ardenna creatopus) breeding colonies in Chile.  PLoS ONE 16(7): e0254416.

[Gutiérrez-Guzmán H.] 2020.  Consejo de Ministros aprueba plan para proteger a la fardela blanca. Bienes Comunes.  26 June 2020.

Gutiérrez-Guzmán, H., Ziller, S.R. & Dechoum, M.de.S. 2019.  Chemical control of the invasive non-native shrub murtilla Ugni molinae in mountain scrub on Robinson Crusoe Island, Juan Fernandez Archipelago, Chile.  Conservation Evidence 16: 27-32.

Héctor Gutiérrez Guzmán, Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, Santiago, Chile, 08 June 2022

The blue-banded Black-browed Albatross, photograph by Juan Martín Bermúdez

A resighting was made on 24 May 2022 of a banded Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris (Least Concern) from a demersal trawler fishing for hake Merluccius spp. 60 nautical miles (110 km) off the coast of Lüderitz, Namibia carrying British Trust for Ornithology metal band number 1332218 and plastic alphanumeric band Blue B22 (click here).

The bird was originally banded on 20 January 1999 as a nestling by the British Antarctic Survey on Bird Island, South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)*.  The time elapsed from banding was 23 years, four months and 10 days.  The resighting was made c. 5125 km from the banding locality (although of course the bird most likely flew a much greater distance on its journey across the South Atlantic).

Andy Wood of the British Antarctic Survey has reported to the South African Bird Ringing Unit (SAFRING): “In our study population at Bird Island we have a bird with colour ring blue B22.  It is a female, ringed in 1999, and is a regular breeder on the island including this season when it failed at the chick-rearing stage in late January”.

According to Richard Phillips of the British Antarctic Survey although over 90% of Black-browed Albatrosses from Bird Island spend the non-breeding season in the Benguela Upwelling Region off the west coast of southern Africa, there are few reports from the region of colour-banded birds seen at sea that allow individuals to be identified.  However, at least two colour-banded Black-browed Albatrosses from Bird Island have previously been reported off Namibia (click here).

Details of the 1992 recovery of a Bird Island Black-browed Albatross in South Africa

Janine Dunlop of SAFRING has written to ACAP Latest News of a Black-browed Albatross (52814891) banded on Bird Island in 1961 (of unknown age) and recovered 31 years later in 1992 when it washed up on the beach in Tableview, Cape Town, South Africa (click here).  A Grey-headed Albatross T. chrysostoma on Bird Island reached an age of 54 years in 2012– when it was still breeding (click here).

With thanks to Juan Martín Bermúdez, Richard Phillips and Andy Wood of the British Antarctic Survey and Janine Dunlop, SAFRING.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 June 2022

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

The South Atlantic Ocean bird

Participants on a 'pelagic' (seabird watching) trip out of Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania, Australia on 28 May observed two juvenile Wandering Albatrosses at a berley (chumming) point, both carrying leg bands.  “Thanks to the raft of excellent photographers on board, clear band details were obtained”.

Enquiries confirmed both birds are Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea. exulans.  Bird R63 corresponds with metal band 4012558 and is from Bird Island, South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* in the South Atlantic.  It was banded on its nest on 27 August 2021.  The parent bird laid the egg on 23 December 2020, egg weighing 515 grams.  The egg hatched on 11 March 2021 and the chick fledged on 16 December 2021.  The parent birds of this bienially breeding species had previously bred over 2018/19.

The bird carrying BS34819 was banded close to fledging on 20 September 2021 on its nest on France’s Île de la Possession, Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean by the CNRS Banding Organization.

The southern Indian Ocean bird

With thanks to Karen Dick.  Photographs from Richard Webber, details from the Seabirds and Pelagics Australia Facebook page.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 June 2022

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.