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In late January this year a young Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis fledgling was found in a paddock near Point Durham on the southern part of Chatham Island off the east coast of New Zealand.  The bird was relocated to a nearby hill “where the breeze would make for an easier take off.”  The bird had departed before a second visit was made to band it.  Although it is possible that it had come from the Antipodes Islands 650 km to the south-west, it is thought more likely it had come from an as yet unknown nest site within the island group (click here).

The Antipodean Albatross has been recorded breeding on both Chatham and Pitt Islands in small numbers at three different sites since 2003, with the first sighting ashore made on the south-western coast of Chatham Island about 1998 (click here).

See more information the islands’ Antipodean Albatrosses on the Chatham Island web site.

Antipodean Albatrosses.  Photograph by Erica Sommer

Selected References:

Elliott, G. & Walker, K. 2005.  Detecting population trends of Gibson's and Antipodean wandering albatrosses.  Notornis 52: 215-222.

Miskelly, C.M.; McNally, N.; Seymour, R.; Gregory-Hunt, D. & Lanauze, J. 2008.  Antipodean wandering albatrosses (Diomedea antipodensis) colonising the Chatham Islands.  Notornis 55: 89-95.

Walker, K. & Elliott, G. 2005.  Population changes and biology of the Antipodean wandering albatross ( Diomedea antipodensis). Notornis 52: 206-214.  

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 July 2013