These four petrels that breed on Marion Island are all at risk from predation by mice …

In January 2024, the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project released an art poster “Albatrosses on Marion Island”.  The poster depicted the four Marion Island breeding albatrosses, Grey-headed, Light-mantled, Sooty and Wandering, that are all susceptible to predation by the island’s introduced House Mice.  The paintings of each albatross were taken from an infographic series being produced for all 31 species of albatrosses and petrels listed by the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.

… as are these four albatrosses
Artwork and poster designs by Namasri “Namo” Niumim

The Mouse-Free Marion Project has now released a second poster based on ACAP Species Infographics that feature four more ACAP-listed seabirds that breed on Marion Island and are also at risk of predation by mice.  They are the Grey, Northern Giant, Southern Giant and White-chinned Petrels.

The two posters have been produced for the MFM Project by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim, who resides in Bangkok.  Namo, who works in gouache, graduated from the School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design.  She has illustrated all the 21 ACAP Species Infographics produced to date.

Both posters can be downloaded from the MFM website and used in support of the conservation of seabirds on Marion Island and elsewhere.  They join a series of 34 MFM Project photographic posters designed pro bono by Michelle Risi, which are also available in an album on the MFM Project’s Facebook page.

With thanks to Namo Niumim.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 05 February 2026

(a) Satellite image of Minami-koshima Island of the Senkaku Islands taken on 28 November 2022. (b) Colony on the slope near the cliff of Minami-koshima Island (white dots within the yellow circle: short-tailed albatrosses). (c) Colony on the narrow platform on the cliff at the southern edge of Minami-koshima Island (red triangles point to short-tailed albatross).(d) Coloured rectangles indicate enlarged areas shown in (a) (blue), (b) (orange), and (c) (red), from the publication

Jiro Otsubo (Institute of Environmental Informatics, IDEA Consultant Inc., Yokohama, Japan) and Hiroyoshi Higuchi have published in the open-access journal Endangered Species Research on the population of the Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus on the disputed Senkaku/Tiaoyutai/Diaoyu Islands.

The paper’s abstract follows:

The short-tailed albatross is an endangered seabird widely distributed in the North Pacific, mainly north of 30°N.   breeds only on Torishima Island, the Senkaku Islands, and the Ogasawara Islands in southern Japan in the north-western Pacific.  It has been regarded as a single species, but recent studies have shown that the populations of short-tailed albatross on Torishima Island and the Senkaku Islands are morphologically and genetically different; thus, they should be classified as 2 cryptic species.  Conservation plans for short-tailed albatross should therefore be developed using baseline information of each population, separately.  Most of the information reported to date has come from the Torishima population, whereas little is known about the Senkaku population.  Population size is a key baseline variable to consider when planning appropriate conservation strategies.  Here, we counted the number of short-tailed albatrosses on the Senkaku Islands using satellite images taken on 27 November 2020 and on 28 November 2022, during the 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 breeding seasons, respectively.  We estimated a total of 146 and 156 breeding pairs in November 2020 and 2022, respectively.  We highlight the importance of monitoring short-tailed albatrosses on the Senkaku Islands, the reliability of information obtained using satellite images compared to the results of earlier studies, and the challenges or limitations of using satellite images of remote islands, where frequent fieldwork is difficult.”

Reference:

Otsubo, J. & Higuchi, H. 2026.  Estimation of short-tailed albatross Phoebastria albatrus population on the Senkaku Islands using satellite images.  Endangered Species Research 593. doi.org/10.3354/esr01462

See also:

Brothers, N., Bone, C. & Wellbelove, A. 2021.  Albatross population monitoring using satellite imagery, a case study: Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus at the Senkaku Islands. Marine Ornithology 50: 7-12.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 04 February 2026

The 2026/26 Royal Cam hatchling gets its second feed, photograph from the Department of Conservation

A milestone has been reached for the Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi in the intensively managed colony at Pukekura /Taiaroa Head on the New Zealand mainland with the hatching of the colony’s 1000th chick

The 1000th hatched chick in the current 2025/26 breeding season follows on from the record 38 chicks fledged in the 2024/25 season, overtaking the previous record number of 33.

The 500th chick shortly before fledging

“Last season was a fantastic one for us with great weather and plenty of food available for the parents so we’re hoping for another great season for these newly hatched toroa.  Our success rate with the chicks has just been going up and up.  Interestingly, when the colony first started with one breeding pair in 1938 through until 2007, 500 chicks hatched.  It’s only taken us under 20 years to double that number, so we are getting better at it.”

Chick Number One "Sproggins" at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head in 1938, photograph by Lance Richdale (click here)

Information from the Department of Conservation.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 03 February 2026

The Island Invasives 2026 Conference “Charting the Future”, the fourth in the series, will be held at the University of Auckland, New Zealand over 9-13 February 2026.  A selected list by author and title of presentations extracted from the conference book of abstracts follows.  It should be of particular interest to those who follow efforts to conserve procellariiform seabirds on invaded islands.

Oral Papers

Dayana Alva, Sebastián Lozano-Sanllehi, Diego Gonzales-DelCarpio, Cinthia Irigoin-Lovera, Brenda Gordillo, Isabella Díaz-Santibañez, Sara Wang, Michael Polito, Carlos Zavalaga: Assessing the relationship between house mouse relative abundance and Peruvian diving-petrel hatching success on Isla La Vieja, Peru

Anton Wolfaardt, Keith Springer, Sue Tonin: Saving Marion Island’s seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion Project.  Advancing toward the eradication of house mice from a globally significant sub-Antarctic island

Sophie Thomas, Andrew Callender, Antje Steinfurth, Araceli Samaniego, Peter McClelland: Andrew Callender, Peter McClelland, Araceli Samaniego, Sophie Thomas: Building from failure: review, investigations and next steps towards eradicating mice from Gough Island: The attempted eradication of house mice (Mus musculus) from Gough Island and its immediate aftermath

Peter McClelland, Tane Davis: Eradications and biosecurity on the Titi islands southern New Zealand – empowering indigenous owners [Sooty Shearwater Ardenna grisea]

Al Glen, Joanna Carpenter, Paul Jacques, Rachael Sagar, Finlay Cox: Spatial and temporal variability in population parameters of island cats [Auckland Island]

Darryl Birch, Kristine Ward, Darcelle Matassoni: Eradications on inhabited islands.  Life after the rodent eradication project on Lord Howe Island, Australia

Sheri S. Mann, Patricia C Baiao, Joshua Atwood, Shane Siers, Mary Jo Mazurek, Alex Wegmann, Nick Holmes, Mele Khalsa, Pete McClelland, Clay Chow, Fia Moe, Dilek Sahin, Gregg Howald: The history of invasive species management and the conservation future of Lehua Island, Hawai’i

Stephen Horn, Finlay Cox, Rachael Sagar, Veronika Frank, Em Oyston, Jennifer Long: Building momentum: technical advances and planning implications for Maukahuka – pest free Auckland Island

Posters

Wesley Jolley, Jonathan Plissner, Elizabeth Flint, Jose Luis Herrera, Cielo Figuerola, Carmen Antaky, Pete McClelland, Chris Forster, Morgan Walter, Dan Rapp, Nick Holmes, Alex Wegmann, Jared Underwood: Midway seabird protection project: Overview and insights from an unsuccessful mouse eradication attempt

Finlay Cox, Rachael Sagar, Katie Ward-Allen, John Quigley, Jennifer Waite, Lyndsay Murray, Lynn Booth, Antoine Filion, Maddie Van De Wetering, Jennifer Rickett, Stephen Horn: Enabling island predator eradications with a readymade 1080 predator bait for New Zealand [Auckland Island]

Access information on plenary speakers and associated workshops here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 02 February 2026