A Northern Royal Albatross family at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head, photograph by Junichi Sugushita

The last Endangered Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi chick of the 2024/25 breeding season has fledged from Pukekura/Taiaroa Head.  A total of 38 chicks fledged from the colony, making it the most successful season on record.  The previous record of 33 was from each of the last two seasons.  The colony has grown from one breeding pair in 1937 to more than 80 pairs in [2024/]2025.  Eighteen fledglings were fitted with GPS trackers, showing that some are already most of the way across the Pacific heading towards South America.

Department of Conservation (DOC) Coastal Otago Albatross Ranger Sharyn Broni writes:

“It’s been a fantastic season at Pukekura.  The weather has been great with slightly cooler temperatures over summer, so there haven’t been overheating or flystrike issues, which is better for both the birds and rangers.

“The chicks have also needed less supplementary feeding than in past years, which suggests there was plenty of food available for the parents.  We even found a 2-kg eel next to one nest, which a parent had brought back!  There were several chicks, however, which lost one or both parents and required a lot of support from the rangers to ensure they were a healthy weight prior to fledging.

“Unfortunately, one chick took off successfully but was found dead at a local beach several days later.  We don’t know what the cause was.  It’s sad, but it’s natural that not all the chicks will be successful once they leave the colony.”

DOC co-manages the albatross colony as part of Te Poari a Pukekura (the Pukekura Co-management Trust) alongside Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou, Korako Kareta i Trust and Dunedin City Council, with the support of the Otago Peninsula Trust.

Information from the Department of Conservation.

Read about the 2024/25 Royal Cam chick fledging here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 22 October 2025

 
An introduced House Mouse on Marion Island, photograph by Ben Dilley

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.  The draft programme and book of abstracts for over 200 oral and poster presentations are now available for viewing on the conference website.  Information is also available on field trips and social activities.

Three independently organised workshops will be held on the first two days of the conference, for which brief descriptions are available:

Improving success rates for tropical island rat eradications (facilitated by Island Conservation)
This workshop will be focused on identifying and evaluating cost effective measures that can augment existing best practice for rodent eradication on tropical islands to improve success rates.  While a synopsis of past eradication attempts will be provided along with a summary of the most likely reasons for past failures, the focus of discussion will be forward looking.

Getting to the root of the problem in pig eradication practice (facilitated by Island Conservation)
This workshop will be focused on identifying the most resource and labour efficient measures for removing pigs from increasingly large islands.  Two scenarios will be under consideration, the first being islands where pigs are predominantly solitary and the second where pigs move in groups.  The most promising new technologies for pig detection and removal with an eye on scaling up will also be evaluated during the workshop.  The workshop may be a precursor to the development of best practice guidelines for pig eradication.

Challenges in improving mouse eradication success rates (facilitated by the Mouse-Free Marion Project)
This workshop will consider issues around rodent eradication failures, especially for house mice.  The discussion will focus on what factors to address that can help to improve success rates.  A synopsis of past eradication attempts will be provided along with a summary of the most likely reasons for past failures, using these to discuss what variables can modified in eradication planning for future mouse eradications.

The conference plenary speakers will be Imogen Bassett - Island Biosecurity, Keith Broome - Technical Planning, Luciana Luna Mendoza - Tropical Eradications, Jessi Morgan - Community Engagement, Nicola Rata-MacDonald - Indigenous Leadership, David Towns - Island Restoration and David Will - Emerging Technologies.  Click here to read biographical details for each plenary speaker.

The Island Invasives 2026 Organising Committee consists of Professor James Russell, The University of Auckland, Dr Araceli Samaniego, Island Restoration Advisor, Ms Clare Stringer, Department of Conservation, Dr Nick Holmes, The Nature Conservancy, Mr Dick Veitch ONZM, Emeritus Professor Dave Towns ONZM and Emeritus Professor Mick Clout FRSNZ.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 27 October 2025

A Wedge-tailed Shearwater chick in the Kaena Point NAR, photograph by Sora Gallo

Record numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna pacifica have bred within the predator-proof fence in the Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve on the Hawaiian island of Oahu this last breeding season.

Surveying Wedge-tailed Shearwaters within the Kaena Point NAR, photograph by Laura Crago

“Annual surveys began at this site in 1994 with only a handful of nests.  In 2011, a mammalian exclusion fence was built to protect Ka‘ena Point's wildlife.  Our latest survey [presumably of the 2024/25 breeding season] estimates there are 16 394 nests inside the fence.  Nest success was 47%, which is higher than the long-term average.

As the size of the colony has increased, so has the effort required to monitor it.  These annual surveys wouldn't be possible without the help of dedicated stewards from conservation organizations across the island.  Finding 30+ people who are willing to spend a day crawling around and peeking/reaching into holes in the ground is no easy feat.

The success of this mammalian exclusion fence and on-going management shows what’s possible when science, protection, and community come together.”

Information from the Facebook page of Pacific Rim Conservation.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 21 October 2025

Mark Shuttleworth in 2019, photograph from Canonical

The Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project aims to eradicate Marion Island’s introduced House Mice that have taken to attacking and killing the island’s albatrosses and petrels.  Upon successful completion, the project, jointly managed by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, will have restored the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, including eight ACAP-listed species, and improve the resilience of the island to a warming climate.

The MFM Project has recently announced an important donation of US$1 million from Mark Shuttleworth, a South African computer entrepreneur and philanthropist currently based in the United Kingdom.  He initially specialised in digital certificates and internet security, first developed in his parents’ Cape Town garage while still a student.

Mark D. Anderson, BirdLife South Africa CEO and Chair of the Mouse-Free Marion Project’s Management Committee, writes: “A few weeks ago, I had a fascinating discussion with Mark Shuttleworth about the Mouse-Free Marion Project.  He asked insightful and thoughtful questions, reflecting his deep commitment to conservation.  His passion is evident in his support for the protection of Príncipe Island off the west coast of Africa, and now, through his interest in our critical work to eradicate invasive House Mice from Marion Island, where they are causing devastating harm to albatrosses and petrels.”

Mark Shuttleworth has been into space, the first South African (and African) to do so, for eight days as a tourist in 2002, when he helped conduct scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station.  He travelled to Antarctica in 2004.  He is one of four Honorary Patrons of BirdLife South Africa, all of whom are passionate about the conservation of South Africa’s natural environment and its birds.  Mark has now continued his philanthropy by supporting the MFM Project, arguably South Africa’s most significant current environmental undertaking, in its effort to “re-wild” 30 000 hectares of South African island territory in the southern Indian Ocean.

On hearing the confirmation of one of the MFM Project’s most notable individual donations, Anton Wolfaardt, Project Manager said: “Mark Shuttleworth’s remarkable contribution provides a huge boost to our endeavour to restore Marion Island’s ecosystem.  His generosity not only strengthens our capacity to deliver this globally significant conservation effort but also inspires others to support the protection of one of our planet’s most extraordinary wild places”.

A breeding female Wandering Albatross on Marion Island, photograph by Linda Clokie

The MFM Project has this month released the 15th Issue of its Newsletter, available for downloading from here, as are all its previous editions.  As well as the usual Editorial, the latest newsletter carries articles on a year in the life of a Vulnerable Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans breeding on Marion Island, and on the project’s attendance at its second bird fair, in Pretoria, South Africa, following on from the Global Birdfair in the UK earlier in the year.

For more information or to support the MFM Project please visit mousefreemarion.org.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 20 October 2025