Over 25 January – 2 February this year an island-based research team of the RSPB’s Gough Island Restoration Programme undertook the annual whose-island count of incubating Critically Endangered Tristan Albatrosses Diomedea dabbenena (read more on team member Chris Jones’ blog on the count).

This season the count is up from the total of 1453 breeding pairs counted last year - although year-to-year fluctuations are to be expected in a biennially-breeding species.  Tristan Albatrosses on Gough Island are at risk to attacks on their downy chicks by introduced House Mice Mus musculus, resulting in a very low breeding success every year, insufficient to maintain the population.  This should change if the planned poison bait drop set for next year succeeds.

A Tristan Albatross and its chick on Gough Island, photograph by Andrea Angel/Ross Wanless

The Gough Island Restoration Programme is being carried out by the RSPB in partnership with Tristan da Cunha, BirdLife South Africa, the Department of Environmental Affairs in South Africa and Island Conservation.  The programme is part-funded by the RSPB, the UK Government, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other generous individuals and organisations.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 16 March 2019

On 31 January 2007 I arrived at Waterfall Camp below the island’s highest peak for that year’s Tristan Albatross count.  A significant day as it fell on my 60th birthday (I hiked with a celebratory fruit cake) and it was also my last day of academic employment.  Twelve years on and I am still enjoying retirement!  JCII

Over the five-year period (2014-2018) the Chatham Island Taiko Trust has collected globally Vulnerable and nationally Naturally Uncommon Chatham AlbatrossThalassarche eremita chicks from the Pyramid, the species’ sole breeding site and hand-reared them to fledging behind a predator-proof fence at The Gap on New Zealand’s Chatham Islands.  The aim is to establish a second breeding colony as an “insurance”, in the hope the fledged chicks – a total of 281 over five seasons – would return to The Gap rather than to their hatching site on the Pyramid.

 The Trust has been expecting the first translocated juveniles to start returning after five years (i.e. this or next year for the 2014 cohort of 50 birds).  So far none has been seen back at The Gap; the Trust states on its Facebook page “monitoring is limited to two fixed cameras taking hourly photos of two parts of the colony, so it is possible we are missing the action.”

However, a recent field trip to the Pyramid has resulted in no less than eight translocated birds - all of the first 2014 cohort - being seen ashore in the breeding colony. “The find was a real surprise, as we thought the birds were at least a year off starting to return, they are only just turning five years old now. Interestingly, 7 of the 8 birds were male, which may suggest that males return at a slightly younger age than females, and perhaps are less likely to shift to new areas.”

Translocated Chatham Albatross A30 ((Rocco, fledged 12 April 2014) seen back on the Pyramid five years later;  the other seven 2014 juveniles seen on the Pyramid this year, along with the names given them by sponsors, were A04 - Jcap, A07 - Bunny, A25 - Alec, A34 - Rimu, A39 - Dough Boy, A44 - Angus and A48 - Joney

So what does this mean for the project’s chances of success? The Trust gives it opinion: “Obviously this unexpected discovery raises some interesting questions for our translocation project - we are currently digesting this information and trying to determine what it means and where to from here”.

E17 of the third (2016) cohort (sponsored as Come-on-Eileen and fledging on 13 April) was photographed at sea off Valparaiso, Chile on 10 December 2016 (click here).

 Translocated Chatham Albatross chick E17 at The Gap, seen at sea off Chile eight months after fledging

Photographs from the Chatham Island Taiko Trust

The only other bird so far reported after fledging was from the final (2018) cohort; it was found dead on a Chatham Island beach two weeks later.  See earlier ALN postings on the translocation project.

The Chatham Island Taiko Trust is a non-profit community conservation trust, established in 1998 by Chatham residents, to protect and recover our unique and precious island's wildlife with the support and involvement of the Chatham Island community.

With thanks to Dave Boyle, Chatham Island Taiko Trust.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 March 2019

ACAP Latest News has previously posted on plans to provide fencing to keep out introduced mammals from entering globally Vulnerable Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus (PFSH) breeding sites on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island, part of the Juan Fernández Archipelago.

News of recent progress comes from Verónica López of Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge’s Pink-footed Shearwater Team who writes to ALN:

“With support from NFWF [National Fish and Wildlife Foundation] and partners, Oikonos is installing an upgraded fence around one of the largest PFSH colonies in the Juan Fernández Archipelago to exclude cows, rabbits, cats, and dogs. The colony, called Piedra Agujereada (which means “rocks full of holes”!), hosts an estimated 1,000-1,500 pairs, and currently has a cattle fence around it to prevent trampling of shearwater burrows.

We hope this effort will encourage fence solutions in other remote colonies with limited infrastructure similar to the Juan Fernández Islands: (1) no car or helicopter access (only by foot or mules), (2) no on-site water source, (3) no electricity, (4) severe seasonal weather conditions (routinely exposed to hurricane-force winds), and (5) a cost investment acceptable to the island residents. To explore affordability, LandCare (New Zealand) also joined the effort and completed a cost-benefit analysis for protecting breeding pairs in this colony.

Mike Bell, Wildlife Management International, is designing the fence, bringing his expertise from the remote Chatham Islands and other projects in New Zealand.  Mike recently visited Robinson Crusoe Island with the Oikonos team to assess the site and share the value of conservation fences with the National Park agency CONAF.  Lindsay Young at Pacific Rim Conservation has also been advising the project on design and material cost options.

PFSH chicks have recently hatched and we have begun pre-fence monitoring that includes continuing the breeding time-series (begun in 2015 at Piedra Agujereada) and documenting predator encounters using cameras and carcass transects. After just a few days of camera monitoring, we have detected not only many rabbits, but also more cats and dogs at the site than expected.  This fence will be timely!”

Planned fence line at the Piedra Agujereada colony on Robinson Crusoe Island

Ussie time! Mike Bell of Wildlife Management International and the Juan Fernández Islands Pink-footed Shearwater crew in January

ALN will endeavour to make further postings on the fencing plan for ACAP’s most recently listed species.

With thanks to Verónica López.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 March 2019

On 28 January this year the environmental NGO Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge handed over the text of the proposed Chilean National Plan for Recovery, Conservation, and Management (Propuesta Plan de Recuperación, Conservación y Gestión  - RECOGE) for the globally Vulnerable and ACAP-listed Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus to Carolina Schmidt, Chile’s Minister of the Environment. The handover event took place in the Pink-footed Shearwater (PFSH) colony near the town of San Juan Bautista on Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile (click here).

Oikonos writes to ACAP Latest News:

“The RECOGE plan is the guiding document for species recovery in Chile (where PFSH are listed as Endangered), and the acceptance of the plan by the Ministry of the Environment was an important step toward creating official national policy.  The final RECOGE document was created through a collective effort by many institutions.  Institutions like the U.S. Geological Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF; USA), and Environment and Climate Change Canada have been fundamental allies in achieving these advances. Without their support and trust in our work, we would not have been able to advance to this point.

For Oikonos, this has been the work of many years, with major challenges, but always motivated by the possibility of national support for addressing threats meaningfully and improving the conservation status of PFSH.  We are grateful for the confidence and trust of the Chilean government in allowing us to help craft, coordinate, and lead stages of this process.”

A feral cat inspects a Pink-footed Shearwater burrow on Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile

Oikonos Chile Program Director Valentina Colodro delivers the Pink-footed Shearwater RECOGE document to Carolina Schmidt, the Chilean Minister of the Environment

 A special meeting to discuss the conservation of the Pink-footed Shearwater was held recently at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.  ACAP Latest News plans to report on the meeting’s outcomes.

With thanks to Verónica López, Pink-footed Shearwater Team, for information and photographs.

Reference:

Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge 2019.  Propuesta plan de recuperación, conservación y gestión de la fardela blanca (Ardenna creatopus).  31 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 March 2019