Photograph of the vagrant Black-browed Albatross by cell phone through a 30-70x telescope, from Per-Magnus Åhrén

An adult-plumaged Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris (Least Concern) was photographed at a distance flying at sea in the narrow sound of Öresund between Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden on 25 April 2021.  The bird was also seen the next day in the same area with no winds when it was attacked by nine White-tailed Sea Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla. It was not seen after that despite concerted searches by many birders on both sides of the sound.

Reportings of Black-browed Albatrosses (possibly of the same individual) have been made in the North Sea and surrounding waters over the last four to five years.

Read a summary of vagrant Southern Hemisphere albatrosses in the Northern Hemisphere here.

Information from the Pelagics. Seabirds Birding Worldwide Facebook page.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 May 2021

A fortunate chick this time: the plastic pony lies on the nest’s edge, photograph by Theo Thompson

That albatrosses mistake floating plastic debris for food items, swallow them and later regurgitate them to their chicks must now be well known.  Probably the most reported cases are from Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis (globally Near Threatened) of the North Pacific which feed their chicks everything from cigarette lighters, toothbrushes, bottle tops, toy soldiers and action figures, as well as miscellaneous plastic fragments, as illustrated by a number of artworks and displays made from plastic objects collected from around nests or from within the decaying corpses of chicks (click here).  This problem has been brought to a wider audience by Chris Jordan in his evocative documentary Albatross filmed on Midway Atoll.  It seems Southern Hemisphere albatrosses are less affected by ingesting plastic, although they are certainly not immune as has been regularly reported in ACAP Latest News over the last decade.

The latest example of ingested plastic comes from the intensively managed mainland colony of Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi (globally Endangered and nationally Naturally Uncommon) at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head on New Zealand’s South Island.  Biodiversity Ranger Sharyn Broni reports on the Royal Albatross Centre Facebook page.  “This 9 cm long plastic pony was found at one chick’s nest on Tuesday during morning rounds.  We believe a parent regurgitated this for a chick, it may have been in fish that it caught. Fortunately, the chick did not take it.”  Previous plastic items found associated with Taiaroa’s albatrosses have included bottle caps, squid lures, fishing floats, a container tab and the handle of an infant formula scoop. 

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 May 2021

Due to the COVID-18 pandemic, a decision was made by the World Seabird Union and local hosts, the Australasian Seabird Group, to cancel the face-to-face 3rd World Seabird Conference - already postponed from its original dates in 2020..  Instead, it will now be held virtually over 4-8 October 2021.  Further information regarding schedule, registration, additional submission opportunities and more will be announced in the coming months.  “We're looking forward to a virtual event that is inclusive, diverse, and representative of the global nature of seabirds.”

The 1st World Seabird Conference was held in Victoria, Canada in September 2010.  The 2nd World Seabird Conference was held in Cape Town, South Africa in October 2015.  Nearly 600 delegates from 52 countries attended the Cape Town conference for oral presentations, symposia, workshops, two poster sessions and networking opportunities.

In the meantime, the Seventh World Seabird Twitter Conference (WSTC7) is being held this week over 4-6 May with over 140 presentations expected.  The WSTC is an annual, Twitter-based conference with presentations on seabird research and conservation from around the world.  During the conference each presenter has 15 minutes in which to make four tweets about their topic.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 May 2021

The wounded Tristan Albatross, still brooding its chick, photograph by Peter Ryan

During regular monitoring of nests of the Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena within a long-term study colony in Gonydale on the UK’s Gough Island in the South Atlantic two nests observed recently had adults carrying wounds.  At one nest the female of the pair with a deep wound on her back was brooding a chick. This wound was much worse than one seen on a different adult in 2018 which was suspected at the time (though not proven) to have been caused by the island’s introduced House Mice.  On a return visit the wound of the female seen sitting on her chick had proved fatal, with her body lying a little way from the nest.  Later the island’s Subantarctic Skuas Catharacta antarctica were observed scavenging from the corpse.

 The female has succumbed to its wounds (left); the male on the nest with its dead partner behind (right); photographs by Rolf Daling

The female bird was banded as a chick with metal number J-04145 on 27 September 1986 in Gonydale by a research team from the FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town.  On 10 January 2008 the bird was found incubating in Gonydale by a team led by ACAP’s Information Officer when a yellow colour band E80 was added as part of settimg up the long-term study.  Since then records show it bred successfully six times in eight attempts, with at least one partner change.

"As for what is left of these two nests… With only one parent now providing food, the chick of the dead adult might take longer to fledge and is likely to be in a weaker state, multiplying the threat from the mice and making it less likely to survive at sea. At our last check at the other nest, there was no sign of the wounded adult and the nest had failed." (click here).  There are published cases of single parents (of either gender) of the closely-related Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans raising a chick to fledging, so the Tristan Albatross chick may yet survive without its female parent.

Watch a short video of the male brooding the chick while its dead partner lies nearby surrounded by skuas.

An attempt to eradicate the mice is due to be made this austral winter by the Gough Island Restoration Programme.

With thanks to Steffen Oppel, Antje Steinfurth and Kim Stevens, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Reference:

Brown, C.R. & Adams, N.J. 1984.  Female Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans raising a chick on its own on Marion Island.  Cormorant 12: 103-104

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 May 2021