The Short-tailed Albatross chick gets its bands from Jon Plissner and Chris Forster

George and Geraldine make up the sole pair of Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatrosses Diomedea albatrus that breed on Midway Atoll’s Sand Island.  They commenced breeding on the island in 2018 after first meeting up on the island in 2016 and have attempted breeding every year since.  Their third chick, which was thought to have hatched on 1 January has grown to a size when it could be banded with metal and colour bands as reported recently by the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge on its Facebook page.

On go the metal and colour (Red AA10) bands, photographs by Jon Brack

“The 2021 Short-tailed Albatross chick on Midway Atoll within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is now banded!  Last week, FWS biologist Jon Plissner decided that it was time to band the chick because its leg was now big enough to handle the numbered metal and aux [colour] bands that it will wear when we expect it will be able to take flight out to sea in about a month.  These bands will help this bird be identifiable as it matures to adulthood and hopefully has offspring of its own some day.  The chick is already surprisingly huge, larger than an adult Laysan Albatross and still mostly fluffy in its down plumage.  Adult Short-tailed Albatrosses weigh about twice as much as an adult Laysan."

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 May 2021

 Flesh-footed Shearwater, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Vincent Yap (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia) and colleagues have published in the open-access journal Marine Ornithology on longevity of the Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes (Near Threatened), based on band recoveries.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Longevity records for seabirds are vital to understanding population demography but are often limited due to the relatively short duration of many monitoring programs.  Here, we present new longevity records for two seabird species: 32.2 years (Queensland, Australia) for the Brown Booby Sula leucogaster and 33.9 years (New Zealand) for the Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes, alongside existing longevity data.  While these new records represent the oldest known birds to date, we suggest that they reflect typical adult lifespans of these species, i.e., 25–30 years, and reinforce the need for ongoing monitoring efforts.”

Reference:

Yap, V.H.S., Stewart, L.G., Stuckenbrock, S., Fidler, A.L. & Lavers, J.L. 2021.  Longevity records for the Brown Booby Sula leucogaster and Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes. Marine Ornithology 49: 167–170.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 April 2021

Lehua, an eroded tuff cone, now free of rats

Lehua is a 126-ha crescent-shaped island in the USA’s Hawaiian Islands.  The uninhabited island supports small breeding populations of Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses, as well as of several shearwater and petrel species (click here) and, until now, Pacific Rats Rattus exulans.

Following an over a decade-long effort the island has now been declared free of introduced rodents as recently reported by the Hawaiian Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The department reports: “After extensive on-island monitoring, we’re 99.99% certain there are no more rats on Lehua, which builds on the successful removal of invasive herbivorous rabbits and secures a future for Hawai’i’s wildlife and ecosystems.  Following the [second] eradication attempt in 2017 a monitoring effort using motion sensor cameras to detect rat presence or absence was initiated with a team regularly returning to Lehua to treat small areas with bait and to set traps in response to any rat sightings.  Rats have not been detected on the island for over two years.  April 2021 marks the one-year anniversary since all rat-control treatments were removed from the island, adding to the data that allows us to declare Lehua rat-free.”

Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses on Lehua, photographs by Lindsay Young

Read more details and comments on the successful eradication by the DLNR and partner Island Conservation and watch a short video entitled Success! Lehua Island is Rat Free.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 April 2021

Orion, a Black-browed Albatross chick about to fledge, is to be tracked at sea; photograph by James Crymble

The satellite-tracking of 19 juvenile Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris (Least Concern) from Bird Island in thge South Atlantic is a collaborative study between the British Antarctic Survey and BirdLife International, with the devices being funded by the South Georgia Heritage Trust and Friends of South Georgia Island.  The project will provide new data on habitat use and fisheries overlap (poorly known for non-adult birds) of the population, which is in steep decline, having nearly halved overall from over 100 000 pairs in 1985 to just 54 000 pairs in 2021.  Although the species is not listed as globally threatened, this decrease has been so rapid that the birds are listed as one of 10 priority populations for conservation, by ACAP (click here).

The movements of fledglings in their first few months at sea can be followed on an online map which updates in near-real time. The first chick has recently fledged as reported by Richard Phillips of the British Antarctic Survey to ACAP Latest News, now followed by others, as shown on the map below.  According to the Albatross Task Force Facebook page “Orion’s bags are almost packed, and a fancy tracker to go with them!  We’re going to be able to follow Orion and his colony mates as they venture from Bird Island.  Orion was a perfect candidate weighing in at a whopping 4.5kg.”

The story so far: the fledglings are moving northwards from Bird Island

Meanwhile Nova, a Vulnerable Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans chick that was followed from hatching to fledging on Bird Island throughout 2020 and was being tracked at sea after fledging has stopped transmitting and may no longer be alive as reported by the same Facebook page.  This serves as a reminder of the threats albatrosses face at sea from fisheries, especially longlining.

Lost at sea?  Nova the Wandering Albatross prior to fledging; photograph by Alex Dodds

For more details of the at-sea tracking and to view the online map visit the project’s web page.

With thanks to Richard Phillips, British Antarctic Survey.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 April 2021