A Black-browed Albatross pair on New Island, South Atlantic; photograph by Ian Strange

Francesco Ventura (Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal) and colleagues have published in the journal Polar Biology on chick mortality events in the Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris on New Island in the South Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“In the context of environmental change, determining the causes underpinning unusual mortality events of vertebrate species is a crucial conservation goal. This is particularly true for polar and sub-polar colonial seabirds, often immunologically naïve to new and emerging diseases. Here, we investigate the patterns of black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) chick mortality events unrelated to predation recorded between the 2004/05 and 2019/2020 breeding seasons in four colonies across the species range in the Falklands. The prevalence of these mortality events was highly variable across years, causing the death of between 3 and 40% of all chicks in the studied plots. With few exceptions, mortality was patchily distributed. Using clustering methodologies, we identified the spatio-temporal mortality clusters based on the nest locations and chick death date. Using generalised linear models and generalised additive mixed-effects models we found that chicks nearer the first mortality event were predicted to die before those in more distant nests. The probability of death increased with age and was highest for chicks close to nests where a chick had died previously. Our findings, along with the symptoms consistently exhibited by most deceased chicks in the study, strongly suggest the prevalence of a widespread infectious disease, potentially with a common aetiology, both in areas with regular and with very rare human presence. Understanding the causes driving these disease-related mortality events, which seem different from the outbreaks documented in the literature, is a conservation priority for the Falklands black-browed albatross population, which comprises over 70% of the species global population.”

With thanks to Janine Dunlop, Niven Librarian, FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town

Reference:

Ventura, F., Granadeiro, J.P., Matias, R. & Catry, P. 2021.  Spatial and temporal aggregation of albatross chick mortality events in the Falklands suggests a role for an unidentified infectious disease.  Polar Biology 44: 351-360.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Office 09 March 2021

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One of the species in the study: Black Petrel  at sea by Griselle Chock in gouache, from a photograph (see below) by Virginia Nicol 

Martin Beal (Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, University of Lisbon, Portugal) and many co-authors from 16 countries have published open access in the journal Science Advances showing from at-sea tracks of 39 species of albatrosses and large petrels breeding  at 87 localities that their conservation is dependent on international action on the high seas.  The data used in the analysis came from BirdLife International’s Seabird Tracking Database that facilitates collaboration between researchers working on the conservation of seabirds.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Migratory marine species cross political borders and enter the high seas, where the lack of an effective global management framework for biodiversity leaves them vulnerable to threats. Here, we combine 10,108 tracks from 5775 individual birds at 87 sites with data on breeding population sizes to estimate the relative year-round importance of national jurisdictions and high seas areas for 39 species of albatrosses and large petrels. Populations from every country made extensive use of the high seas, indicating the stake each country has in the management of biodiversity in international waters. We quantified the links among national populations of these threatened seabirds and the regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) which regulate fishing in the high seas. This work makes explicit the relative responsibilities that each country and RFMO has for the management of shared biodiversity, providing invaluable information for the conservation and management of migratory species in the marine realm.”

With thanks to Martin Beal and Richard Phillips.

Read media articles on the publication from New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

A Black Petrel takes off, photograph by Virginia Nicol

  Reference:

Beal, M., M.P. Dias, R.A. Phillips, S. Oppel, C. Hazin, E.J. Pearmain, J. Adams, D.J. Anderson, M. Antolos, J.A. Arata, J.M. Arcos, J.P. Arnould, J. Awkerman, E. Bell, M. Bell, M. Carey, R. Carle, T.A. Clay, J. Cleeland, V. Colodro, M. Conners, M. Cruz-Flores, R. Cuthbert, K. Delord, L. Deppe, B. J. Dilley, H. Dinis, G. Elliott, F. De Felipe, J. Felis, M.G. Forero, A. Freeman, A. Fukuda, J. González-Solís, J.P. Granadeiro, A. Hedd, P. Hodum, J. M. Igual, A. Jaeger, T.J. Landers, M. Le Corre, A. Makhado, B. Metzger, T. Militão, W.A. Montevecchi, V. Morera-Pujol, L. Navarro-Herrero, D. Nel, D. Nicholls, D. Oro, R. Ouni, K. Ozaki, F. Quintana, R. Ramos, T. Reid, J.M. Reyes-González, C. Robertson, G. Robertson, M.S. Romdhane, P.G. Ryan, P. Sagar, F. Sato, S. Schoombie, R.P. Scofield, S.A. Shaffer, N.J. Shah, K.L. Stevens, C. Surman, R.M. Suryan, A. Takahashi, V. Tatayah, G. Taylor, D.R. Thompson, L. Torres, K. Walker, R. Wanless, S.M. Waugh, H. Weimerskirch, T. Yamamoto, Z. Zajkova, L. Zango & P. Catry 2021.  Global political responsibility for the conservation of albatrosses and large petrels.  Science Advances  7(10).  DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd7225.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 March 2021

Two Black-footed Albatrosses display  at Kaena Point (see text for details)

The Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu is the site of breeding colonies of Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis (Near Threatened) and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna pacifica, protected by a predator-proof fence.  As well as the breeding Laysans, the reserve has since at least 2006 been visited by Black-footed Albatrosses Phoebastria nigripes (Near Threatened), helped by the presence of decoys and a sound system; but as up to now breeding has not been recorded.

This seems likely to change as the non-profit organisation Pacific Rim Conservation has stated recently on its Facebook page: “The last two years have seen a huge increase in the number of Black-footed Albatross visiting Kaena Point.  Pictured … is V541 (male) who we banded in 2018, and his new companion, V949 (female) who we banded earlier this year. These two have been seen visiting the colony daily and doing their courtship dance.  While it is too late for them to breed in 2021, we are hopeful that this pair will nest next year and become the first ever Black-footed Albatross pair on Oahu.”

Black-footed Albatross chicks being collected from near the sea's edge on Midway Atoll, February 2021; photographs from Pacific Rim Conservation

Meanwhile the last year’s cohort (of five) of Black-footed Albatross chicks relocated under permit from the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (taken from nests at risk of being washed away by storms) to the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu are out of in-door quarantine and doing well in their outside homes, according to Pacific Rim Conservation.  In the first four cohorts 86 out of 90 hand-reared chicks successfully fledged (click here).

So will it be James Campbell or Kaena Point that becomes the first-ever breeding site for Black-footed Albatrosses on Oahu – safe from predicted sea level rise?  Time will tell!

Reference:

Young, L.C. & Vanderwerf, E.A. 2016.  The beginning of Black-footed Albatross colonization on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi.  ‘Elepaio 76(1): 1-4.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 March 2021

An incubating Wandering Albatross on Bird Island, photograph by Derren Fox

Each austral summer on Bird Island, South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* in the South Atlantic the annual Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans (Vulnerable) nest census takes place.  It is completed at the end of January when all of the Wanderers that are going to attempt breeding for that season are incubating.  The 2021 results are 671 eggs, a five-year high for the island. It's reported that there wasn't an abnormally high failure rate on Bird Island in the previous season (failed birds will return the next year to try agan in a species that only breeds every second year if successful thus boosting the numbers) so the current season could be a combination of both this and more first-time breeders recruting to the population laying eggs.

Information from the Facebook Page of BirdLife International’s Albatross Task Force.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 March 2021, updated 09 Maech 2021

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.