Petrel and shearwater heads by Linda Mahoney, poster design by Michelle Risi

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement is particularly pleased to have collaborated once again with Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) on its 35th Project entitled “Painting Petrels in Peril” during January and February this year.  The task for ABUN’s dedicated artists around the world was to paint or draw the nine ACAP-listed petrels and shearwaters.  ACAP’s first collaboration with ABUN last year was to produce artworks of the world’s 22 species of albatrosses that could then be used as online images to help raise awareness of the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June.

  “Petrels in peril in pastel pencils, with pleasure” by Di Roberts

For the World Albatross Day Project #30 in 2020 photographers made several hundred photographs featuring all 22 albatross species available to ABUN that artists could then use as inspiration for their artworks.  After the two months of the project 77 artists had produced no less than 324 paintings and drawings of albatrosses for ACAP, several artists accepting the challenge of painting all 22 species (click here for a selection).  Following another successful call for photographs, the 2021 petrel project which finished this week has resulted in 106 artworks produced by 48 ABUN artists.  This gives a combined total of 430 artworks for the 31 listed species available to help support ACAP and its efforts in contributing to the conservation of albatrosses and petrels.  A remarkable achievement and one for which ACAP is hugely grateful.  The artworks have been used to create posters and music videos and to illustrate many news posts to the ACAP website.  Together the two projects have resulted in a treasure trove of art that ACAP will be able to draw on for years to come.

“Petrels in Peril”, artwork and design by Grisselle Chock

On a rare personal note, working with Kitty Harvill, ABUN’s Co-founder, has been nothing but a pleasure, as it has been with several dozen ABUN artists with whom I have been in direct contact about their works.  ABUN really is a caring and committed community!

With thanks to Kitty Harvill, all the participating ABUN artists, and Michelle Risi for her poster design. A selection of the petrel and shearwater artworks by ABUN will soon appear on this website, along withm the three illustrated here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 March 2021

Perhaps disruptions in international mailings last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic hindered ACAP Latest News continuing with its occasional reviews of books that deal with ACAP-listed species and their habitats.  Whatever the reason, and to keep ALN followers up to date, it is intended to post details of a few recent(ish) titles without the usual reviews from copies received.  First up is Otto Plantema’s privately published “Around the World for Albatrosses” subtitled “Where to See All the Albatross Species”.

The following is from the publisher’s ‘blurb’:

“Thinking about albatrosses is thinking about remote, uninhabited, windswept islands in the vast open oceans. As being the ultimate marine family, seeing one of the 21 species* of Diomedeidae is often one of the highlights of a birdwatcher’s trip. Many of them aren’t very easy to see for the land-based birder and access to the colonies is often restricted and expensive.

Otto Plantema has extensively sailed the oceans in search for albatrosses and other seabirds. He has visited breeding colonies of all but one species (Amsterdam Island Albatross) in order to photograph them. Quite a few species were encountered more often than a couple of times. The book offers a quick and structured overview of where, when and how to see albatrosses. But it is more than a ‘where to watch birds’ book with pictures.

After an introductory chapter which briefly describes taxonomy, ecology, threats, breeding biology and photography, the book describes the main geographical areas which you have to visit if you want to see all the species near or in the colony: Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha archipelago, French Subantarctic islands, New Zealand and Subantarctic islands and the (Subtropical) North Pacific (Hawaii, Japan and Galapagos). Most chapters contain a paragraph on history and geography per island followed by a how to visit these islands and the species accounts, which contain: identification (briefly), history, population, distribution, behavior, breeding, threats and status.”

A page from "Around the World for Albatrosses"

It’s stated that a portion of proceeds from sales will go to the BirdLife International’s Albatross Task Force.

*ACAP recognizes 22 species of albatrosses.

Reference:

Plantema, Otto 2019.  Around the World for Albatrosses. Where to See All the Albatross Species.  Privately published.  148 pages, colour photos, colour maps. Hardback.  UK Pounds 34.99.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 March 2021

 “Bloody Beauties” by Marion Schön and Andrea Siemt

Two members of Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN), Marion Schön and Andrea Siemt, have combined their artistic talents to create “Bloody Beauties”, depictions of two blood-soaked Southern Giant Petrels Macronectes giganteus following their scavenging from seal carcasses on sub-Antarctic islands.  Their artworks and the poster have been produced as part of ABUN Project #35 entitled “Paintings Petrels in Peril”, over January and February this year.  This collaboration with ACAP aimed to produce paintings of all the nine ACAP-listed petrels and shearwaters.  The works will be used to help create awareness of the threats faced by the species.

The two artists live in Germany, Andrea in Schwetzingen in the south-west in an area "famous for its asparagus" and Marion near the French border in Neunkirchen.  Although Andrea says “we are challenging each other many times and have a lot of fun painting animals for ABUN” they are yet to meet in person.  Andrea describes herself as an amateur artist who started painting 14 years ago with pastels, watercolours and charcoals being her favourite media.  Marion, who designed the poster, writes  "My art is inspired by expressions, animals and people, to raise awareness for the voiceless ones, no matter if furry, feathered, scaled or human". An avowed amateur who does not sell her art, Marion prefers to work in pastels and charcoal. She says that being a member of ABUN her artworks go around the world to help biologists and projects open the hearts of people to our beautiful nature and endangered species. 

ACAP Latest News also reached out to the two biologists for the circumstances in which they took their photos that inspired the artists.  In reply, Jaimie Cleeland writes: “This picture was taken at Buckles Bay on Macquarie Island, summer 2011/12.  A large dead male elephant seal, possibly a former beachmaster, had attracted a large group of Northern Giant Petrels, Southern Giant Petrels and skuas to feed. This white-morph Southern Giant Petrel was feeding on the bloody body cavity and displaying territorial behaviours to warn off other birds trying to get access to the carcass.  Macquarie Island has the highest proportion of white-morph Southern Giant Petrels of any breeding location.”

Liezl Pretorius has a similar account from another sub-Antarctic island: “My picture was taken at Trypot Beach, Marion Island, in the summer of 2018/2019.  There were about 10 birds competing over a freshly dead Southern Elephant Seal female that died during the moult season. A large number of elephant seals were piling up on each other trying to get into a small muddy pool as I walked past early morning censusing elephant seals, and when I came back late afternoon I found her with her head stuck in the thick mud. So she obviously couldn't get out from underneath all the others and drowned. And once the GPs realised that she wasn't alive anymore, they moved in very quickly. It was amazing to watch them in action and to see how quickly they utilised every piece of her for food. A few days later there were basically only skin and bones left.”

View the ACAP Species Assessment for the Southern Giant Petrel here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 March 2021

Grey-headed Albatross by Annie Shoemaker-Magdaleno‎, from a photograph by Dimas Gianuca

Lily Bentley (Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK) and colleagues have published in the journal Marine Biology on diving by three species of albatrosses breeding on Bird Island in the South Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Diving is an ecologically important behaviour that provides air-breathing predators with opportunities to capture prey, but that also increases their exposure to incidental mortality (bycatch) in commercial fisheries. In this study, we characterised the diving behaviour of 26 individuals of three species, the black-browed albatross Thalassarche melanophris, grey-headed albatross T. chrysostoma and light-mantled albatross Phoebetria palpebrata, breeding at Bird Island, South Georgia. Individuals were tracked using Global Location Sensor (GLS)-immersion loggers and time-depth recorders (TDRs) and, for two species, Global Positioning System (GPS) loggers. Although the TDRs recorded 589 dives (defined in this paper as submersion > 1 m), average dive depths and durations were just 1.30–1.49 m and 2.5–3.3 s, respectively, for the three species. In addition, many individuals (22% of black-browed, 20% of grey-headed, and 57% of light-mantled albatrosses; total n = 9, 10 and 7 individuals, respectively) did not dive at all. Most dives occurred at the distal end of foraging trips and were rare during the commuting phase. No dives took place in darkness, despite long periods spent on water at night. The limited and shallow dive activity contrasts with impressions from a previous study using capillary-tube depth gauges (which are less accurate than TDRs) and has implications for the susceptibility of albatrosses to bycatch on longlines. This study provides further support for regulations requiring night setting and increased sink rates of baited hooks to help mitigate albatross bycatch.”

With thanks to Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Bentley, L.K., Kato, A., Ropert-Coudert, Y., Manica, A. & Phillips, R.A. 2021  Diving behaviour of albatrosses: implications for foraging ecology and bycatch susceptibility.  Marine Biology 168.  doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03841-y.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 February 2021