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

 A scavenging Southern Giant Petrel; photograph by Liezl Pretorius

William Mills (British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK) and colleagues have published in the journal Marine Biology on diets of non-threatened (Least Concern) Northern Macronectes halli and Southern M. giganteus Giant Petrels in the South Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Northern Macronectes halli and southern giant petrels M. giganteus are opportunistic predators and the dominant avian scavengers in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic ecosystems. At South Georgia, there are globally important breeding populations of both species; however, no detailed diet study has been carried out at this site for > 35 years. Here, we analysed stomach contents of northern (n = 81) and southern giant petrel (n = 73) chicks at Bird Island, South Georgia (2014/15–2016/17). Specifically, we investigated: (1) interspecific and sexual dietary segregation; (2) diet changes within and among recent years; and (3) long-term diet changes since 1979/80–1980/81. Overall diet composition was similar between species, with penguins comprising approximately half the diet by mass. In both species (but more pronounced in southern giant petrels), prey delivered by female parents included higher proportions (by mass) of penguins and Antarctic krill Euphausia superba, and by male parents included more Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella carrion and seabirds other than penguins. Consumption of penguins increased, and of seal carrion declined, as chick-rearing progressed, mirroring the decreasing availability of the latter after the peak pupping period in December at South Georgia. Comparisons with data from 1979/80–1980/81 suggest some changes in giant petrel diets; however, these differences were no greater than the typical annual variation, and there were no clear links between diet and breeding allochrony or the differing population trends (more rapid increase in northern than southern giant petrels). The high diet diversity and ability of giant petrels to exploit both carrion and marine prey facilitates coexistence with other sympatric Procellariiformes and explains their favourable population status.’

Southern Giant Petrel by Marion Schön entitled "Bloody Beauty" - Pastels on Pastelmat, from a photograph by Jaimie Cleeland

With thanks to Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Mills, W.F., Morley, T.I., Votier, S.C. & Phillips, R.A. Long‑term inter‑ and intraspecific dietary variation in sibling seabird species.  Marine Biology doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03839-6.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 February 2021