A Hutton’s Shearwater incubates its egg in an artificial burrow in the Te Rae o Atiu colony, photograph from the Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust

The Endangered Hutton’s Shearwater Puffinus huttoni breeds naturally only in two colonies high up in the mountains of the Seaward Kaikōura Ranges behind the seaside town of Kaikōura on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, where they are risk to landslides caused by earthquakes and feral pigs.  Additionally fledglings are downed by bright lights in the town, when they become at risk to cars, cats and dogs alike.  As a consequence, a long-standing effort has been underway over two decades by the Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust to establish a new breeding colony secure within a predator-proof-fence, hand rearing translocated chicks in artificial burrows.

A Hutton’s Shearwater chick close to fledging in the Te Rae o Atiu colony, photograph from the Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust

With fledged birds now returning each year to breed, the Te Rae o Atiu colony on the Kaikōura Peninsula at a low altitude is moving to a more mature stage, although some underweight chicks continue to receive “sardine smoothies” to supplement their natural diet fed to them by their parents.  In the current 2024/25 breeding season as fledging commences this month, the relocation colony is reported as faring well, with “about 90 adult birds returned to the colony, 42 eggs laid and 32 hatching”, of which a record 30 chicks have survived.  The Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust is ambitious: “At the moment it is a very tiny colony, but our plan is that over the next 100 years it grows to a colony of at least 10 000 breeding pairs.”

Slow down for Hutton’s Shearwater fledglings, as a sign along a Kaikōura street requests, photograph from the Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust

The Te Rae o Atiu colony is a partnership between Tukete Charitable Trust, which owns the land, Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura, the Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust and the Department of Conservation.

Read a book review on the Hutton’s Shearwater in its mountain home.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 21 March 2025

George (on left) and Geraldine, photograph by USFWS Volunteer Joe Owen

Midway Atoll’s well-known Short-tailed Albatrosses Phoebastria albatrus George and Geraldine did not hatch their egg this breeding season, according to a report from the Facebook page of the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

George (on left) and Geraldine, photograph by USFWS Volunteer Joe Owen

The two birds, the sole breeding pair on Midway, have successfully raised and fledged five chicks in the last six breeding seasons.

Read more about George and Geraldine in ACAP Latest News.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 20 March 2025

Calonectris sp. shearwater with abnormal plumage, off Calheta, Madeira, Portugal, 14 November 2023, photograph by Pedro Nascimento (from the publication)

Pedro Nascimento (On Tales – Unipessoal, Limitada, Funchal, Portugal) and colleagues have published in the open-access journal Marine Ornithology on photographing a shearwater Calonectris sp. with abnormal plumage.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Herein, we report a with aberrant plumage, observed southwest off Madeira Island.  The bird had an unusual amount of white feathering, more than has been reported so far for the genus.  Both upperparts and underparts were predominantly white. Initially, we thought the bird was a leucistic Cory's Shearwater C. borealis, but some characteristics could not be ascertained.  Records of such aberrations should be published to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the subject.”

Reference:

Nascimento, P., Santos, E., Gonçalves, J. & Teixeira, M. 2025.  First aberrant coloured Calonectris shearwater recorded in Madeira, Portugal.  Marine Ornithology 53: 115–117.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 19 March 2025

“Good Friends”.  Displaying Wandering Albatrosses, watercolour by Flávia F. Barreto; after a photograph by Alexis Osborne

For the three months of November 2024 to January 2025 Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds. The Mouse-Free Marion Project collaborated with the collective Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) in a special project entitled “Conservation Campaign for Marion Island”.  ABUN artists were invited to create and submit artworks that the Mouse-Free Marion Project may use to create awareness and for fund raising.  Their chosen subjects were inspired by photographs of Marion Island’s biota, notably its ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels that are threatened by the island’s introduced House Mice.   A total of 43 artworks was submitted, all viewable here.  A selected portfolio follows.

Grey Petrel and chick, gouache by Andrea Siemt, after a photograph by Ben Dilley

Sooty Albatrosses by Joyce Hartmann, after a photograph by Danielle Keys and Stefan Schoombie

White-chinned Petrel, digital art by Peter Shearer, after a photograph by Ben Dilley

Grey-headed Albatross by Lois Davis, after a photograph by Kim Stevens

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“Party time - no rodents invited”. Polychrome pencils, by Di Roberts

With thanks to the Mouse-Free Marion Project and Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 18 March 2025