A Black Petrel near its burrow on Great Barrier Island, photograph by Joanna Sims

Elizabeth ‘Biz’ Bell (Blenheim, New Zealand) has determined the incubation period for 110 eggs of the ACAP-listed Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni as to be a mean of 56.5 days, with a range of 42 to 71 days, based on information collected over 12 breeding seasons.

The information was collected as part of a long-term study of the Vulnerable petrel on Great Barrier Island/Aotea, and has been published in the journal Notornis.

Reference:

Bell, E. A. 2024. When one pair is enough: determining the incubation period for tākoketai | black petrels (Procellaria parkinsoni). Notornis 71: 57-58.

17 October 2024

An Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross in waters off Tristan Da Cunha; photograph by Ross Wheeler

Melinda G. Connors (School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, USA) and colleagues have published in the Journal of Experimental Biology on the energy costs of dynamic soaring on albatrosses.

The paper’s abstract follows: 

“Estimates of movement costs are essential for understanding energetic and life-history trade-offs. Although overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) derived from accelerometer data is widely used as a proxy for energy expenditure (EE) in free-ranging animals, its utility has not been tested in species that predominately use body rotations or exploit environmental energy for movement. We tested a suite of sensor-derived movement metrics as proxies for EE in two species of albatrosses, which routinely use dynamic soaring to extract energy from the wind to reduce movement costs. Birds were fitted with a combined heart-rate, accelerometer, magnetometer and GPS logger, and relationships between movement metrics and heart rate-derived V̇_O2, an indirect measure of EE, were analyzed during different flight and activity modes. When birds were exclusively soaring, a metric derived from angular velocity on the yaw axis provided a useful proxy of EE. Thus, body rotations involved in dynamic soaring have clear energetic costs, albeit considerably lower than those of the muscle contractions required for flapping flight. We found that ODBA was not a useful proxy for EE in albatrosses when birds were exclusively soaring. As albatrosses spend much of their foraging trips soaring, ODBA alone was a poor predictor of EE in albatrosses. Despite the lower percentage of time flapping, the number of flaps was a useful metric when comparing EE across foraging trips. Our findings highlight that alternative metrics, beyond ODBA, may be required to estimate energy expenditure from inertial sensors in animals whose movements involve extensive body rotations.”

Reference:

Conners, M.G., Green, J.A., Phillips., R.A., Orben, R.A., Cui, C., Djurić, P.M., Heywood, E., Vyssotski, A.L. & Thorne, L.H. 2024.  Dynamic soaring decouples dynamic body acceleration and energetics in albatrosses. J. Exp. Biol. 227 (18): jeb247431. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.247431

16 October 2024

 The colour-banded Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross at ‘The Petrel Station’

UPDATE:  Thierry Boulinier, Projecr Manager writes "this individual had been vaccinated against avian cholera as part of the research project carried out by our group at CEFE, CNRS-Université Montpellier, on infectious disease circulation in south polar seabirds (French Polar Institute IPEV project 1151-ECOPATH."  Karine Delord adds the bird was banded in March 2024,  Karine Delord adds: "juvenile banded in March 2024 by Lucie (volunteer of the Thierry Boulinier IPEV project) and vaccinated against fowl cholera at around 10 days old".

A colour-banded Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri was spotted at sea on a ‘pelagic’ seabird-watching tour at ‘The Petrel Station’ on the shelf edge, approximately 40 km offshore on the shelf edge off Tutukaka, North Island, New Zealand on 22 September 2024.  Photographed by Aaron Skelton, the juvenile bird, so identified by only a faint trace of yellow on its upper mandible, was carrying the colour band white EW4 on its right leg.

Close-up!  Colour bands, and a good camera, allow for individual identification at sea

Following an inquiry, it was confirmed by a French research team that the bird was banded as a chick in the most recent (2023/24) breeding season as part of a long-term monitoring programme on France’s Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean that is funded by the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV) as part of the project “Seabirds and Marine Mammals as Sentinels of Global Change in the Southern Ocean” (Project: 109 ORNITHO2E), The population on Amsterdam has plummeted in recent decades, notably due to avian cholera.

White EW4 in flight, all photographs by Aaron Skelton

The Petrel Station Seabird Tours & Research - Tutukaka, New Zealand writes of the record of an Endangered Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross on its Facebook page:

“These stunning [albatrosses] are extremely scarce off the New Zealand coast with few records in the last 20 odd years.  Back in the 1980's they were the most common albatross species in our area but due to fishing bycatch and disease at their Indian Ocean breeding sites their numbers have plummeted resulting in fewer now reaching the NZ coast.”

Ian Sinclair writes of this photograph of the banded bird by Aaron Skelton; "Yes, Indian YNA. tell by the faint yellow on the bill near the base being pointed."
And Ian will know, his careful field observations on Gough and Prince Edward Islands were instrumental in the yellow-nosed albatross being separated into two species

Read the trip report for the tour on which the colour-banded albatross was seen and photographed here.

With thanks to Thierry Boulinier,  CEFE, CNRS-Université Montpellier, France and Karine Delord, Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé, France and Ian Sinclair for information.

Reference:

Brooke, R.K., Sinclair, J.C. & Berruti. A. 1980.  Geographical variation in Diomedea.chlororhynchos (Aves: Diomedeidae)  Durban Museum Novitates 12 (15).

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 26 September 2024, updated 27 Setember 2024

Newell’s Shearwater, photograph by Lindsay Young

André Raine (Archipelago Research & Conservation, Hanapēpē, Kauai, Hawaii, USA) and colleagues have published in the journal Pacific Science on breeding adult Newell’s Shearwaters Puffinus newelli (Critically Endangered) and Hawaiian Petrels Pterodroma sandwichensis (Endangered) being grounded by lights on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Light attraction is a well-documented phenomenon affecting seabirds worldwide, with most reported incidents involving juvenile birds grounded around urban areas or brightly lit structures at sea immediately after fledging.  However, there is little in the literature regarding the impact of light attraction on breeding adult seabirds on land.  This paper describes a fallout event of adults of two endangered seabird species due to lights at a single facility on the island of Kaua‘i, Hawaii, and the effectiveness of subsequent minimization actions once a new lighting regime was adopted.  From 1–16 September 2015, 131 adult endangered seabirds including 123 ‘a‘o (Newell’s Shearwaters Puffinus newelli) and six ‘ua‘u (Hawaiian Petrels Pterodroma sandwichensis) were grounded by lights at the Kōke‘e Air Force Station.  Most birds had brood patches indicating they were breeders.  In response, the facility altered its lighting protocol with a blackout period in effect for the remainder of 2015, and significantly reduced lighting from 2016 onwards.  Intensive seabird monitoring was undertaken annually from 2016 onwards.  Apart from two Newell’s Shearwater adults grounded in 2016 (before the lights were turned out at the start of the seabird season) and one each in 2020 and 2023, no additional grounded birds were found.  This fallout event demonstrates that light attraction can be a significant hazard for adult seabirds if bright lights are present near breeding colonies.  We provide recommendations for best practice light minimization actions for similar scenarios worldwide where discrete facilities or urban infrastructure are adjacent to breeding colonies of nocturnal Procellariid seabirds.”

Hawaiian Petrel in its burrow, photograph by André Raine

Reference:

Raine, A.F., Driskill, S., Rothe, J., Rossiter, S., Gregg, J., Anderson, T. & Travers, M.S. 2024.  The impact of light attraction on adult seabirds and the effectiveness of minimization actions. Pacific Science 78: 85-102.

15 October 2024