The UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is once again advertising three field assistant positions to work on World Heritage Gough Island in the central South Atlantic Ocean for 13 months over 2018/19, with a training period prior to departure.

The three contract positions are designed to conduct annual monitoring of breeding seabirds (including five albatross and petrel species listed by ACAP) and to control the invasive plant Procumbent Pearlwort Sagina procumbens for which rope access training will be given. The field assistants will also give support to the House Mouse eradication operation planned to take place next year as part of the Gough Island Restoration Programme.

The seabird monitoring positions are responsible for annual monitoring of breeding success, survival, population counts, and other field work for 14 breeding species. The Sagina position is responsible for work eradicating Sagina on the coastal cliffs adjacent to the South African weather station on Gough Island.

The candidates will be joining and living with the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) over-wintering team of usually six people, and will also be required to work within the requirements of SANAP’s over-wintering teams, contributing to domestic duties, etc..

Critically Endangered Tristan Albatrosses on Gough Island are at risk to attacks on their chicks by House Mice, photograph by Kalinka Rexer-Huber

Read details of the vacancies and how to apply for the senior field assistant and field assistant posts.

The deadline for submissions is 6 April 2018.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 16 March 2018

Gaia Dell’Ariccia (Behavioural Ecology Group, CEFE, CNRS, Montpellier, France) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Scientific Reportson migratory patterns of Cory’s Shearwaters Calonectris borealis in relation to prevailing winds.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Wind conditions strongly affect migratory costs and shape flyways and detours for many birds, especially soaring birds. However, whether winds also influence individual variability in migratory choices is an unexplored question. Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris borealis) exhibit migratory flexibility, changing non-breeding destination across the Atlantic Ocean within and between years. Here, we investigated how wind dynamics affect the spatiotemporal migratory behaviour and whether they influence individual choices of non-breeding destination. We analysed 168 GLS tracks of migratory Cory’s shearwaters over five years in relation to concurrent wind data. We found no evidence for an association of the use of specific paths or destinations with particular wind conditions. Our results suggest that shearwaters deliberately choose their non-breeding destination, even when the choice entails longer distances and higher energetic costs for displacement due to unfavourable wind conditions en route. Favourable winds trigger migration only when directed towards specific areas but not to others. Despite their dependence on wind for dynamic soaring, Cory’s shearwaters show a high individuality in migratory behaviour that cannot be explained by individual birds encountering different meteorological conditions at departure or during migratory movements.”

Cory's Shearwater in the Southern Hemisphere, photograph by John Graham

Reference:

Gaia Dell’Ariccia, G., Benhamou, S., Dias, M.P., Granadeiro, J.P., Sudre, J., Catry, P. & Bonadonna, F. 2018. Flexible migratory choices of Cory’s shearwaters are not driven by shifts in prevailing air currents. Scientific Reports doi:10.1038/s41598-018-21608-2.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 March 2018

Marco Cianchetti-Benedetti (Ornis Italica, Rome, Italy) and colleagues have published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research on effects of light and sound pollution on breeding Scopoli’s Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Human disturbances are increasingly becoming a conservation concern for many populations of colonial seabirds. Colonially reproducing species are particularly vulnerable to localised disturbances because detrimental elements can simultaneously affect the entire population. Studies of petrels and shearwaters have shown that light pollution, in particular, can be harmful for both fledglings and adults, but little is known of the way such anthropogenic elements affect the quality of parental care at the nest. Chick provisioning in petrels and shearwaters occurs exclusively at night and is also negatively correlated with the amount of moonlight. We tested the hypothesis that high-intensity light and sound disturbances will disrupt nest attendance and thus affect weight gain in chicks but that the magnitude of such effects would be modulated by moonlight conditions. We measured the effect of two outdoor disco events on overnight weight gain in 26 chicks of Scopoli’s shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea) from a breeding colony on Linosa Island. The two disco events occurred under contrasting moonlight conditions (moonless vs moonlight). Chicks situated closer to the disturbance gained significantly less weight compared to conspecifics from nests further away but the effect was only evident on the moonless night. Our results suggest that light and sound disturbances can have a negative effect on parental care in C. diomedea but moonlight might moderate the bird’s perception and thus the magnitude of the disturbance. However, while occasional disturbances may impact short-term weight gain in C. diomedea chicks, such effects are not perceivable at fledging when measured as differences in the weight or the date at which they left the nest.”

Scopoli's Shearwater fledgling

See a previous news item on the reported research here.

Reference:

Cianchetti-Benedetti, M., Becciu, P., Massa, B. & Giacomo Dell’Omo, G. 2018. Conflicts between touristic recreational activities and breeding shearwaters: short-term effect of artificial light and sound on chick weight.  European Journal of Wildlife Research 64:19. doi.org/10.1007/s10344-018-1178-x.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 March 2018

The Sixth Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MoP6) to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels will be held in the Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre, Skukuza Rest Camp, Kruger National Park, South Africa from Monday, 7 May to Friday, 11 May 2018. A Heads of Delegation meeting will be convened on Sunday, 6 May 2018 in the late afternoon at the same venue.

Documentation on the meeting has now been posted in ACAP’s three official language of English, French and Spanish to this website, including a schedule, a preliminary agenda and a list of 29 papers to be considered.

As well as a number of others matters listed in the agenda, MoP6 will hear a report from its Advisory Committee, covering its 10th Meeting held in Wellington, New Zealand last year in September.  A financial report will also be considered.  A social event is planned for the Thursday, with adoption of the meeting’s report down for the last day.

South Africa’s representative to the meeting will be Johan de Goede of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries (DAFF). The ACAP Secretariat will consist of Marco Favero, Executive Secretary, Wiesława Misiak, Science Officer and John Cooper, Information Officer, supported by Anton Wolfaardt. Cecila Alal and Sandra Hale of ONCALL Interpreters & Translators will once again support the meeting with Spanish language interpretation.

Entrance to the Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre in the Skukuza Rest Camp

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 March 2018