Megan Dalton, a biologist with the non-profit Pacific Rim Conservation, writes in the latest issue of Gooney Gazette II, the newsletter of the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Reserve (FOMA), on plans to establish a colony of globally Near Threatened Black-footed Albatrosses Phoebastria nigripes on the “high” Hawaiian Island of Oahu, as an insurance against sea-level rise.

Her article follows:

“Early next year, 15 young Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) chicks that hatch on Midway Atoll NWR will be translocated to Oʻahu as part of a pioneering effort to establish a protected Black-footed Albatross colony in the Main Hawaiian Islands. The chicks will be brought to a predator-proof enclosure within [the] James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, located on the windswept north shore of Oʻahu, where they will be raised and closely monitored for several months by biologists. Because albatross chicks imprint on their natal site sometime after one month of age, the idea is that they will return to their new home at James Campbell NWR as breeding adults to raise chicks of their own.

Headed by Pacific Rim Conservation and supported by several partnering agencies, the effort is an important step towards creating a safe, high-island (and higher elevation) refugia [sic] for a species that is projected to be heavily affected by climate change and subsequent rising sea levels. Besides a few colonies on volcanically active islands in Japan and one colony on the small islet of Lehua near Kauaʻi, breeding Black-footed Albatross are currently restricted to low-lying islands in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Midway Atoll NWR, Laysan Island, and Tern Island (which support 90% of the world's breeding population) all have very low elevations and are predicted to be highly susceptible to sea-level rise and storm surges in the coming century as global temperatures continue to increase. The chosen translocation site at James Campbell NWR is high enough that these effects should not be an issue. Additionally, birds nesting within the enclosure will be protected from non-native predators that are prevalent in the main islands such as mongooses, rats, and feral cats and dogs.

When choosing the nests on Midway from which to take the chicks from, priority will be given to those located in areas that experience frequent flooding and reduced chick survival under normal circumstances. At approximately 2-3 weeks of age, the chosen chicks will be placed in carriers and transported on a G3 jet to Honolulu, and (if all goes well) will be settled into their new home within just a few hours. They will then be fed a diet of fish and squid slurry for 4-5 months until they are ready to fledge and take to the open seas on their own. Sub-adult Black-footed Albatross will spend at least 5 years at sea before returning to the place they imprinted on as a chick so it will take some time before we might see a breeding colony on Oʻahu start to flourish. This project will build upon two successful years of Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) chick translocations to the same site.

Partners on this project include Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. For more information, please visit www.pacificrimconservation.org.”

Black-footed Albatross, photograph by James Lloyd

To read more about the efforts to establish a colony of Laysan Albatrosses P. immutabilis in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge by translocating eggs from Kauai and hand-rearing the chicks hatched from them click here.

Reference:

Dalton, M. 2016.  A new colony as a stronghold for Black-footed Albatross, Midway Atoll NWR becomes the source for a new albatross colony in the main Hawaiian Islands.  Gooney Gazette II Winter 2016/2017.  p. 12.

John Cooper ACAP Information Officer, 12 December 2016

There are two breeding colonies of Hutton's Shearwaters Puffinus huttoni high up in the Seaward Kaikoura Range, 20 km inland from the coastal town of Kaikoura in New Zealand's South Island and several thousand metres above sea level.

Following the  7.8-magnitude earthquake centred on Kaikoura on the night of 13/14 November it is reported that the Department of Conservation has flown over these two mountain colonies by helicopter (click here for the whole story on Kaikoura’s wildlife).

The largest colony, Kowhai River, is home to about 100 000 pairs of birds, breeding in burrows amongst tussocks.  Enormous rock slides have filled the valley to an estimated depth of 70-80 m in places, with perhaps 20% of the burrows destroyed.

The second smaller colony at Shearwater Stream is situated on steep and unstable slopes, and may have lost 30% of its burrows to the ‘quake.  The timing of the earthquake coincided with egg laying when both parents may have been present.

It is thought it will be many weeks before anyone can safely get into either colony on foot to assess the real extent of the damage, and to discover how many birds may have survived.

Hutton's Shearwater at sea

“A small glimmer of hope lies down on Kaikoura Peninsula (see map).  Over the last few years, the Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust has built a predator-proof fence and translocated chicks there to be the basis of a new insurance population.  Growing numbers of birds are settling and breeding there, and this year there are 16 eggs being incubated. The numbers are still small, but who knows, maybe one day Hutton's shearwaters will breed right across the peninsula, as they probably did in days gone past.”

Read more on Hutton’s Shearwaters here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 December 2016

The ACAP-listed Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis breeds only on Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean.  Since 1994 it has been listed as Critically Endangered.

Following a review the BirdLife International Threatened Seabird Forum has proposed down-listing the threatened species to Endangered due to a “steadily increasing” population (click here).

Amsterdam Albatross, photograph by Scott Shaffer

However, following expert comment arguing for retaining its current threatened status, BirdLife has now proposed that a decision on down-listing will be postponed, allowing for continued discussion into 2017, while leaving the current Red List category of Critically Endangered for the Amsterdam Albatross in place.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 December 2016

BirdLife Australia’s Threatened Species Committee has recognised an improved conservation outlook for eight of the 14 seabird species that breed on Macquarie Island following the success of the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project (MIPEP) in eradicating rodents and rabbits (click here).

This has resulted in an improved threatened status being recommended for three of the four ACAP-listed albatrosses that breed on the island as follows:

Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris:  down-list to Least Concern from Endangered

Grey-headed Albatross T. chrysostoma:  down-list to Endangered from Critically Endangered

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata:  down-list to Least Concern from Endangered

Note that these changes do not affect the species’ global threatened status which currently stay unchanged, nor the categories of threat listed for the species in Australia's  Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The domestic threatened conservation status of the fourth albatross species at Macquarie, the Wandering Diomedea exulans that only breeds in small numbers on the island, remains unchanged.

Grey-headed Albatrosses on Macquarie Island, photograph by Aleks Terauds

Read more here.

With thanks to Rachael Alderman, Stephen Garnett and Keith Springer for information

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 December 2016