After travelling over 32 000 km during the last eight months, an ACAP-listed and Vulnerable Pink-footed Shearwater Puffinus creatopus bearing a satellite tag has returned to its breeding site on Isla Mocha, Chile.

A Pink-footed Shearwater emerges from its burrow on Isla Mocha; photograph by Jonathan Felis 

The bird had spent most of May-October in Baja California and off the coast of California in the USA. After its return the bird has been making localized foraging trips around Isla Mocha. The remaining nine birds tagged earlier this year in April had all lost their tags before returning to Chile.

Trans-equatorial migration route

Post-migration local movements

Read more on the 2015 migration of the 10 Pink-footed Shearwaters here.  Live movement data can be followed here.

The tracking study is a project of the U.S. Geological Survey and Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 December 2015

The third in the series of Island Invasives Conferences will be held in the Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland over the week 10-14 July 2017, organized by the South Georgia Heritage Trust and the University of Dundee.

This conference will follow on from two previous conferences held in Auckland, New Zealand; the most recent in January 2010 (see below).

The theme of the 2017 conference will be Scaling up to Meet the Challenge - a reflection of the rapid growth in interest in the field, as well as the escalating size of islands now being freed of damaging invasive species (for example Australia’s Macquarie Island, certified free of introduced mammals last year).  In the context of the meeting, the definition of ‘island’ will be broader than just a piece of land surrounded by water. Much the same problems and solutions apply to land surrounded by predator-proof fences, and to unfenced but isolated patches of habitat such as coral reefs.

The middle day will be free of formal sessions and available for organised field excursions, group meetings or exploring/relaxing.  Abstracts will be invited for both spoken and poster presentations. Standard talks will be of 15 minutes duration, including questions. The expectation is that no parallel spoken sessions will be required.  One or two keynote speakers will be given longer speaking slots each day.  The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has offered to publish the proceedings of this conference, as it did for the others in the series.  The Chair of the Conference Committee is Tony Martin, Professor of Animal Conservation, University of Dundee.

Ability to book accommodation and submit abstracts will be added to the conference website over the next few weeks, along with further information about the programme.

ACAP has produced guidelines for the eradication of introduced mammals from breeding sites of ACAP-listed seabirds.  ACAP Latest News regularly reports on the successes, efforts and plans to rid islands in the Southern Ocean of their alien mammals, such as cats, mice, pigs, rabbits, Reindeer and rats, that impact upon albatrosses and petrels.

Mouflon may now be gone from the French Kerguelen Islands but Reindeer still remain

Photographs by Thomas Biteau and Kirk Zufelt

With thanks to Tony Martin for information.

Selected Literature:

Phillips, R.A. undated.  Guidelines for Eradication of Introduced Mammals from Breeding Sites of ACAP-listed Seabirds.  ACAP Conservation Guideline.  9 pp.

Veitch, C.R. & Clout, M.N. (Eds) 2002. Turning the Tide: the Eradication of Invasive Species.  Proceedings of the International Conference On Eradication of Island Invasives.  Gland & Cambridge: IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.  414 pp.

Veitch, C.R., Clout, M.N. & Towns, D.R. (Eds) 2011.  Island Invasives: Eradication and Management.  Proceedings of the International Conference on Island Invasives.  Gland: World Conservation Union & Auckland: Centre for Biodiversity and Biosecurity.  542 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 December 2015

Auckland Island, the main island in the group at 510-km², along with Adams, Disappointment, Enderby and several other smaller islands, forms part of New Zealand’s Auckland Islands National Nature Reserve.

A view of Auckland Island, photograph by Pete McClelland

Carnley Harbour, in the south of Auckland Island, photograph by Pete McClelland

Cliffs, west coast, Auckland Island, photograph by Barry Baker

The island’s coastal vegetation includes Southern Rata Metrosideros umbellata and introduced Subantarctic Tree Daisy Olearia lyallii forest.  The inland habitats contain Hebe elliptica shrubland, Poa litorosa tussock grassland and fellfield along with flowering megaherbs such as the Campbell Island Daisy Pleurophyllum speciosum, Ross Lily Bulbinella rossii and Macquarie Island Cabbage Stilbocarpa polaris.

ACAP-listed species that have been reported breeding on the main Auckland Island are the Southern Royal Albatross Diomedea epomophora, (a few in the north in 1972/73) the Gibson’s subspecies of Antipodean Albatross D. antipodensis gibsoni, White-capped Albatross Thalassarche steadi (4741 (4603 - 4879) pairs estimated by aerial photography at South West Cape in 2014), Light-mantled Sooty Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata (in numbers on coastal cliffs around the island) and Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus (a small colony near South West Cape reported in 1972/73)  No definite record of breeding by White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis has as yet been found although the species does breed on some other islands in the group.

White-capped Albatrosses, South West Cape, Auckland Island, photograph by Pete McClelland

 A White-capped Albatross pair, South West Cape, Auckland Island, photograph by Barry Baker

Alien mammals that currently occur on the island are feral Domestic Pigs Sus scrofa domesticus, feral cats Felis catus and House Mice Mus musculus, the last apparently in surprisingly low densities, based on a recent trapping exercise (click here).  Feral Domestic Goats Capra aegagrus hircus previously occurred but were eradicated by 1992.  The pigs are known to prey upon the contents of albatross nests; recently c. 70 were shot from a helicopter as a feasibility exercise.

The island group is surrounded by the Auckland Islands/Motu Maha Marine Reserve that covers an area of c. 484 000 ha (click here).

An Auckland Island pig, photograph by Pete McClelland

Auckland Island falls within the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands World Heritage Site inscribed in 1998 which includes five island groups (Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, Bounty Islands, Campbell Island and the Snares Islands).  The island is also part of the proposed Auckland Islands Important Bird Area (IBA).

With thanks to Barry Baker, Pete McClelland, Kalinka Rexer-Huber and James Russell for information and photographs.

Selected Literature:

Baker, G.B., Jensz, K. & Cunningham, R. 2013.  White-capped Albatross Population Estimate — 2011/12 and 2012/13 Final Report.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  22 pp.

Baker, G.B., Jensz, K., Cunningham, R., Holdsworth, M. & Chilvers, B.L. 2015.  White-capped albatross aerial survey 2015 Draft Final Report.  Report prepared for Department of Conservation Contract 4625.  [Kettering]: Latitude 42 Environmental Consultants.  20 pp.

Bell, B.D. 1975.  Report on the birds of the Auckland Islands Expedition 1972-73.  In: Yaldwyn, J.C. (Ed.).  Preliminary Results of the Auckland Islands Expedition 1972-73. Wellington, Department of Lands and Survey.  pp. 136-142.

Dawson, E.W. 2012.  The Auckland Islands/Motu Maha/Maungahuka/subantarctic New Zealand: a working bibliography.  The Hutton Foundation New Zealand Special Papers No. 7.  Eastbourne; Hutton Press.  507 pp.

Department of Conservation 1998.  Conservation Management Strategy Subantarctic Islands 1998-2008.  Southland Conservancy Conservation Management Planning Series No. 10.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  113 pp.

Department of Conservation 2006.  Marine Protection for the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands: a Background Resource Document & CD ROM.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  48 pp.

Eden, A.W. 1955.  Islands of Despair.  Being an Account of a Survey Expedition to the sub-Antarctic Islands of New Zealand.  London: Andrew Melrose.  212 pp.

Fraser, C. 1986.  Beyond the Roaring Forties New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands.  Wellington:  Government Printing Office Publishing.  214 pp.

Peat, N. 2003.  Subantarctic New Zealand: a Rare Heritage.  Invercargill: Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai.  96 pp.

Robertson, C.J.R. 1975.  Report on the distribution, status and breeding biology of the Royal Albatross, Wandering Albatross and White-capped Mollymawk on the Auckland Islands.  In: Yaldwyn, J.C. (Ed.).  Preliminary Results of the Auckland Islands Expedition 1972-73. Wellington, Department of Lands and Survey.  pp. 143-151.

Russ, R. & Terauds, A. 2009.  Galapagos of the Antarctic: Wild Islands South of New Zealand.  Christchurch: Heritage Expeditions.  224 pp.

Taylor, G.A. 2000.  Action Plan for Seabird Conservation in New Zealand. Part A, Threatened Seabirds.  Threatened Species Occasional Publication No. 16.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  234 pp.

Thompson, D., Sagar, P., Torres, L. 2011.  Draft Final Report.  A population and distributional study of white-capped albatross (Auckland Islands).  Contract Number: POP 2005/02.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.  xx pp.

Walker, K. & Elliott, G. 1999.  Population changes and biology of the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans gibsoni at the Auckland Islands.  Emu 99: 239-247.

West, C.J. 2003.  New Zealand Subantarctic Islands Research Strategy.  Invercargill: Department of Conservation.  38 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 December 2015

Mike Bell (Chatham Islands Taiko Trust, Chatham Islands, New Zealand) has published in the annual journal Sea Swallow of the Royal Naval Birdwatching Society on efforts to establish a new breeding colony of the ACAP-listed and Vulnerable Chatham Albatross Thalassarche eremita.

A total of 110 chicks was moved from the Pyramid, the species’ sole breeding site, to Point Gap on the main Chatham Island in 2014 and 2105.  All but six, affected by heat stress, have successfully fledged after hand feeding.  Plans exist to continue translocations for a further three breeding seasons.

Chatham Albatross pair, photograph by Graham Robertson 

Access past news about the translocation exercise here.

Reference:

Bell, M. 2015.  Establishing a new colony of Chatham Island Albatross in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.  Sea Swallow 64: 4-8.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 December 2015