Regular readers of ACAP Latest News will know of Wisdom the 60-something Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis, the oldest known albatross in the World (click here).  Wisdom, a female first banded on the USA’s Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 1956 in adult plumage, failed at the egg stage last breeding season after a number of successful years (click here) but she and her banded partner are now back for yet another go.  Because Laysan Albatrosses do not return to breed until they are at least five years old, it is estimated that Wisdom is at least 64 years old, but she could well be even older.

Wisdom and her mate were first spotted on 19 November by Kiah Walker, a Midway volunteer.  Following mating they have now left the island for sea but are expected back when their egg will be laid (click here).

Wisdom and mate at their nest site, November 2015, photographs by Kiah Walker

“Although Laysan albatrosses typically mate for life, Wisdom has likely had more than one mate and has raised as many as 36 chicks.  Laying only one egg per year, a breeding albatross and their mate will spend approximately six months rearing and feeding their young.  When not tending to their chicks, albatross forage hundreds of miles out at sea periodically returning with meals of squid or flying fish eggs. Wisdom has likely clocked over six million ocean miles of flight time.”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 November 2015

So far five of the 10 translocated Vulnerable Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandvicensis chicks have fledged following hand feeding on the USA’s Hawaiian island of Kauai.  The chicks had been moved from their mountain breeding sites (where they are at risk to feral cats Felis catus) to an area surrounded by a predator-proof fence within the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (click here).

Within the secure area artificial burrows had been prepared and a drip irrigation system set up to help establish native vegetation within the Nihoku part of the refuge.  The project also involves restoring native habitat in what was once an area full of invasive and non-native plants.

Marilou Knight removes a translocated Hawaiian Petrel chick for feeding in the Nihoku fenced area

A partially downy Hawaiian Petrel chick

Photographs by Andre Raine, Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project

Click here to read how the birds have been cared for and fed by Robby Kohley and Marilou Knight of Pacific Rim Conservation on a slurry of squid and fish until fledging.

The translocation effort is being led on the ground by Pacific Rim Conservation; Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project; Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge and the American Bird Conservancy.  The National Tropical Botanical Garden provided important assistance with vegetation restoration at the translocation site.  The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation provided funding support.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 November 2015

Taiaroa Head on the Otago Peninsula of New Zealand’s South Island is one of the very few places in the World where breeding albatrosses can be viewed by the general public without a sea voyage to an oceanic island.  The locality supports a small population of Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi.  News is in that a total of 108 birds has returned for the new breeding season with 32 nests established so far (click here).

A pair of Northern Royal Albatrosses display, photograph courtesy of the Royal Albatross Centre 

Northern Royal Albatross and chick at Taiaroa Head, photograph by Lyndon Perriman

In recent years about 30-35 pairs have attempted to breed annually at the locality.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 November 2015

The Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project (MIPEP) has received the Banksia Natural Capital Award this month for successfully ridding the island of its alien rodents and rabbits.  Macquarie Island State Nature Reserve managed by theTasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service supports seven species of ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels.

The Banksia Sustainability Awards were established to identify leading initiatives that work towards a more sustainable Australia.  The Banksia judges considered MIPEP “has made a significant difference in the ecosystem, completely transforming a whole environment and is definitely a key example of a totally sustainable project.”

Keith Springer, MIPEP Manager receives the 2015 Banskia Award from Sasha Courville of the National Australia Bank

which sponsored the Natural Capital category

The award citation follows:

“Between 2007 and 2015 the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service undertook the world’s largest island eradication project to remove all rabbits, ship rats and mice from World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island.

Located in the Southern Ocean halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica and 1,500 km from Hobart, Macquarie Island presented numerous challenges in terms of logistics, weather and field operating conditions.  Rabbits and rodents had enormous impacts on the fragile environment of Macquarie Island, causing massive loss of vegetation, increased erosion on the steep coastal slopes, and predation on the eggs and chicks of burrowing seabirds.

Funding from the Tasmanian and Australian governments of $24.6M, and a donation of $100,000 from WWF-Australia and Peregrine Adventures, allowed implementation of the plan to eradicate the three invasive mammal species on Macquarie Island.

Intensive planning from 2007 to 2010 was required to obtain all regulatory approvals and complete the complex operational planning and procurement aspects required.  After an initial release of the Rabbit Calicivirus, four helicopters spread rodenticide bait in the winter of 2011 across the entire island.  This successfully eradicated mice and rats and removed the majority of surviving rabbits.  Hunting teams using specially trained dogs then covered the island intensively for the next two and a half years, searching for and removing the few rabbits that remained.  In all, hunting teams covered 92,000 km to ensure no rabbits or rodents survived.

Recovery of vegetation has been dramatic and seabird populations are now re-establishing on the island” (click here).

The Banksia Foundation, founded in 1989, is a national not-for-profit organisation which promotes environmental excellence and sustainability through its Awards programme and other associated initiatives.

Last month MIPEP received the Australian Institute of Project Management national achievement award in the Sustainable Projects category (click here).

With thanks to Keith Springer for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 November 2015