The latest ACAP Infographic, for the Endangered Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis, the 19th to be produced in the series, is now available in the ACAP official languages of French and Spanish, as well as in English.

The ACAP Species Infographic series is designed to help inform the general public, including school learners, of the threats faced by albatrosses and what is being and can be done to combat them.  They serve to complement the more detailed and referenced ACAP Species Assessments, the concise and illustrated ACAP Species Summaries and the ACAP Photo Essay series.

The infographics produced to date may be freely downloaded at a high resolution to allow for printing professionally in two poster sizes (approximately A2 and A3).  English and Portuguese language versions of infographics are available to download here, whilst French and Spanish versions can be found in their respective language menus for the website under Infographies sur les espèces and Infographía sobres las especies.

Please note they are only being made available for personal use or when engaging in activities that will aid in drawing attention to the conservation crisis faced by the world’s albatrosses and petrels – when ACAP will be pleased to receive a mention.

The infographics are created by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim from Bangkok.

With grateful thanks to ‘Pep’ Arcos and Karine Delord for their careful checking of texts in their home languages.

John Cooper, Emeritus ACAP Information Officer, 13 May 2025

Northern Buller’s Albatrosses on Rosemary Rock, photograph by Kevin Parker

Manuel Schweizer (Naturhistorisches Museum Bern, Switzerland) and colleagues have published  in the ornithological journal Notornis on the correct scientific name of the Northern Buller’s Albatross Thalassarche bulleri platei.

The holotype of Thalassarche bulleri platei at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (from the publication)

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Buller’s albatross Thalassarche bulleri is generally considered to comprise two subspecies: T. b. bulleri, which breeds on islands south of the South Island, New Zealand; and T. b. platei, which nests on the Three Kings Islands, off the northern tip of of the North Island, and on outlying islets of the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand.  Although the name platei has been widely applied to the latter population, some authors have suggested that its type specimen is in fact a juvenile T. b. bulleri. As a result, those birds breeding in the Chatham and Three Kings groups have sometimes been considered to represent an unnamed subspecies, or even species, given recent evidence of their genetic differentiation.

Because our own morphological examination of the specimen was inconclusive as to which population the type of platei belongs, we subjected the individual to molecular testing.  From this, we can confirm that the name platei has been correctly applied to the northern population of Buller’s albatross.

Reference:

Schweizer, M., Frahnert, S., Shepherd, L., Miskelly, C., Tennyson, A., Bretagnolle, V., Shirihai, H. & Kirwan G. 2024.  Genetic data confirm that Diomedea platei Reichenow, 1898, is the correct name for the population of Buller’s albatross Thalassarche bulleri breeding at the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.  Notornis 71: 165-175.

Leucistic Laysan Albatross chick on Midway Atoll, April 2025

A leucistic Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis chick was recently photographed on Midway Atoll.   Author and photographer Joe Owen writes:

“While most albatross chicks are typically grey and black, leucism gives this one its striking, lighter plumage.  This genetic condition reduces pigment, resulting in the pale feathers that make this chick truly unique.  It is possible to tell the difference between leucistic and albinism; in this case, by the normal coloration T melof the chick's eye.”

The leucistic chick next to a normally-coloured one, photographs by USFWS volunteer Joe Owen/Courtesy Friends of Midway Atoll

Read about a leucistic Grey-Headed Albatross Thalassarche chrysostoma chick here, and a definition of leucism.  Leucism has also been recorded in a Black-browed Albatross T. melanophris at sea in the South Atlantic.

Leucistic Grey-headed Albatross chick on Marion Island, March 2018, photographs by Chris Jones, from Risi et al. (2019)

Leucistic Black-browed Albatross in the South Atlantic, photograph by Sandro de Mello Terroso, from Mancini et al. (2010).

References:

Mancini, P.L., Jiménez, S., Neves, T. & Bugoni, L. 2010.  Records of leucism in albatrosses and petrels (Procellariiformes) in the South Atlantic Ocean.  Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 18: 245-248.

Risi, M.M., Jones, C.W., Schoombie, S. & Ryan, P.G. 2019.  Plumage and bill abnormalities in albatross chicks on Marion Island.  Polar Biology 42  1615–1620,.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 09 May 2025

Graphical abstract, from the publication

Plastic ingestion by procellariiform seabirds has been regularly featured in ACAP Latest News, and was ACAP’s theme for World Albatross Day in 2023.  In a recently published open-access paper Sterre de Bruin (Wageningen Marine Research, Den Helder, the Netherlands) and colleagues discuss plastic ingestion by the Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis in the Marine Pollution Bulletin.  The authors show that 89% of fulmars in the Newfoundland Banks had ingested plastic items.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Incidental studies of plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) over a wide geographical range can improve our understanding of the distribution of marine litter in the global oceans and of the processes involved. A sample of 37 stomachs from northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) collected in June 2021 near Flemish Cap at the eastern end of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland was analysed for the presence of plastic litter. Overall, 89 % of the birds contained plastic, with on average 6.6 particles, and a mass of 0.093 g per bird. No statistical differences were found in the quantity of plastic between males and females. A proportion of 27 % of all birds contained >0.1 g plastic, exceeding the Fulmar Threshold Value (FTV%) and international target of <10 %. Within an existing model that linked plastic abundance to latitude, the Newfoundland sample represented a clear outlier with a considerably lower FTV% compared to what would be expected. Flemish Cap is situated at the border between the southern tip of the cold and relatively clean Labrador Current coming from the north, and the warm and more polluted waters of the Gulf Stream further south. A logistic model using average annual sea surface temperatures representing North Atlantic current systems was applied and demonstrated a highly significant correlation, with the Newfoundland FTV% fitting much closer to the modelled prediction. This new model improves the understanding of geographical patterns in plastic uptake by fulmars."

Reference:

de Bruin, S., van Franeker, J.A., Meijboom, A., Jensen, J.-K., Jacobsen, B. & Kühn, S. 2025.  Plastics in stomachs of northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) collected at Flemish Cap, Grand Banks of Newfoundland.  Marine Pollution Bulletin 215, 117894.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 08 May 2025