"In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" (Wells 1904).

Albatrosses, like most wild animals, are presumed not to be able to survive for any length of time with serious injuries or disabilities.  There are exceptions: I have seen an otherwise healthy-looking adult Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans ashore at Marion Island with one foot bent so far back such that it had to hobble on top of its web.  Of course, a broken wing that stopped flight for an albatross would soon be fatal; as, you might imagine would be any problem with eye sight.  However, it seems some individual albatrosses are able to survive with only one functional eye as the following examples for three species show.

An adult Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis blind in its left eye was photographed in the north-east of Kauai, one of the USA’s Hawaiian Islands last year (click here).  The bird has been observed courting on a private property over the last two breeding seasons but not as yet commenced breeding.  The otherwise healthy-looking bird also had its upper and lower mandibles slightly misaligned and a distorted skull.  It is thought that the blindness could have been caused by avian pox contracted from mosquitoes when the albatross was a young chick – which would mean it had survived for several years with one good eye.

One-eyed Laysan Albatross on Kauai, photograph by Hob Osterlund

A White-capped Albatross Thalassarche steadi seen to be blind on its left side was photographed off Kaikoura, New Zealand by the tourist company, Albatross Encounter last December, with pictures placed on its Facebook Page.  The bird appeared to be healthy and based on previous sightings had survived for some time.

One-eyed White-capped Albatross off Kaikoura, New Zealand, November 2014

Upper photo showing the bird's blind eye, lower the good eye, courtesy of Albatross Encounter 

Another White-capped Albatross with a blind eye was seen off New Zealand’s Stewart Island by Brent Stephenson recently on a sea-watching “pelagic” trip.

Brent also reports to ACAP Latest News of a Chatham Albatross T. eremita seen on 19 August 2006 in "OK condition" alongside a small fishing vessel off Gisborne, New Zealand which was blind in its left eye.

Chatham Albatross showing its blind eye, photograph by Brent Stephenson

Less fortunate was a totally blind Tristan Albatross D. dabbenena chick on Gough Island in 2012 that, although able to be fed and exercise its wings, eventually drowned in a stream near its nest site before fledging (click here).  The bird was described as having one pale blue eye with the other closed.

With thanks to Hob Osterlund and Brent Stephenson for information and photographs.

Reference:

Wells, H.G. 1904.  The country of the blind.  The Strand Magazine, April 1904.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 January 2015

A colour-banded Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos was found dead on a beach near Cachoeira do Bom Jesus, Florianópolis Island, Brazil on 21 September 2014.

The beached albatross and its colour band, photographs by Fernando Farias

According to a report recently received from SAFRING the bird was banded as an adult with plastic colour band Red B91 and South African Bird Ringing Unit (SAFRING) metal band 8-79025 near Hottentot Gulch on Tristan da Cunha in the mid-South Atlantic on 11 October 2009.  The distance between banding and recovery localities is 3538 km, with an elapsed time of four years and 11 months (1806 days).

Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses regularly occur in Brazilian waters (click here).

With thanks to Dane Paijmans, SAFRING, South Africa and Fernando Farias and Patricia Pereira Serafini, CEMAVE, Brazil for information and photographs.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 20 January 2015

The Chatham Island Taiko Trust has been preparing to collect Chatham Albatross Thalassarche eremita chicks from the breeding colony on The Pyramid off New Zealand’s Chatham Islands, the species’ single breeding site for the second year.

Activities in preparation for the 2015 transfer have included weeding around the artificial nests used in the previous season at the translocation site at Point Gap, Tuku Farm on the south-west coast of Main Chatham and filling up beach ball bladders with water to weigh down the decoys.

The decoys get readied for Season Two

News is now in that 40 chicks were successfully transferred last week from The Pyramid to the translocation site. There they will be artificially reared in the hope of eventually creating a new breeding colony.  The 2015 chicks have been given their first feed, with the experience gained last year helping the exercise to go smoothly.

This year's effort follows on the first year of the project when 50 chicks were translocated (click here).  All 50 fledged successfully (click here).

Chatham Albatross chicks on their artificial nests among decoys in the first translocation season

The transfer team carries the 2015 chicks into their new home in transfer boxes

Photographs courtesy of the Chatham Island Taiko Trust

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 January 2015

The following news release from the Facebook Page of the Friends of Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge reports on record numbers of Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses breeding on the USA’s Midway Atoll in the North-Western Hawaiian Islands this year.

Large numbers of breeding Laysan Albatrosses on Midway in the 2014/2015 season

Photograph by Dan Clark

“Results from the recent annual nesting albatross census on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge/Battle of Midway National Memorial within the Papāhānaumokuakea Marine National Monument confirm that Midway’s nesting albatross colony is the largest in the world!!

Nineteen volunteers systematically covered the entire surface of the atoll’s three small islands counting active nest sites from each of two species from December 11, 2014 through January 2, 2015.  Their final count resulted in over 1.39 million individual birds, assuming two adults per nest, for both Laysan and black-footed albatross species combined.

This year (hatch year 2015) far surpassed any previous documented year for nesting Laysan albatross on Midway Atoll with 666,044 pairs recorded.  The current count for Laysan albatross represents a 52% increase over the 2010-2014 average.  Black-footed albatross nesting pairs came in at 28,610 for the atoll, also a new record, up just over 18% from the 2010-2014 average.

For graphs, photos, and video of the count effort and albatross mating and nesting activity on Midway Atoll go to: https://www.flickr.com/…/usfwspacif…/sets/72157649901861280/".

Similarly record numbers of albatrosses are being reported from other breeding sites for these two North Pacific species, including at Kure Atoll (click here) and at Kaena Point on Oahu.

Lindsay Young of Pacific Rim Conservation reports to ACAP Latest News that during El Niño years, such as now (click here), the Transition Zone Chlorophyll Front (TZCF) moves closer to the Hawaiian Islands which means shorter commuting times for foraging birds.  As a consequence favourable oceanographic conditions may be causing fewer albatrosses to miss breeding by taking “sabbaticals” and perhaps also to some first-time breeders recruiting at a younger age.

With thanks to Lindsay Young, ACAP North Pacific News Correspondent for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 January 2105