Tracks from four different Westland Petrel adults across the annual cycle (two males and two females)

A news article on a study of the ACAP-listed and globally Endangered Westland Petrel Procellaria westlandica, endemic to New Zealand, follows.

“A Department of Conservation team, with field work led by Westport based biodiversity ranger, Kate Simister, has been funded to conduct three years of research into Westland petrels / tāiko. The funding comes from the Conservation Services Programme, which monitors the impact of commercial fishing on protected species, studies species populations and looks at ways to mitigate bycatch.

The new funding has allowed the work programme to expand to cover a range of new projects not previously attempted with this species. These include:

1.      Understanding burrow occupancy rates in this species to determine how burrow mapping and nest counts can be related to numbers of breeding pairs. In particular how the status of apparent non-breeding birds occupying nest sites changes over time (e.g. are these pairs skipping breeding attempts, failed breeders or do these birds lack a partner?)

2.      Investigating the diving behaviour of Westland petrels using time-depth records to determine their risk profile from fisheries methods such as surface and bottom long-lines.

3.      Carry out multi-year tracking of adult birds using Global Location Sensing tags to determine extent of time spent within the New Zealand EEZ and elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere.

4.      Track juvenile birds to determine if they migrate to seas beyond New Zealand.

5.      Testing of different tag attachment methods for GPS or Argos passive integrated transponder tags.

The study, currently in the third year of field work and the winter breeding season of tāiko, has recently shared a progress report. The report includes some fascinating early findings and when, complete, will provide extensive data for further analysis through an MSc student programme and new scientific papers.

Findings include dive depth and foraging locations as well as their migration to South America.

For the detail, methodology and early findings, the interim report is available here.”

A Westland Petrel in flight, photograph by Raja Stephenson

Text from the website of the West Coast Penguin Trust.

22 August 2023

 An Argentinian side trawler; photo by Leo Tamini

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has reissued a vacancy announcement for a Senior Fishery and Aquaculture Officer (P-5) at the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (RLC) in Santiago, Chile.

Details from the announcement follow:

“The Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (RLC) is responsible for leading FAO's response to regional priorities for food security, agriculture and rural development through the identification, planning and implementation of FAO's priority activities in the region.

Reporting Lines
The Senior Fishery and Aquaculture Officer reports to the Regional Programme Leader, with functional guidance of the Director, Fisheries and Aquaculture Division (NFI) at headquarters.

Technical Focus
Provides integrated advice on fisheries policy, management and governance, and sustainable aquaculture development in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

Key Results
Leadership and technical policy expertise for the planning, development and implementation of regional programmes of work, projects, products, services in accordance with regional objectives and the FAO Strategic Framework and in alignment with the Organization's Gender Policy.”

The complete job description and the link to apply can be found at the FAO website, here.

The deadline for applications is 30 August 2023.

21 August 2023

A Wandering Albatross soars over the ocean; photo by Trevor Hardaker

The flight responses of 294 Wandering Albatrosses to winds have been analysed in a new study by Natasha Gillies (School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK) and colleagues. The research published open access in, Journal of Animal Ecology, examines the relationship between the personality trait of boldness and behavioural plasticity in flight decisions to varied wind conditions.

The paper’s abstract follows:

1. “Behavioural plasticity can allow populations to adjust to environmental change when genetic evolution is too slow to keep pace. However, its constraints are not well understood. Personality is known to shape individual behaviour, but its relationship to behavioural plasticity is unclear.
2. We studied the relationship between boldness and behavioural plasticity in response to wind conditions in wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans).
3. We fitted multivariate hidden Markov models to an 11-year GPS dataset collected from 294 birds to examine whether the probability of transitioning between behavioural states (rest, prey search and travel) varied in response to wind, boldness and their interaction.
4. We found that movement decisions varied with boldness, with bolder birds showing preferences for travel, and shyer birds showing preferences for search. For females, these effects depended on wind speed. In strong winds, which are optimal for movement, females increased time spent in travel, while in weaker winds, shyer individuals showed a slight preference for search, while bolder individuals maintained preference for travel.
5. Our findings suggest that individual variation in behavioural plasticity may limit the capacity of bolder females to adjust to variable conditions and highlight the important role of behavioural plasticity in population responses to climate change.”

Reference:

Gillies, N.,  Weimerskirch, H.,  Thorley, J.,  Clay, T. A.,  Martín López, L. M.,  Joo, R.,  Basille, M., &  Patrick, S. C. 2023.  Boldness predicts plasticity in flight responses to winds. Journal of Animal Ecology, 00,  1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13968

18 August 2023

A Northern Giant Petrel incubating on Marion Island, August 2023, photograph by Michelle Risi

Albert Snyman (Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, Cape Town, South Africa) and colleagues have published in the journal Polar Biology on 297 pelagic seabirds admitted to a rehabilitation centre in South Africa over a 25-year period. Three quarters were members of the order Procellariiformes. Eight ACAP-listed species totalled 138 individuals (46%); 21 of these were albatrosses, with Black-browed Thalassarche melanophris and Shy T. cauta Albatrosses the most abundant.

The paper’s abstract follows:

Seabird species that breed on remote islands in the southern and northern hemispheres are occasionally seen in the continental shelf waters of South Africa. Most are only seen at sea; however, weak, oiled, or injured individuals found on land or on fishing vessels are occasionally admitted to rehabilitation centres. From 1993 to 2017 (25 years), the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) admitted 297 southern and northern hemisphere remotely-breeding seabirds from 35 species. This represents an average of 12 birds per year, ranging from 0 to 32. The most frequently recorded families were: Procellariidae (198 individuals, 67%), Spheniscidae (29 individuals, 10%), Stercorariidae (22 individuals, 7%), and Diomedeidae (21 individuals, 7%). The three most common species corresponded to the largest Procellariidae species: southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus, 49 individuals, 16%), northern giant petrel (Macronectes halli, 34 individuals, 11%), and white-chinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis, 34 individuals, 11%). The majority of birds were admitted due to debilitation (61%) or injury (21%). Of the 185 birds for which the outcome of rehabilitation was recorded, 39% survived to be released back into the wild.”

With thanks go Katta Ludyina.

Reference:

Snyman, A., Vanstreels, R.E.T., Parsons, N.J. & Ludynia, K. 2023. Visitor and vagrant seabirds admitted for rehabilitation in South Africa, 1993–2017. Polar Biology doi.org/10.1007/s00300-023-03186-w