The Bird Island Wandering Albatross on Kerguelen

A male Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans (Vulnerable) bearing UK (British Museum) metal band No. 4004249 on its left leg was photographed near Lac Marville, Courbet Peninsula, Kerguelen Archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean on 31 January 2022 by French research volunteer Kevin Guille.  The adult bird was first seen on its own in the Wanderer monitoring colony on the Courbet Peninsula, in the framework of the project “Seabirds and Marine Mammals as Sentinels of Global Change in the Southern Ocean” (Project: 109 ORNITHOECO) supported by the French Polar Institute Paul Emile Victor).  The bird was then involved in courtship behaviour with an arriving female Wanderer.

A view of the Courbet Peninsula monitoring colony; photographs by Kevin Guille

Following an enquiry by Karine Delord (Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, France), Andy Wood of the British Antarctic Survey replied that Wandering Albatross 4004249 was banded as a chick at Bird Island, South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* in the South Atlantic on 28 September 2009, making it a 12-year-old when resighted by Karine and her colleagues.  Andy also confirmed that after banding the bird has not been seen back on Bird Island.

This is the first time that an interchange of a Wandering Albatross between Bird Island and Kerguelen has been recorded, although there have been a few movements both ways between the French Crozet Islands (farther to the west from Kerguelen) and the South Atlantic island.  Very few records exist of movements between Kerguelen and the South African Prince Edward Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, although there are many interchanges between the Ile de la Possession, Crozet and the Prince Edwards, approximately 1000 km apart.

With thanks to Maëlle Connan, Karine Delord, Richard Phillips and Andy Wood.

Reference:

Cooper, J. & Weimerskirch, H. 2003.  Exchange of Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans between the Prince Edward and Crozet Islands: implications for conservation.  African Journal of Marine Science 25: 519-523.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 July 2022

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

Bree Forrer at Dorrigo National Park, New South Wales, Australia; photograph by K. Sincock

Australian Bree Forrer has been contracted by the ACAP Secretariat to be its new Communications Advisor.  Based in New South Wales, Bree will help the Agreement increase its reach to the general public via social media and the ACAP website to spread the word on the conservation crisis still being faced by the world’s albatrosses and petrels – and what could and should be done to improve their status.  Following a decision made at the Seventh Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MoP7) held online in May this year, Bree has been working with the ACAP Secretariat on a part-time basis for three days a week from the beginning of June.

Bree Forrer is a communications graduate of the University of Newcastle, Australia with professional experience in the publishing, tertiary education and science research sectors.  Bree has worked in Australia, the United Kingdom and most recently in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)*, where she was the Communications Officer for the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute, creating content for social media, website and the Institute’s quarterly newsletter.

One of the first tasks Bree has tackled has been setting up an Instagram account for the Agreement, a long-desired initiative but up to now one beyond the capacity of ACAP’s small Secretariat to manage.  Already ACAP Instagram (acap_birds) has a steadily growing number of subscribers following her near-daily posts.  This will complement the news section of the website and the ACAP Facebook page.  She has also been taking the lead editing and posting French and Spanish versions of the ACAP Species Summary Series.

The ACAP Secretariat is most pleased to be able to add Bree’s knowledge and skills to its portfolio and wishes her a productive and enjoyable time with the Agreement.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 July 2022

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

Southern Giant Petrel chick on Marion Island; photograph by John Dickens

Marcela Uhart (Latin America Program, Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, USA), Ralph Vanstreels and Patricia Serafini have produced a report in the ACAP Conservation Guideline series that discusses how best to work with albatrosses and petrels in the face of avian Influenza, giving specific recommendations that include best practices for conducting fieldwork in seabird colonies.

A summary of the report follows in English.  The summary and full text are also available in French and Spanish on the ACAP website.

“Although most avian influenza infections are not pathogenic to seabirds, the current outbreak of high-pathogenicity H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI) has raised concern due to its unusual impact on wild birds. Although to date there are no reports of mortality events of Procellariiformes attributable to HPAI, the rapid spread of the currently prevalent H5N1 strains in the northern hemisphere and their unprecedented impacts on seabird populations raise concerns about potential risks for ACAP-listed species. The 2022/2023 austral summer may present the greatest potential for HPAI outbreaks among procellariiform populations, when most of these birds will congregate to breed at colonies in the southern hemisphere. Furthermore, all sites where ACAP-listed species congregate may be at risk of exposure via migratory birds or accidental introduction by human activities (e.g., banders, researchers and tourism) and should thus be in a state of alertness.”

Reference

Uhart, M., Vanstreels, R.E.T. & Serafini, P. 2022.  Guidelines for working with albatrosses and petrels during the on-going high-pathogenicity H5N1 avian Influenza outbreak.  ACAP Conservation Guideline.  4 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 July 2022

 
Southern Giant Petrel R037 off Montevideo

When Fernando Saravia reported to ACAP Latest News that he had photographed a colour-banded Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus (Least Concern) in Uruguayan waters off Montevideo on 30 June this year he probably had little idea what a mission it would be to track down from where the bird had originally come.  From his photographs the bird can be readily identified as a juvenile, likely recently fledged due its uniform brown plumage, and the blue plastic band on its right leg can be read as R037 in white lettering.  No metal band (which would carry a national banding address) can be seen on either leg.

A response to Fernando elicited that the Southern Giant Petrel was seen with other juveniles that were feeding on a dead South American Sea Lion Otaria byronia some 150-200 m from the shore at 34° 56'S, W 56° 10'E.  He also said it was not an Argentinian-banded bird based on his initial enquiry.

Armed with the above information the hunt was on.  Successive enquiries by ACAP and others to marine ornithologists who work in the Southern Ocean and to national banding schemes resulted in an e-mail string of over 35 messages and replies saying the bird was not one of theirs from Brazil, France, Germany, South Africa and the United Kingdom.  The help of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Expert Group on Birds and Marine Mammals (SCAR EG-BAMM) was then enlisted via its outgoing Secretary, Yan Ropert-Coudert, who sent out the bird’s sighting details to the group’s list of contacts.

Four juvenile Southern Giant Petrels gather round a seal carcass off Montevideo; photograph by Fernando Saravia

Eventually it was discovered that the bird was from Chile, having been colour-banded as a chick close to fledging on Islas Diego Ramírez by Cristián Suazo’s research group on 16 March 2022 (no metal band had been added).  These islands are some 2600 km south of Fernando’s sighting in the South Atlantic  Cristián has written to ACAP Latest News that he had arrived from the field to find Fernando’s email, saying “Great news since we just started the metal and colour banding of petrels to explore juvenile distribution with an emphasis on the domestic Chilean fisheries”, adding that “we previously thought that juveniles were more prone to first distribute along the Chilean coast (mainly in the Humboldt Current System)”.

Pleasing to resolve the mystery through the support of colleagues and confirm the value of international bodies such as ACAP and SCAR EG-BAMM in tracing down a banded bird – and also that young giant petrels are indeed ocean travellers!

With thanks to Fernando Saravia, Cristián Suazo and all the correspondents.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 July 2022