The latest ACAP Infographic, for the Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes halli, the 18th to be produced iin 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 thanks to ‘Pep’ Arcos and Karine Delord for their careful checking of texts in their home languages.

John Cooper, Emeritus ACAP Information Officer, 04 February 2025

 N333, son of Wisdom, broods its second known hatchling in February 2023, photograph by Catie Mahon, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Volunteer

Wisdom’s (the world’s oldest known Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis) first banded chick fledged from Sand Island, Midway Atoll in the 2010/11 season bearing colour band red N333.  As a chick it had survived the 11 March 2011 tsunami that inundated most of Midway’s Eastern Island, as well as parts of Sand Island.  The bird, thought to be a male due to its larger bill size, was regularly sighted near Wisdom’s nest site over 2018-2021.

It was first recorded breeding in the 2021/22 season with mate DH00 some 160 m away from Wisdom's usual nest site among bushes close to the shoreline.  Their chick was found dead in May 2022 at around four months of age.  The next season (2022/23) N333 was back at the same nest site on a pipping egg on 13 February 2023, which hatched the next day, and survived at least until May.  Information on the outcome of the 2022/23 chick and of the 2023/24 season is not currently available.

N333 is now incubating its 2024/25 egg at the same nest site, where it was videoed by Dan Rapp on 12 December 2024,  He is 14 years old and his egg is due to hatch any day - as is Wisdom’s own egg. The first recorded Laysan Albatross chick on Midway this season was seen on 20 January.

Midway’s first Laysan Albatross hatchling for 2025, photograph by Joe Owen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Volunteer

Information from Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and previous articles posted to ACAP Latest News.

John Cooper, Emeritus ACAP Information Officer, 03 February 2025

Note. The Emeritus ACAP Information Officer spent last week at sea in the Southern Ocean without access to Internet.  Postings to ACAP Latest News have resumed.

The ground count is underway among incubating Laysan Albatrosses on Midway Atoll

The Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge reports on its Facebook page on testing drone technology during the recently completed annual albatross count on Midway Atoll.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service is also happy to report a drone team came out this year in an effort to help reduce the cost and time to conduct future counts.  While the drone did an aerial count, the bird counters did a complete on-the-ground count of all nesting albatross species within Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll ). Additionally, ground transects were set up for comparison in different habitat types.  While the analysis is still on-going, the drone has already proved remarkably successful.  Although the drone is not reliable at sighting nesting birds in the non-native ironwood forests on Sand Island it has shown success in the heavy shrub areas.”

Supervisory Biologist Jon Plissner was able to observe the drone's amazing avoidance capabilities.  "The day I was out there over hundreds of Manu-o-Kū or White Terns started mobbing the drone, which was apparently the most they [the drone team] observed the entire time.  Also a flock of Cattle Egrets came and started swarming it and you could see the drones hesitating and avoiding individuals as the birds approached within a few meters.  There was no collision, no incidents and no disturbance of birds on the ground whatsoever.  The trials seemed successful but we still would like to get a couple of more years in so that is where the funding the count is going to be critical."

The bird counters celebrate after finishing the 2025 count on Midway Atoll’s Eastern Island, photographs from the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

ACAP Latest News will report of the 2024/25 season’s ground counts once the final results are released.  It seems to have been good year for Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis, but less so for Black-footed Albatrosses P. nigripes.  “The most exciting news is this year's total for Mōlī nests will be the second highest number recorded since the annual nest count began in 1992!  For Ka'upu or Black-footed Albatross, the news is not as encouraging with the second lowest nest count reported since 2005.”

Read an earlier ACAP Latest News article on the recent count here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 23 January 2025

Antipodean Albatross photograph by David Tipling

This year’s Global Birdfair will be held at Lydon Top, Rutland, UK over 11-13 July.  The Global Birdfairs commenced in 2022, following a long run of annual British Birdwatching Fairs in Rutland that stated in 1989 and ended due to COVID19 in 2020.  The 2025 fair will adopt as its conservation project “Safeguarding Ocean Species” and will look once again at the incidental mortality (bycatch) of albatrosses and petrels caused by longline fisheries.  This follows from the 2000 British Birdwatching Fair, which marked the commencement of BirdLife International’s then Seabird Conservation Programme, with its theme of “Keeping Albatrosses off the Hook”,

Antipodean Albatross by ABUN artist Lea Finke for the inaugural World Albatross Day, 19 June 2020, after a photograph by Kirk Zufelt

The Global Birdfair 2025’s edited media release follows:

“We are excited to announce the Global Birdfair 2025 Conservation Project, Safeguarding Ocean Species.  This important project concentrates on the South Pacific region and gives opportunities to create awareness on a Global scale, alongside BirdLife International’s Seabird and Marine Programme Conservation initiatives.  Global longline fisheries bycatch poses the single greatest threat to many albatross and petrel species, including the Endangered Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis, this year’s flagship bird.

Among other species affected are Flesh-footed Ardenna carneipes, Buller’s A. bulleri, Sooty A. grisea and Short-tailed A. tenuirostris Shearwaters, plus other sub-Antarctic visitors to the region: giant petrels Macronectes spp., Grey Petrels Procellaria cinerea and smaller albatross species.

We hope that Safeguarding Ocean Species addresses critical gaps in awareness and compliance as follows:

Species: Ensures the adoption of best-practice seabird bycatch migration measures on longline fishing vessels, directly reducing interactions with highly threatened species like the Antipodean Albatross.

Ocean Systems: Contributes to more sustainable fisheries and healthier marine ecosystems, creating resilience against climate change and improving the long-term sustainability of ocean resources.

Society: Strengthens local livelihoods by employing a local Port-based Outreach officer and coordinator, while empowering women through training and paid opportunities to produce tori lines for vessels.

The project is closely aligned with the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP).  Additionally, the project supports the 2050 Blue Pacific Strategy by advancing sustainable fisheries management and promoting biodiversity conservation as part of a broader vision for resilient Pacific ecosystems. Working together, we all need to address the critical state of the World’s Oceans as habitats.”

The globally Endangered  and Nationally Critical Antipodean Albatross, endemic to New Zealand,  has been identified as a Species of Special Concern by ACAP. The Species Infographic for the bird is freely available foi downloading as posters in three languages here,

Ticket sales for Global Birdfair 2025 open in February. Watch a short video on this year's fair here

With thanks to Tim Appleton MBE, Global Birdfair Co-organizer.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 22 January 2025