Good then to hear from Kitty recently that her painting of all the world’s 22 albatross species (which ACAP turned into a poster for last year’s World Albatross Day) was accepted for an international exhibition and subsequent inclusion in a limited-edition 240-page book Artists for Conservation 2020, published as a companion to the exhibition.  She explains:: “It is an honour for me to be a Signature member of Artists for Conservation.  And an even greater honour to be accepted into their annual international exhibitions.  In 2020, my painting of all 22 species of albatrosses under the protection of ACAP was selected for inclusion.  My hope is that it can help raise awareness for the conservation of these majestic seabirds.  Thank you to the photographers who graciously donated their photographs as reference for this work and to John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, who works tirelessly in his dedication to their conservation.”

  All for One, One for All – Albatross; poster by Kitty Harvill

ACAP hopes that its collaboration with ABUN, and with Kitty Harvill, will be able to continue, including with future annual World Albatross Days on 19 June.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 June 2021

Exchanging eggs on Kauai; photograph by Hob Osterlund

Activities directed at improving the conservation status of the Near Threatened Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis in the USA’s Hawaiian Islands have included working towards eradicating predatory House Mice on Midway Atoll, predator-proof fencing an existing breeding colony and attempting to create a new colony safe from predicted sea-level rise on Oahu and giving fertile eggs to female-female pairs to incubate and rear the ensuing chicks as their own on Kauai.  The conservation work with Kauai’s Laysan Albatrosses has now been recognized with an award, as described below.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) received this year’s Presidential Migratory Bird Federal Stewardship Award, in recognition of the Wildlife Services program’s efforts to conserve large native migratory birds and protect people in Hawaii.  APHIS Wildlife Services conducted a joint research-operational project with the goal of reducing human-wildlife conflicts associated with two bird species of cultural significance: the Hawaiian goose, or nēnē, and the Laysan albatross, or mōlī.  Because of their large size, both species pose a potential aircraft strike risk near airfields in some areas of Hawaii.  Wildlife Services research and operations personnel collaborated with numerous partners not only to reduce aircraft strike hazards presented by these species, but also to identify, preserve, enhance, and support important breeding and foraging habitats for the birds elsewhere on the island. The project employed innovative nonlethal management tools, such as canine teams for dispersing birds, mitigation translocation, and egg swaps, and conducted research to gauge the impact and effectiveness of these tools, which will guide future management strategies.

Laysan albatross, the Pacific region’s second-largest seabird, commonly return to the same site for breeding and nesting year after year.  Since the 1970s, nesting Laysan albatross have frequented a naval airfield on the island of Kauai, creating hazardous conditions for both birds and military aviators.  The U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) began partnering in the 1980s with Wildlife Services to reduce wildlife hazards at the facility including the relocation of adult Laysan albatrosses.  Since 2009, Wildlife Services has collected more than 600 albatross eggs, transferring them to conservation partners with expertise in raising eggs to hatching and helping albatross chicks establish nesting colonies in more suitable habitats.  The partners hoped that the fledged albatross chicks eventually would return to the adopted nesting site. In 2018, the first albatross, which had hatched at an egg swap location, returned to its adopted site after three years traveling around the Pacific Ocean. Wildlife Services research efforts began in 2018 and use radio-tracking technologies to determine the most effective methods for reducing albatross presence on the PMRF and increasing aviation safety. Research findings provide evidence that mitigation translocation within island ecosystems can benefit both humans and birds.”

Among the many co-applicants named in the award nomination ae two NGOs, Kauai Albatross Network and Pacific Rim Conservation, that over the years, have continued to support ACAP in its efforts to increase awareness of the conservation needs of albatrosses, especially the Laysan. “Mahalo” to them both.

Click here to read the complete post.

John Cooper. ACAP Information Officer, 29 June 2021

 Carcasses collected from a seabird wreck (click here)

Jacqueline Glencross (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Battery Point, Tasmania, Australia) and colleagues have published open access in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, proposing a framework for reporting mass mortalities of seabirds based on data from shearwaters Ardenna spp.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“There is an absence of quantitative criteria and definitions for unusual or anomalous mortality events involving birds, often referred to as “wrecks”. These events most commonly involve seabirds, although terrestrial bird wrecks have also been documented. Typically, the peer-reviewed literature investigating wreck events lacks the details necessary to further our understanding of the circumstances and potential causes of these events. This study reviewed the peer-reviewed literature for wrecks involving Ardenna seabirds (shearwaters), and included grey literature and data collected by citizen science (community) groups. Our results showed a significant time-lag between wreck events and when the data was published in the peer-reviewed literature, which did not occur in the grey literature. Both the grey and peer-reviewed literature were often skewed towards reporting larger wreck events, with only the citizen science dataset capturing smaller wrecks. We outline a proposed framework for reporting mortality events, including the use of quantitative categories to document the numbers of birds involved and taxon-specific thresholds. In doing so, we aim to establish a framework to aid in the quantitative reporting and analyses of future seabird wrecks.”

Reference:

Glencross, J.S., Lavers, J.L., Woehler, E.J. 2021.  Proposed framework for reporting mass mortality (wreck) events of seabirds.  ICES Journal of Marine Science doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab046.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 June 2021

End in sight? Andrea Angel holds a Tristan Albatross close to death after being attacked by mice on Gough Island, photograph by Ross Wanless

The latest news from the Gough Island Restoration Project (GIRP) reports good progress with the effort to rid the island of its predatory House Mice that attack and kill the chicks (and as recently reported, adults) of the near endemic and Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena, as well of other seabirds that breed on the island.

The GIRP Facebook page says on 24 June “The first island-wide distribution of bait has been completed! This is an important milestone for the project, but we still have a long way to go, now fingers firmly crossed for good weather windows for the second application!”  With the commencement of bait dropping reported on 14 June, it seems it took only 10-11 days to drop bait over the whole of the 65-km² island.  The eradication team with helicopters and bait arrived on the island aboard South Africa’s Antarctic research and supply ship, the S.A. Agulhas II on 3 June, with offloading competed and the ship departing for Cape Town on the 10th so it can be said things have been moving apace.  ACAP offers its best wishes for the second bait drop (which usually commence around two weeks after the first drop is completed) and hopes for an island free of mice, allowing recovery of the island ecosystem to commence.

A recent GIRP Facebook post informs that the main communication system on the island is currently down, so messages are not getting through at the moment.  “We want to pass on a message that everyone is safe and well and will be in contact as/when we manage to re-establish the lines.”  In this case, then a case of no (or little) news is good news.

Access the latest (No. 8, May 2021) and earlier editions of Island Restoration News, the GIRP newsletter here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 June 2021