Post No. 6 for ‘WADWEEK2021’

In the air and ready to fledge with its metal and colour bands: a translocated Black-footed Albatross on Isla Guadalupe - with a guano-splattered decoy watching on

The first globally Near Threatened Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes hatched and raised in Mexico fledged yesterday from Isla Guadalupe, just a few days before World Albatross Day on the 19th.  Named ‘Snowflake’, “it will wander around the Pacific Ocean for the next three to five years, after which it will come back to Guadalupe to search for a mate, and hopefully begin nesting on the island in 7-9 years, making it its new home.”

A translocated Black-footed Albatross chick with its Laysan Albatross foster parent on Isla Guadalupe

The fledgling was moved as an egg as part of a binational Black-footed Albatross translocation project from the USA’s Midway Atoll in Hawaii to Isla Guadalupe in Mexico, where it was hatched and raised by Laysan Albatross P. immutabilis foster parents (whose own egg was deemed infertile).  Two NGOs, Hawaii’s Pacific Rim Conservation (PRC) and Mexico’s Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas (GECI), coordinated efforts with the federal governments of both countries to transfer 21 eggs (of which 18 hatched) and nine chicks (which have been hand raised) between the two islands.

“In the following days, one by one, the remaining 26 fully feathered chicks will begin their first flight to adulthood.  We wish them all the best, hoping to see them again in a few years. Guadalupe Island and all of us will be waiting for you with open arms.”  For the next couple of years, the binational team aims to move up to 42 eggs and 25 chicks per year in order to have at least 100 individuals to form a new breeding colony on Guadalupe.

The ACAP Secretariat comments on the significance of the translocation project

The significance comes from its international nature.  Whereas chicks of three species of albatrosses have been successfully translocated by air over long distances previously within Japan and the USA, this is the first time a translocation has involved two countries.  If successful, resulting in the establishment of a new colony, an Isla Guadalupe population of Black-footed Albatrosses will represent a substantial increase in the species’ population distribution, add a second albatross to the list of Mexican breeding species and be one safe from projected sea-level rise.

Further, establishment of a Black-footed Albatross breeding colony on Isla Guadalupe is seen as giving increased value to Mexico becoming a Party to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) and contributing to albatross conservation efforts at a global level.  At present, Mexico attends ACAP meetings as an observer.

News and photographs by J.A. Soriano from Pacific Rim Conservation and GECI Facebook pages.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 June 2021

 Post No. 5 for ‘WADWEEK2021’

AAD for WAD 2021: socially distanced Australian Antarctic Division staff take flight with nearly-life-sized Wandering Albatross banners for WAD 2021
Banner by the AAD Media & Communications team, albatross photograph by Mike Double, group photograph by Dan Broun

To help raise awareness and celebrate this year’s World Albatross Day theme, ‘Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries’ and 20 years since signature of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) held a morning tea and Albicake Bake Off last week.  AAD staff created six cakes, four of which are illustrated here, and also raised a banner at the AAD Headquarters in Kingston, Tasmania in support of this important message.

Mandi Livesey of the Division (and until recently ACAP’s Acting National Contact Point for ACAP) writes “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries” highlights the success of some fisheries to achieve huge reductions in albatross bycatch, but also the need to constantly evolve fishing practices and management because the crisis continues with thousands of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters still dying each year from fishing activities.  The AAD continues to support all efforts for the conservation of albatrosses including through our long-standing close cooperation with the ACAP Secretariat, which is hosted by Tasmania in Hobart.”

The winning cake: a vanilla Black-browed Albatross chick with Persian fairy floss feathers by Mandi Livesey

Fittingly, Mandi’s own entry of a Black browed Albatross chick was judged the winner by popular choice.  She informs ACAP Latest News that “all of them were cut up and eaten – mostly all gone after the morning tea.”

From left: a gluten-free vanilla Royal Albatross cake by Andrea Polanowski;  Southern Ocean fishing vessel with bird-friendly tori or bird-scaring lines by Gillian Slocum; Vanilla butter cream Wandering Albatross by Lihini Weragoda; cake photographs by Simon Payne

The AAD’s Bake Off follows on last year’s international effort organized by ACAP which proved popular with some really amazing entries.  It seems Albicake Bake Offs should become a regular feature of World Albatross Day celebrations so a repeat of the international competition in 2022 is on the cards.  The ACAP Information Officer regrets he could not accept his own invitation to attend the AAD's Bake Off tea in person, living as he does an ocean away in Cape Town, South Africa.  A virtual slice of cake does not quite hit the spot!  In compensation ACAP was well represented at the tea by its Executive Secretary, Christine Bogle and “ACAP Artist in Residence” Namo Niumim who created the ACAP Infographics of Tristan, Wandering and Waved Albatrosses to mark ‘WAD2021’.

With thanks to Jaimie Cleeland & Mandi Livesey, Australian Antarctic Division.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 June 2021

Post No. 4 for ‘WADWEEK2021’

The Royal Albatross Centre will be celebrating on the 19th; see below

Saturday 19 June will be the second-ever World Albatross Day.  Last year the day was inaugurated by ACAP following a decision made at its Advisory Committee meeting held in Brazil in 2019.  ACAP Latest News carried posts referring to the day from a few days previously, thus introducing the concept of a week-long marking of the plight being faced by albatrosses (and petrels) at sea and on land - hence a ‘WADWEEK’.  Pleasing then to see environmental NGOs and institutions picking up on the idea and posting on their websites and social pages of their own support for a Word Albatross Day during ‘WADWEEK2021’ in various ways.  Some examples spotted out there follow.

BirdLife International

The world’s largest NGO working to conserve birds is running an Albatross World Cup that commenced on the 8th.  Champions for each species are speaking up on Twitter. We eagerly await hearing which of the 22 species will be crowned the winner after 15 qualifying rounds.  Voting started today for the quarter finals: first up Grey-headed vs Wandering.  Tough choice!

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators

IAATO has produced a poster to mark World Albatross Day 2021, freely downloadable from its website.

Albatross Birding and Nature Tours

The Chilean eco-tour company Albatross Birding and Nature Tours is holding an international photographic and writing competition “Albatrosses, their World and the Threats they Face”. Hurry to make your submission, the competition closes tomorrow with winners due to be announced the day after Saturday’s World Albatross Day

Royal Albatross Centre

The Royal Albatross Centre in New Zealand (the only mainland breeding site for albatrosses anywhere) will be celebrating World Albatross Day in the Dunedin Octagon from 10h00-14h00 on Saturday 19 June with an “amazing albatross expert team”.  Hope it goes well.

Australian Antarctic Division

A 2020 entry: Laysan Albatross Chick Poop Cake by Antje Steinfurth. Will this year's AAD Albicakes be up to scratch?

Last year ACAP organized a “Great Albicake Bake Off” to mark World Albatross Day 2020 that proved a popular competition, with some truly amazing entries. This year it was not repeated due to the capacity constraints of a small Secretariat.  However, the Australian Antarctic Division arranged its own Albicake Bake Off on 10 June in the AAD Theatrette.  All staff were encouraged to bring an albatross-themed cake.  The Albicakes were then judged by “albatross celebrity guest judges” and a prize awarded to the winner.  ACAP Latest News is anxiously awaiting the outcome and hopes to post pictures of some of the cakes, and, of course, of the winning entry.

ACAP itself has not been idle.  Go to ‘World Albatross Day’ from its home page to discover posters, infographics, logos and a music video to download in four languages to use in your own celebrations and for educational purposes thereafter.  ACAP Latest News is posting daily during ‘WADWEEK2021’, this being #4.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 16 June 2021

Post No. 3 for ‘WADWEEK2021’

The Seabird Wanderers of ACAP: Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.  A music video by Kitty Harvill and John Nicolosi

Kitty Harvill, a wildlife conservation artist based in both Brazil and the USA, has produced a new music video for ACAP pro bono in celebration of this year’s World Albatross Day on 19 June.  The video, entitled ‘The Seabird Wanderers of ACAP’ includes photographs of all the 31 ACAP-listed species of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, with music by John Nicolosi of Niko Records Studio in the USA.  Kitty is co-founder of Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) whose two projects for ACAP, last year on albatrosses, this year on petrels, have led to several hundred attractive artworks being made available for ACAP to use in support of its efforts to raise awareness of the serious plight that many albatross populations continue to face.

Kitty Harvill, with the book she illustrated about Wisdom, the world’s oldest known albatross

Kitty writes “as a conservation artist, I feel it relates to all areas of my life – being mindful of every choice we make and how it affects our planet and those with whom we share it.  We have it all in our hands to make changes, but the biggest changes seem to be in the minds and hearts of our fellow human beings.”

ACAP intends to show the new video during breaks at its annual meetings, as well as in other situations.  It is available for downloading and use in the cause of albatross and petrel conservation by institutions, environmental NGOs and members of the concerned public.  Please acknowledge both ABUN and ACAP in its use.

Kitty Harvill and John Nicolosi have previously collaborated on two music videos featuring paintings by members of ABUN, produced last year on albatrosses and this year on petrels.

With grateful thanks to Kitty Harvill and John Nicolosi, as well as to all the photographers named in the video for allowing the use of their work.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 June 2021, updated 16 June 2021