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title: "Is the Tristan Thrush a predator of Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses and Spectacled Petrels?"
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# Is the Tristan Thrush a predator of Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses and Spectacled Petrels?

Natural and unnatural predators of ACAP-listed species range from sharks (notably of Laysan *Phoebastria immutabilis* and Black-footed *P. nigripes* Albatross fledglings in the North Pacific) to the introduced House Mouse *Mus musculus* of Tristan Albatross  *Diomedea dabbenena* chicks on Gough Island.  However, the most serious "predator" of albatrosses and petrels is arguably ourselves, indirectly through longline and trawl fisheries.

 What is unexpected is a recent report of a passerine bird as a predator of ACAP species.  The Tristan Thrush *Nesocichla eremita* is endemic to the Tristan da Cunha group of islands, as are the ACAP-listed Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross *Thalassarche chlororhynchos* and the Spectacled Petrel *Procellaria conspicillata*.

 All three species occur on Inaccessible Island in the Tristan Group, where Peter Ryan and Rob Ronconi spent part of the austral summer of 2009/10.  In a paper recently published in the journal *Ardea* they report an observation of a Tristan Thrush successfully breaking open a deliberately exposed albatross egg and then consuming its contents.

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/A/atlantic_yellow_nosed_albatross_tristan_thrush_egg-napping_peter_ryan.jpg "Tristan Thrushes squabble over an egg of the Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross.  Photograph by Peter Ryan")

 They also conjecture that Tristan Thrushes were responsible for removing eggs of the Spectacled Petrel from burrows shortly after laying, based on the large number of broken eggs found outside burrows during early incubation.  The authors also report that the thrush is a regular predator of eggs and small chicks of the Great Shearwater *Puffinus gravis*.

 **Reference:**

 Ryan, P.G. & Ronconi, R.A. 2010.  The Tristan Thrush *Nesocichla eremita* as seabird predator.  *Ardea* 98: 247-250.  ([click here](http://nou.natuurinfo.nl/website/ardea/ardea_show_abstract.php?lang=uk&nr=4012) to view the abstract).

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/S/spectacled_petrel_inaccessible_island_by_peter_ryan.jpg "Spectacled Petrel ashore on Inaccessible Island.  Photograph by Peter Ryan")

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 October 2010*