---
title: "Tristan Albatrosses get counted on Gough Island for a further year and numbers are still down on those a decade ago"
---

# Tristan Albatrosses get counted on Gough Island for a further year and numbers are still down on those a decade ago

A complete-island count of the [Critically Endangered](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=30013) Tristan Albatross *Diomedea dabbenena* was completed during February/March 2013 on the United Kingdom’s Gough Island, part of the Tristan da Cunha group in the South Atlantic.  As is now well known Gough’s Tristan Albatrosses face a yearly onslaught from the island’s “killer” House Mice *Mus musculus*, which attack their downy chicks every winter, leading to an unsustainably low breeding success.

 The whole-island count realized a total of 1747 incubating pairs.  This total is higher than the 1421 nests recorded during the 2012 season ([click here](https://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/news-archive/57-2012-news-archive/110-a-low-count-for-tristan-albatrosses-on-gough-island-adds-to-concern-for-the-species-survival)), but is still lower than the numbers recorded during 2001-2005 (average 2095 occupied nests).

 Monitoring breeding success has continued on the island in long-term study colonies with colour-banded birds and marked nests of Tristan Albatrosses and ACAP-listed Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses *Thalassarche chlororhynchos*, Sooty Albatrosses *Phoebetria fusca*and Southern Giant Petrels*Macronectes giganteus*.

 ![Tristan Albatross chick by Ross Wanless](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/T/Tristan/Tristan_Albatross_chick_by_Ross_Wanless.jpg)

 A Tristan Albatross chick gets attacked by mice on Gough Island; it later died of its injuries

 Photograph by Ross Wanless

 **Acknowledgements**

 Field work on Gough in 2012/13 is being undertaken by Chris Bell and Mara Nydegger of the UK’s [Royal Society for the Protection of Birds](http://www.rspb.org.uk/).  Research on ACAP-listed albatrosses and giant petrels on Gough Island is supported by a grant to the RSPB from the UK's Overseas Territories Environment Programme and the UK Government's Darwin Initiative programme, and logistically by the South African Department of Environmental Affairs.

 **Selected References:**

 Cuthbert, R.J., Cooper, J. & Ryan, P.G. in press.  Population trends and breeding success of albatrosses and giant petrels at Gough Island in the face of at-sea and on-land threats.  *Antarctic Science*

 Cuthbert, R.[J.], Hilton, G.[M.], Ryan, P.[G.] & Tuck, G.N. 2005. At-sea distribution of breeding Tristan Albatrosses *Diomedea dabbenena* and potential interactions with pelagic longline fishing in the South Atlantic Ocean. [*Biological Conservation* 121: 345-355](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320704002125).

 Cuthbert, R.[J]., Sommer, E.[S.], Ryan, P.[G]., Cooper, J. & Hilton, G.[M.] 2004.  Demography and conservation of the Tristan Albatross *Diomedea [exulans] dabbenena*.  [*Biological Conservation*](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320703003446)[117: 471-481](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320703003446).

 Ryan, P.G., Cooper, J. & Glass, J.P. 2001. Population status, breeding biology and conservation of the Tristan Albatross*Diomedea [exulans] dabbenena*. [*Bird Conservation International*](http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FBCI%2FBCI11_01%2FS0959270901001058a.pdf&code=c0d4c6ade11b55769a01ec5fab104dcd)[11: 35-48](http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FBCI%2FBCI11_01%2FS0959270901001058a.pdf&code=c0d4c6ade11b55769a01ec5fab104dcd).

 Wanless, R.M., Ryan, P.G., Altwegg, R., Angel, A., Cooper, J. Cuthbert, R.[J.] & Hilton, G.M. 2009. From both sides: dire demographic consequences of carnivorous mice and longlining for the Critically Endangered Tristan Albatrosses on Gough Island. [*Biological Conservation* 142: 1710-1718](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320709001438).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 April 2013*