Bells ring for arrival of first albatross

[PinkDiamond]

And the cycle continues. Tiaki just fledged within the past few weeks, and they celebrated the arrival of the first nesting albatross at just about the same time. I'm definitely looking forward to watching the next albatross nestling grow over many months that give me so much enjoyment when I see them morph into such majestic birds.

This starts off with a video clip, and the photos are not copyable unless I buy them, so use the link to see them and the rest of the story.

Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Bells ring for arrival of first albatross
By John Lewis

"Dunedin, the albatross has landed.

The first toroa (northern royal albatross) returnee of the 2021-22 breeding season is a 4-year-old male, banded YL (Yellow Lime).

He hatched and fledged from Taiaroa Head in 2017, and since then he has been on an incredible solo journey, circumnavigating the southern oceans, flying thousands of kilometres before touching down on solid ground again at his natal colony in Dunedin.

Staff at the colony now have their fingers crossed that YL has a successful summer of courtship, and in time, finds a partner for life.

To celebrate his arrival, bells across the city pealed at 1pm yesterday.

As well as the traditional bells, many people set bell chimes on their mobile phones to ring at 1pm, and a “welcome back" flag was hoisted outside the mayor’s office.

Dunedin hosts the world’s only mainland northern royal albatross breeding colony, which is a source of pride and a symbol of the city, the wildlife capital of New Zealand.

Royal Albatross Centre eco tourism manager Hoani Langsbury said YL was an exciting arrival, because more seasoned breeding birds usually returned first.

Department of Conservation ranger Theo Thompson said a record-breaking ... "
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/bell ... -albatross

[SwordfishMining]

Hiya. I was just going to add a new study on their feeding habits.
New research by scientists from the University of Oxford, British Geological Survey, and Portugal’s Marine and Environmental Sciences Center shows that the black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) can dive to much greater depths (19 m, or 62 feet) and for much longer (52 seconds) than previously thought — three times the maxima previously recorded for this species (6 m, or 20 feet, and 15 seconds), and more than twice the maxima reliably recorded previously for any albatross.

http://www.sci-news.com/biology/diving- ... 10481.html
“Albatrosses (family Diomedeidae) are the iconic aerial wanderers of the oceans, supremely adapted for long-distance dynamic soaring flight,” said University of Oxford’s Professor Tim Guilford and his colleagues.

“Perhaps because of this they are considered poorly adapted for diving, in contrast to many smaller shearwater and petrel relatives, despite having amphibious eyes, and an a priori mass advantage for oxygen-storage tolerance.”

“Modern biologging studies have largely confirmed this view, casting doubt on earlier observations using capillary tube maximum depth gauges, which may exaggerate depths, and emphasizing albatrosses’ reliance on near-surface feeding.”

“Nevertheless, uncertainty about albatross diving remains an important knowledge gap since bycatch in human fisheries (e.g. birds becoming hooked when diving for longline bait fish) is thought to be driving many population declines in this most threatened group of birds.”

Using miniature electronic depth loggers, the researchers documented the journeys of the black-browed albatross population in the Falklands commuting to the South American coast and diving at unexpected depths to pursue prey.

“A better understanding of the unobserved behavior of the albatrosses and other endangered seabirds is essential to conservation efforts,” said University of Oxford’s Dr. Oliver Padget.

“That black-browed albatrosses are physically capable of such deep dives will now need to be considered when thinking about the effectiveness of mitigation strategies that rely on the species being restricted to the surface.”

The gauntlet they run is a long one to coming back to nest. more at the article in Biology

[PinkDiamond]

Wow, that's amazing. I had no idea any bird could ever dive so deep! That said, I'm delighted that you resurrected this thread because as of today, the egg the male albatross has been sitting on for the past few days after relieving mom of the duty, which was due to hatch this week, has just today been found to have started pipping as the chick tries to hatch, so the egg was removed and taken to be incubated until after it hatches for safety's sake, and will soon be returned to the parents, so in a week or two I'll be able to watch the chick instead of just the parents sitting on the nest, so here's the link to the live cam again.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/roya ... -306637205

As for Tiaki, the little darling I watched grow up for some 6 months or so, and fledged last September, she has been hugging the west coast of Chile some 5,780 miles away for quite some time now, traveling up and down the coast enjoying life and a Chilean seafood buffet. You can see her tracking data here:

https://my.wildlifecomputers.com/data/m ... 139976bcfe

[SwordfishMining]

Thanks to you too. I didnt get back to following the chick. Interesting how far they go.

[PinkDiamond]

I just noticed a video of the egg swap. Notice how calm Dad is when the human touches him, and how he even raises up so the ranger could get the egg and swap it out with a dummy egg.

Wonderful news—the Royal Cam chick has started to hatch! Watch a ranger from the New Zealand Department of Conservation discover a pip (or break) in the egg. At the onset of hatching, the egg is swapped with a dummy egg and housed in an incubator for the remainder of the hatching process, which can take several days.

Hatching chicks are highly threatened by infestation of fly larvae, known as "fly strike." By translocating the egg to an incubator, the risk of fly strike is completely removed during hatching. The ranger also applies a bird-safe fly deterrent to reduce the risk of fly strike upon the chick's return.

RoyalCam was set up in January 2016 by the Department of Conservation. For the 2021-22 season we have collaborated with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. To learn more while watching, view the cam at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/roya ... -306637205

[PinkDiamond]

It took 4 or 5 days for the chick to fully hatch, and today I found it has been returned to the mother so I'm posting the video of the swap for you. The ranger sprays the nest to repel the bugs that might attack the baby, and shows the baby to mom before putting it under her. I'll only be able to catch glimpses of the little darling until it gets bigger so it can be seen over the edge of the nest bowl, but for me, albatross season is now in full swing and will go on for about the next 6 months. Woohoo!



https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/roya ... -306637205

[PinkDiamond]

Finally! I tried to post this the other day, but the file was way too big for the forum so I ended up cropping most of it off to be able to show it to you. This is the albatross chick doing its best to stand up and flap its wings at 2 weeks old.

[SwordfishMining]

Neat. The Canadian Geese will be on nests around here soon enough. See the pairs.

[PinkDiamond]

Did you see how beautiful and pure white that little baby was? All the other albies I've watched grow up at this nest, which all turned out to be females, stayed white and pristine through their adult feathering, but this one is quite different.

The others picked up grass and twigs and basically redecorated their nests, but this one digs holes in the ground, and early on I kept saying it had the worst case of dirty face I've ever seen, but it got progressively worse.

First it was just digging in the dirt and presumably eating bugs, but then it started pulling up plugs of earth and putting them on its back, so I started calling it 'dirty bird'.

Now it looks permanently stained so my conclusion is that this little 'pigpen' is most likely the first male baby albie I've seen on this cam.

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[PinkDiamond]

The little dirty bird turned out to be a female, and has cleaned up her act and grown up to be a gorgeous bird that's on the verge of fledging. I'm watching her catch the wind under her wings and try hopping, which when the wind is really blowing will blow her back a bit, so she's wingercizing and should be fledging by mid September, if not before. She's banded, but I didn't hear that they named this one, nor that they put a tracker on her like the did Tiaki, who has been on the eastern coast of Chile ever since she fledged. https://my.wildlifecomputers.com/data/m ... 139976bcfe

Here's the little beauty with some information on them in a brief video clip. After watching her since before she hatched I'm definitely going to miss her when she leaves, but I'll be tuning in in the fall again to see which parents choose to nest there this year.