Adult albatrosses on a remote island are being attacked and eaten by an aggressive invasive species — mice. Invasive mice have been wreaking havoc on the ecosystem of Marion Island — located about halfway between South Africa and Antarctica — for decades, chowing down on native invertebrates and the chicks of many seabirds that breed […]
Tag: Albatross
Seabird conservation mostly works, comprehensive new data set shows
Fifty years ago, ornithologist Stephen Kress had a bold vision for Eastern Egg Rock, an island off the coast of Maine. He wanted to restore the island’s former colony of Atlantic puffins that hunters had wiped out in the 1880s. This kind of seabird restoration had never been done before, but Kress was determined to […]
Albania’s pelican colony was bouncing back. Now it faces the threat of a new airport
Half a dozen Dalmatian pelicans fly off as we approach the Narta lagoon, a marshland near Vlora in south-west Albania. It is a majestic sight – six elegantly soaring birds, with necks tilted back and wingspans almost matching that of an albatross. “They’re juveniles,” says Taulant Bino, head of the Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS). “They […]
Birdwatch: colonies hit by avian flu on Farne Islands sound warning
Britain’s seabird colonies are, in the words of the veteran conservationist Roy Dennis, “our Serengeti”. Few other places on the planet make such an assault on the senses: the sight, sound and smell of tens of thousands of birds, gathered together each summer to breed. Of all our seabird sites, none is more special than […]
Albatross populations are declining due to invasive mouse species
New research published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, shows long-lived species may suffer greater impacts from predation than was previously thought. Researchers have utilized a sophisticated population model, which is not constrained to analyzing only breeding pairs, to shed light on decades-long confusion surrounding the impact of invasive mice on the critically endangered Tristan […]
Albie, the black-browed albatross, was blown off course and is now the loneliest bird in the Northern hemisphere
Name: Albie the albatross. Age: It’s not known how old Albie is, but albatrosses can live for more than 70 years. Appearance: A bit like a big gull, to be honest. The black-browed albatross is medium-sized – for an albatross – which is pretty damn big compared with most birds. Wingspan can reach 250cm. Guess […]
Albatrosses can plunge up to 62ft underwater to pursue prey – more than twice as deep as previously thought, study reveals
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 […]
A Bad dose of Hawkie
Today I had my first outing with Zak for what seems like ages. As is our wont we had a Tour de Østfold. First stop was Kurefjorden. Here we had a rising tide that seemed to bear no resemblance to that which was predicted by the tide tables but conditions were very good with all […]