In Antarctica, it’s usually the whales, seals and penguins that take the spotlight, but a new report focuses on an animal further down the food chain: the Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). In a report issued last week, Greenpeace International outlines the vital role that this minute crustacean plays in Antarctica’s marine ecology and documents incursions […]
Tag: Albatross
It’s a Miracle! Wisdom Lays an Egg at Age 67
Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, has once again returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial and has laid an egg. The approximately 67-year-old flies thousands of miles every year before returning to the Midway Atoll. Although these graceful birds nest on tropical Pacific islands, they can travel as far as […]
Two males for every female: Antipodean Albatross in breeding crisis
Antipodean Albatrosses court for years, mate for life and work together to raise their young – but human activity is causing a sex ratio imbalance that is destroying their lifelong romance. This year, they have been uplisted to Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to worrying population declines. The “live slow, die old” strategy […]
Disentangling the cause of seabird deaths in South Africa
Despite huge success in reducing the incidental catch of seabirds in fishing nets, there’s been reports that an old type of vessel used in South Africa is still posing serious threats to seabirds. The Albatross Task Force (ATF) has been highly successful in achieving a remarkable reduction in the incidental catch of seabirds in the […]
25,000 seabirds die in southern cone fisheries every year
The turbulent waters around the southern part of South America are some of the most productive in the world, with upwellings of nutrients that support a whole suite of species. Along the Patagonian Shelf to the east, around the southern tip of the continent at Cape Horn and up into the Humboldt Current to the […]
The man saving 30,000 seabirds
The Albatross Task Force is an initiative led by the RSPB for the BirdLife International Partnership and is a major part of the BirdLife International Global Marine Programme. The initiative involves work on the ground in eight countries including Argentina (hosted by Aves Argentinas), Brazil (Projeto Albatroz), Chile (CODEFF), Ecuador until 2013 (Aves y Conservación), […]
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 […]
Sydney pelagic trip
As I headed out on a pelagic wildlife watching trip out of Sydney with Halicat I was really keen to see a new species of whale. Which wasn’t not too much to ask for, given that the only whale species I have seen are Humpbacks, Right whales and a pod of Pygmy Killer Whales. The […]
Has Half of World’s Wildlife Been Lost in Past 40 Years?
The 2014 Living Planet Report gives an index that tracks the numbers of animals in selected populations of vertebrates—mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish—across the globe. This “Living Planet Index” declined by 52 percent between 1970 and 2010, “a much bigger decrease than has been reported previously,” according to the report. The 52 percent figure […]
Wildlife on South Georgia’s Bird Island – in pictures
The UK overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean is a haven for sea birds and fur seals where the British Antarctic Survey monitors long-term population trends. Jerry Gillham photographs the island’s wildlife This article was first published by The Guardian.
