Life of the Northern Royal

(Diomedea sanfordi)

Albatross are the world’s largest seabirds. They usually breed on remote offshore islands and spend at least 85% of their lives at sea, well away from land and humans. Dunedin’s Taiaroa Head is the only mainland Royal Albatross breeding colony in the world.

Renowned ocean wanderers, they travel vast distances from their breeding grounds to feed. The Northern Royal Albatross, with its massive three metre wingspan, flies an estimated 190,000 kilometres a year.

These birds are also a taonga species to Māori, highlighting cultural significance and importance.

The breeding birds arrive at Taiaroa Head on Otago Peninsula in September. They nest during early November and within the following three weeks an egg is laid – they are slow breeding birds and lay only one egg per pair every two years.

The parents share incubation duty as it lasts a period of 80 days! The chicks hatch from late January to early February, and both parents take turns at guarding the chick for the first 35 days to protect it from predators. After that the chick is by itself, with parents only returning with food every few days. It takes eight months for the little balls of fluff to become not so little juveniles, and they will finally take their first ever flight in September! 12 months after their arrival at Taiaroa Head, the chicks’ parents finally leave the colony to spend a year at sea before returning to breed again.

The young Royal Albatross will spend the next three to five years at sea, never touching land during that time. Many then return to this unique headland to start another generation of Royals at Dunedin’s Taiaroa Head.

The Royal Albatross Centre, The Otago Peninsula Trust, and the Department of Conservation combine to protect and preserve the albatross of Taiaroa Head and have initiated many research projects, alongside the University of Otago, so that we may better understand these majestic seabirds. A portion of every ticket sold at the Royal Albatross Centre goes directly towards the fostering and protection of the Northern Royal Albatross.

Plastics and seabirds

Why do seabirds eat plastic?

There are endless ways plastic finds a pathway to the ocean – once there, algae begins growing on the surface of these items as they float further from land. As krill eat this algae, a chemical signal called dimethyl sulfide is released, and it’s the smell of this chemical which seabirds associate with a potential food source – the krill itself.

Seabirds like albatross rely heavily on their sense of smell when foraging for food. Typically, arrow squid make up the majority of their diet, the rest including fish, octopus, krill and salps. Arrow squid will swim to the surface of the ocean to feed, often at night as they are attracted to bioluminescence. Albatross are opportunistic scavengers and will feed on squid whenever they can reach them.

Seabirds are tricked by the sulfur smell – combined with the fact that plastic floats and is often brightly coloured similarly to their natural prey, it makes it all the more appealing, particularly to seabirds like albatross who cannot dive more than a few metres. Even if the birds aren’t eating plastic directly, fish and other prey are found to consume microplastics (plastics that have broken down into smaller pieces) and so consume it indirectly this way.

Below: plastic fragments inside the stomach of an albatross / arrow squid – the main diet of albatross.

There are 22 species of albatross around the world, 18 of these are considered threatened on some level.

The New Zealand Conservation Status of the Northern Royal Albatross is Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable. They have only two nesting sites worldwide; 1% here at Pukekura / Taiaroa in Dunedin (estimated 70 breeding pairs), and the remaining 99% on the Chatham Islands (estimated 5,500 breeding pairs) where numbers are in decline.

The main threats: plastic pollution, long-line fisheries, and effects of climate change.

As albatross spend at least 85% of their lives at sea, there are many threats that can affect their chance of survival.

Albatross are opportunistic scavengers, taking food such as squid, fish and octopus from the ocean’s surface. This style of hunting makes them vulnerable to ingesting plastic, as small fragments float conveniently along the surface of the water appearing the same as food items.

Long-line fisheries are responsible for thousands of albatross deaths each year as a result of bycatch from easy-access baited hooks floating near the surface. The invention of the Stomach contents of a Laysan Albatross chick, Midway Atoll, containing 52 items of plastic.[/caption]