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LORD OF THE
WINGS
To watch an albatross soar off massive foam-streaked swells in one of mother nature’s wil-dest moods is to enjoy avian Dulce, a study of a subject that masters the elements.The wandering albatross has been the fo-cus of so many captivating stories, sea-farer’s tales, poems and yarns, perhaps none more famous than the Rime of the Ancient Mariner where bad luck befalls the crew of a stricken sailing vessel after the “mariner” kills an albatross. It is an avian giant in every sense, attracting superlatives as easily as a longline fishing vessel lures seabirds to their deaths.The wandering albatross is the largest of all 22 species of albatross. Its wings-pan, which can reach up to 3.7m, is the largest of any living bird, allowing it to ride ocean winds and remain in the air for seve-ral hours at a time, without even a flap of its wings.
Wandering albatrosses, as their name sug-gests, spend months and even years at sea, soaring over open oceans without ever ap-proaching any land mass. When tired or full, they float on the surface of the ocean to rest, though their position makes them vulne-rable to aquatic predators such as sharks.Since seawater is all they have to drink, they have salt glands to desalinate their bodies. Si-tuated above the nasal passage, these glands excrete a highly saline solution.
South Georgia has one of the world’s largest breeding populations of wandering alba-tross, with around 1,500 pairs (roughly 25% of the worlds global breeding population). Counting the non-breeding individuals, it is estimated that there are only 20,000 wande-ring albatross left globally and the popula-tion is in decline.By far the biggest threat is death on lon-gline fishing hooks. As the name suggests, this fishing technique involves very long lines of hooks, which can trail up to 80 miles (130km) behind a fishing vessel, carrying as many as 10-20,000 hooks, baited with fish or squid.When the lines are visible beneath the sea’s surface, the albatrosses dive for the bait, get hooked, and are dragged under, where they drown. Fishing vessels that target tuna, swordfish and pelagic sharks are the greatest risk, because the hooks are nearer the sur-
face than they are in longline fisheries targe-ting bottom-dwelling species.Throughout the non-breeding season, South Georgia’s wandering albatross disperse throughout the Southern Ocean, underta-king extensive feeding excursions, and their vast foraging range means that they encoun-ter many longline fishing fleets. Although there are measures which lower the risk of albatrosses and other seabirds drowning on longlines, compliance is often lacking. South Georgia has a strictly controlled fisheries management program, and few wandering albatross mortalities occur in its territorial waters. Yet the population of these birds has been decreasing at an estimated rate of 4% per annum since 1991. The problem, the-refore, lies in the other areas that the alba-trosses feed, particularly the coasts of Brazil, southeastern South America and Southern Africa, where compliance of fisheries is low.
In January of 2015, the once-a-decade South Georgia wandering albatross survey took place on South Georgia, with a dedicated team of researchers, led by Sally Poncet from the Antarctic Research Trust. Our first lan-ding for the survey was at the aptly-named Albatross Island, where Sally and her collea-gues have been studying the nesting popula-tion of Albatross annually for over 20 years. Clambering up tussock slopes, avoiding sen-sitive moss patches and the camouflaged An-tarctic fur seals buried in the grass were all part of our introduction to the world of the wandering albatross.
When Sally’s team sur-veyed Albatross Island in 2004, a total of 151 nests containing an egg were counted. In 2015, there were 136 egg-bearing nests, representing a 10% decrease in the last decade, better than expected for sure.
‘Clambering up tussock slopes, avoiding sensi-tive moss patches and Antarctic fur seals were all part of our introduction to the world of the wandering albatross.’
My first close encounter with a wanderer came at the highest point on Albatross island, where a female sat atop her volcano-like nest. The enormity of these birds cannot be overem-phasized. Weighing up to 12.7kg and being as long as 1.35m, they are massive.I sat transfixed a few meters away from her; she was completely at ease with my presence, an irony that didn’t pass me by as I reflected on the fact that the greatest threat to her kind was my own. The air was disturbed by a loud swoosh as her glider-sized partner jetted in. This was incre-dibly lucky for me; a bird on feeding duty can be at sea for several days at a time. With a clumsy landing, the male skulked comically up to his partner. They clacked bills, and then a wonderful mixture of squawks, gurgles and hisses ensued as they exchanged greetings.
After several minutes of this fascinating dialogue, the display that I had so wanted to see erupted in all its glory. Both partners faced the other, arched their backs and spread their sail-like wings in an-gelic magnificence, praising each other with more lavish sounds, bill-clacking and air-pointing. It was a glorious display of feathered extravagance.
Lying some 750 nautical miles east of the Falklands, the nature paradise of South Georgia is home to over 50 million seabirds, around 4 million Antarctic fur seals , 600,000 Southern elephant seals and scenery that is hard to surpass. South Georgia is surely atop any wildlife enthusiast’s bucket list of spectacular desti-nations - but to be part of a small team cir-cumnavigating the entire island, and landing
in many restricted areas under the guidance and sensitive leadership of Sally Poncet and her team, was a great privilege.Being among such magnificent surroun-dings is breathtaking. Steep snow and cloud-covered mountains, verdant moss slopes, hanging glaciers, beautifully sculptured tur-quoise bays and huge penguin colonies com-bine to make South Georgia a photographic fantasyland.
On the eastern side of the island I saw seve-ral groups of displaying wanderers. Upon getting closer, it was obvious that these were mostly juveniles engaged in a type of court-ship known as “gaming”, whereby up to a dozen birds land in a small area and perform for each other, in the same way that humans might strut their stuff on a beach, hoping to attract the opposite sex. ‘Gamers’ adver-tise for a partner using a complex repertoire of signals, including aerial displays, calling down to birds on the ground, return sky-
calling from birds on the ground, bill yap-ping, bill clapping, head shaking and wing stretching. While gaming, the birds make loud whines, shrieks and croaks that can be heard at a great distance. Every time an unattached female comes in to land there is a great deal of noise and manoeuvering by the males to make a favourable impression. Of-ten, dominant males will chase lesser males away to monopolise the attention of female birds. It’s like being at a night club for Wan-dering albatross.
For the first 5-7 years of their lives, adolescent birds such as these hardly ever touch land. They have the ability to circumnavigate the globe several times a year, using only twice as much energy through dynamic soaring than it takes to sit on a nest. Despite engaging in courtship behaviour through the breeding season, ado-lescent birds will not truly breed until they are between 11 - 15 years old. Adults pair for life, with the female laying a single egg every two years. Incubation takes 11 weeks and the parents take turns sitting on the nest while the other flies out to sea in search of food. Feeding sorties may see an expectant parent fly over 8000km in a single round trip.
As we headed in an anti clockwise direc-tion around South Georgia we visited se-veral other nesting locations, all of which dripped with scenery and wildlife. Some locations sadly had only a few hopeful birds sitting atop display nests where once there had been good numbers of breeding birds, whilst others showed a small but promising increase in numbers.
Interestingly, as we headed further east, the number of locations with breeding birds decreased and the entire northeastern side of the island, despite having what appeared to be suitable habitat, was completely free of wandering albatrosses.
Two adult wandering albatross swim along-side a commercial fishing vessel, competing for discarded fish scraps. The victor will be able to return home, flying up to 4000km to bring its prize back to the nest. The loser, meanwhile, will have to continue its search for food.During the breeding season, in the early stages of the chick’s development, parents take turns to search for food. Later, both adults fly out on foraging excursions, visiting the chick at irre-gular intervals. Given the vast distances wan-derers fly in search of a meal, competition for food can spell life or death for a hungry chick.
As the suns rays kissed the icy slopes good-night, it was a most fitting goodbye to the wonderful world of the Wanderer. I felt a twang of sadness flow through me as we weighed anchor. Sailing back 750 miles to Stanley in the Falklands I couldn’t help but wonder if any of the great albatrosses who crossed our wake in search of food were the same bids I had sat with on South Georgia. I wondered where they had been, what dis-tant lands they had glided past? Had they seen the commercial whaling that South Georgia played its part in many decades ago? Did the retreating glaciers around their island go unnoticed to them? Sally and her team tallied up the stats, which showed that there was a roughly 12% decline
in nest numbers on South Georgia since the last full survey in 2004. Whilst this decrease was disappointing, at least the rate was a lot slower than the anticipated 4% per annum. It shows that the work being done by Sally and so many other dedicated teams is paying dividends.Spending time with these extraordinary birds and being part of the survey left me fee-ling hopeful; that others might be as moved as I was by the touch of a feather; that in the next decade, even more fisheries will become compliant, and the work of dedicated resear-chers and conservationists will ensure that, by the time the next survey is conducted in 2015, there will be more Wanderers rising from the islands to meet the wind.
