Diomedea sanfordi

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	Procellariiformes	Diomedeidae

Scientific Name:

Diomedea sanfordi

Species Authority:

Murphy, 1917

Common Name/s:

English

–

Northern Royal Albatross

Taxonomic Notes:

Diomedea epomophora (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into D. epomophora and D. sanfordi following Robertson and Nunn (1998) and Brooke (2004).

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Endangered A4bcd; B2ab(iii,v) ver 3.1

Year Assessed:

2008

Assessor/s

BirdLife International

Evaluator/s:

Butchart, S. (BirdLife International Red List Authority), Small, C. & Sullivan, B. (BirdLife International Global Seabird Programme)

Justification:
This species is classified as Endangered because it is restricted to a tiny breeding range in which habitat quality recently underwent a decrease owing to severe storms in the 1980s, which led to poor breeding success. Based on low breeding success it is projected to decline over the next three generations (84 years). By 2002, at the end of egg-laying, 5,800 pairs were counted, with a probable 1,700 pairs at sea (after breeding in the previous season). This suggests that in spite of the extensive reduction in productivity over a 20 year period, the number of breeding pairs may have remained relatively stable¹⁴.

History:

2007	–	Endangered
2005	–	Endangered
2004	–	Endangered
2003	–	Endangered
2000	–	Endangered
1994	–	Not Recognized
1988	–	Not Recognized

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Diomedea sanfordi breeds on Forty-Fours, Big and Little Sister Islands (Chatham Islands), Taiaroa Head (Otago Peninsula, South Island) and Enderby Island (Auckland Islands), New Zealand. The Chatham Islands population (99% of the total) is estimated as 6,500-7,000 pairs¹³, with c. 5,200-5,800 pairs breeding each year. Around.25 pairs breed each year at Taiaroa Head, including five hybrids (descended from cross with female Southern Royal Albatross D. epomophora). Two birds have hybridised on Enderby Island. During the breeding season adults typically forage over the Chatham Rise^9,11. Non-breeding birds undertake circumpolar traverses in the Southern Oceans⁵and forage in the Humboldt Current and Patagonian Shelf, off the coasts of South America^{12, 13}.
Countries:	Native: Argentina; Australia; Brazil; Chile; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); French Southern Territories (the); Heard Island and McDonald Islands; New Zealand; Saint Helena; South Africa; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Uruguay
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Atlantic – Antarctic; Atlantic – southeast; Atlantic – southwest; Indian Ocean – western; Indian Ocean – eastern; Indian Ocean – Antarctic; Pacific – southeast; Pacific – southwest; Pacific – Antarctic
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population:	The largest population (99%) is on the Chatham Islands, with 1% of the population on Taiaroa Head, on the mainland of South Island, New Zealand. There has not been a successful run of annual photographs over the past 8 years to updated estimates the breeding population of this biennial breeder (C. J. R. Robertson in litt. 2008). However, air photographic counts on the Chatham Islands in the 1970s [1972-1975]and 1990s [1989-1991] recorded a total of 6,500-7,000 total breeding pairs of this biennial breeding bird (Croxall and Gales 1998; Robertson 1998). The number of pairs breeding each year was estimated as 5,200 pairs, based on a count in 1995 (Croxall and Gales 1998). This is equivalent to a total population of 17,000 mature individuals (Croxall and Gales 1998). A count in 2002 recorded 5,800 pairs on the Chatham Islands (counted at the end of egg laying), with a probable 1700 pairs on sabbatical (after breeding in the previous season; C. J. R. Robertson in litt. 2008). However, since the estimate of 17,000 individuals is based on data from multiple years, this is the estimate used here. Around.25 pairs breed each year at Taiaroa Head, including five hybrids (descended from cross with female Southern Royal Albatross D. epomophora). Two individuals of D. sanfordi, both breeding with D. epomophora partners have been recorded on Enderby Island (Robertson 1998).
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Population:

The largest population (99%) is on the Chatham Islands, with 1% of the population on Taiaroa Head, on the mainland of South Island, New Zealand. There has not been a successful run of annual photographs over the past 8 years to updated estimates the breeding population of this biennial breeder (C. J. R. Robertson in litt. 2008). However, air photographic counts on the Chatham Islands in the 1970s [1972-1975]and 1990s [1989-1991] recorded a total of 6,500-7,000 total breeding pairs of this biennial breeding bird (Croxall and Gales 1998; Robertson 1998). The number of pairs breeding each year was estimated as 5,200 pairs, based on a count in 1995 (Croxall and Gales 1998). This is equivalent to a total population of 17,000 mature individuals (Croxall and Gales 1998). A count in 2002 recorded 5,800 pairs on the Chatham Islands (counted at the end of egg laying), with a probable 1700 pairs on sabbatical (after breeding in the previous season; C. J. R. Robertson in litt. 2008). However, since the estimate of 17,000 individuals is based on data from multiple years, this is the estimate used here. Around.25 pairs breed each year at Taiaroa Head, including five hybrids (descended from cross with female Southern Royal Albatross D. epomophora). Two individuals of D. sanfordi, both breeding with D. epomophora partners have been recorded on Enderby Island (Robertson 1998).

Population Trend:

Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Northern Royal Albatrosses usually nest on the flat summits of tiny islands with herb fields⁸ and grasses It feeds mainly on cephalopods and fish, also salps, crustacea and carrion^2,10. The nest is typically a low mound of vegetation, mud, feathers, stone chips etc, on flat ground and slopes on islands and headlands. Eggs are laid in October-November, with chicks fledging in September-October. It is a biennial breeder, if chick rearing is successful.
Systems:	Marine

Habitat and Ecology:

Northern Royal Albatrosses usually nest on the flat summits of tiny islands with herb fields⁸ and grasses It feeds mainly on cephalopods and fish, also salps, crustacea and carrion^2,10. The nest is typically a low mound of vegetation, mud, feathers, stone chips etc, on flat ground and slopes on islands and headlands. Eggs are laid in October-November, with chicks fledging in September-October. It is a biennial breeder, if chick rearing is successful.

Systems:

Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Historically, Northern Royal Albatross chicks were harvested, but this is now illegal. In 1985, a cyclonic storm hit the breeding sites on the Chathams, reducing soil cover and destroying most vegetation⁴. In addition, a reduction in mean eggshell thickness of 20% or more (at times of high nesting density), and an increased incidence of chicks dead in the shell have been recorded in the last 20 years, but do not appear to be caused by contaminants⁷. At Taiaroa Head, control of predators aims to reduce predation by introduced blowflies Lucilia sericata, stoat Mustela erminea and cats¹. Mortality due to longline and trawling fishing activities has been recorded^1,7.

Major Threat(s):

Historically, Northern Royal Albatross chicks were harvested, but this is now illegal. In 1985, a cyclonic storm hit the breeding sites on the Chathams, reducing soil cover and destroying most vegetation⁴. In addition, a reduction in mean eggshell thickness of 20% or more (at times of high nesting density), and an increased incidence of chicks dead in the shell have been recorded in the last 20 years, but do not appear to be caused by contaminants⁷. At Taiaroa Head, control of predators aims to reduce predation by introduced blowflies Lucilia sericata, stoat Mustela erminea and cats¹. Mortality due to longline and trawling fishing activities has been recorded^1,7.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Conservation actions underway: ACAP Annex 1. All populations are monitored periodically. Annual population data from Taiaroa Head is the most complete for any seabird species in New Zealand⁷. Predator control at Taiaroa Head during the breeding season results in comparatively high mean annual¹ (no predators recorded on Chatham Island colonies). Animal husbandry techniques have been developed from work with this colony. Feral cattle, rabbits and mice have been eradicated from Enderby Island⁷. Taiaroa Head and Enderby Island are nature reserves. Conservation actions proposed: Continue to census Chatham populations annually using aerial photography. Continue intensive management of Taiaroa Head colony. Band further cohorts of chicks from all colonies. Obtain legal protection for Forty-Fours and Sisters Islands, and continued access for research⁷.

Conservation Actions:

Conservation actions underway:

ACAP Annex 1. All populations are monitored periodically. Annual population data from Taiaroa Head is the most complete for any seabird species in New Zealand⁷. Predator control at Taiaroa Head during the breeding season results in comparatively high mean annual¹ (no predators recorded on Chatham Island colonies). Animal husbandry techniques have been developed from work with this colony. Feral cattle, rabbits and mice have been eradicated from Enderby Island⁷. Taiaroa Head and Enderby Island are nature reserves.

Conservation actions proposed:

Continue to census Chatham populations annually using aerial photography. Continue intensive management of Taiaroa Head colony. Band further cohorts of chicks from all colonies. Obtain legal protection for Forty-Fours and Sisters Islands, and continued access for research⁷.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2008. Diomedea sanfordi. In: IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 09 February 2010.
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