TY - JOUR
T1 - A juvenile Tristan albatross (Diomedea dabbenena) on land at the Crozet Islands
AU - Bond, Alexander L.
AU - Taylor, Christopher
AU - Kinchin-Smith, David
AU - Fox, Derren
AU - Witcutt, Emma
AU - Ryan, Peter G.
AU - Loader, Simon P.
AU - Weimerskirch, Henri
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Tristan da Cunha Administrator, Island Council, and Conservation Department for permission to work on Gough Island, and administration of the Terres australes et antarctiques françaises for permission to work on Crozet Island, the dedicated field teams on Gough and Possession for their hard work, and S. Oppel (RSPB) for information on the breeding history of this bird. S. Hammer (Umhvørvisstovan/Faroese Environment Agency), and J. B. Kristensen (Statens Naturhistoriske Museum/Natural History Museum of Denmark) provided details of the Faroese albatross. Comments from anonymous reviewers improved this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - Albatrosses and other seabirds are generally highly philopatric, returning to natal colonies when they achieve breeding age. This is not universal, however, and cases of extraordinary vagrancy are rare. The Tristan Albatross (Diomedea dabbenena) breeds on Gough Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, with a small population on Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha, ca 380 km away. In 2015, we observed an adult male albatross in Gonydale, Gough Island, which had been ringed on Ile de la Possession, Crozet Islands in 2009 when it was assumed to be an immature Wandering Albatross (D. exulans). We sequenced 1109 bp of the cytochrome b mitochondrial gene from this bird, and confirmed it to be a Tristan Albatross, meaning its presence on Crozet 6 years previous, and nearly 5000 km away, was a case of prospecting behaviour in a heterospecific colony. Given the challenges in identifying immature Diomedea albatrosses, such dispersal events may be more common than thought previously.
AB - Albatrosses and other seabirds are generally highly philopatric, returning to natal colonies when they achieve breeding age. This is not universal, however, and cases of extraordinary vagrancy are rare. The Tristan Albatross (Diomedea dabbenena) breeds on Gough Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, with a small population on Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha, ca 380 km away. In 2015, we observed an adult male albatross in Gonydale, Gough Island, which had been ringed on Ile de la Possession, Crozet Islands in 2009 when it was assumed to be an immature Wandering Albatross (D. exulans). We sequenced 1109 bp of the cytochrome b mitochondrial gene from this bird, and confirmed it to be a Tristan Albatross, meaning its presence on Crozet 6 years previous, and nearly 5000 km away, was a case of prospecting behaviour in a heterospecific colony. Given the challenges in identifying immature Diomedea albatrosses, such dispersal events may be more common than thought previously.
KW - Crozet islands
KW - Dispersal
KW - Gough island
KW - Prospecting
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U2 - 10.1007/s00300-020-02786-0
DO - 10.1007/s00300-020-02786-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097738248
SN - 0722-4060
VL - 44
SP - 229
EP - 233
JO - Polar Biology
JF - Polar Biology
IS - 1
ER -