Chatham Island Albatross

Albatross and Petrel Conservation Agreements

Vulnerable Chatham Albatross Thalassarche eremita only hatches in one place, the Pyramid, a private pile of rocks on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. Thirty fluffy chickens were picked up from the pyramid on January 21 and taken by ship to a private discharge site at Point Gap on the southwest shore of Main Chatham, where previously man-made cavies and dummies had been made. (click here for a videoclip of the operation).

Chatham Island Taiko Trusts is a non-profit association founded in 1998 by the people of Chatham to preserve and restore the island's valuable and uniquely beautiful game. This foundation was founded to preserve the endangered magenta petrel Pterodroma or Taiko.

Chatham Island Albatross Translation is a partnership with the Yamashina Institute of Ornithology in Japan and Chatham Islandandlords. The Royal Forest and Bird Society, BirdLife International, Chatham Island Conservation Board, Enterprise Trust and Pyramid owner as well as the Chatham Island municipality have also supported the work.

It follows methodologies that have been devised by Tomohiro Deguchi and co-workers at the Yamashina Institute, which is trying to create a new breed of endangered short-tailed albatross Phoebastria albatus on the Japanese island of Mukojima (click here). The Chatham Island Albatross Translocation Projects can be followed on the Trust's Facebook page.

Photos of the Chatham Island Taiko Trust.

Albatross and Petrel Conservation Agreements

The last moved chicken has reached a full (or empty?) home. Chickens were manually nourished with calamari and octopus until they became fledglings, only six of them did not survive due to thermal stresses (click here). The Chatham Islands Taiko Trust awarded another 50 chickens for the third year of the program in February (click here).

The chickens of this year have fled this months, of which only one is still awaited until 15 April; the first two fled on 31 March. Here you will find all the latest information about the translation projects. Founding of a new Chatham Island Albatross settlement on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.