Scott Shaffer from UCSanta Cruz Long Marine Lab. Since deploying satellite transmitters on 9 fledgling albatrosses back in July, we felt it was long overdue for an update on what is happening with our juvenile birds. To recap, we deployed 20-40 gram tags on 7 black-footed and 2 Laysan albatrosses at Midway Atoll. The birds were all ready to leave the beach when captured and equipped with a tracking device. Tag attachment is fairly easy and quick to apply, only requiring Tesa tape. The tags are mounted on the scapular feathers (a fancy term for feathers on the back between the shoulder blades). We anticipate that the tags will transmit for 6 months or more. However, in order to prolong the battery life, the tags are duty cycled so that the tag is active every other day (or one a week for tag number 67686). During the active cycle, the tags will transmit every 90 seconds for 8 hours (actually 2 four hour blocks). This is why you may see changes in the locations occuring rather sporadically.

To date, only 3 of the birds are reporting locations. This includes one of the Laysan albatrosses (67686). Unfortunately, there isn't enough information to accurately determine the fate of the 6 other birds. There are three possible scenarios including 1) the tag fell off the bird, 2) the battery in the tag prematurely ran out of juice, or 3) the bird met a grim ending.

Although these fledglings leave the beaches with a new set of feathers, it is possible that the additional weight of the tags caused strain on the feathers. As a result, the feathers could have pulled out or broke, depositing the tag somewhere in the middle of the North Pacific. Preliminary assessment of the data do not indicate that batteries failed so its likely that scenario 1 or 3 are the reasons for the drop in signal.

It's remarkable to think that a naive animal would venture out into the big blue without a familiar face to guide it along the way. This certainly ensures that only the fittest survive to continue the cycle of life. Nevertheless, at this early stage in the life of these young birds, we already see similarities in the behavior compared to adult albatrosses. For example, several of the fledglings have exhibited what might be considered area restricted search behavior where an albatross may concentrate its movements to a 'relatively' small area. Essentially, these regions might be characterized by spaghetti-like tracks that loop around and cross over themselves. See images for fledglings 55277. Both make lots of criss-crossing. We predict that oceanic conditions are favorable enough to produce lots of food for the birds to eat, which is why they would stay for while. We will look at this more closely in the future.

Overall, the durations of the tracking study are approaching what we obtained last year (maximum of 89 days). Currently, the three remaining birds have been tracked for 70, 76, and 78 days. The longest total distance covered by any one bird has been more than 15,000 km (9,000 miles!) by 67689. This bird has remained in relatively cool waters near the North Pacific Transition zone and now appears to be heading towards Japan.

Speaking of Japan, our lone Laysan albatross appears to be right off the coast of Japan. This tag number 67686 only reports weekly so we don't know exactly what the bird has done between transmissions but we do know that is currently off Japan. This track is very exciting because it represents the first of its kind for the species.

More updates to follow, so stay tuned.