7.23
Brokastis.


8.59
Pūkainītis aizmidzis.

9.02

Sharyn Broni (Ranger )Sharyn Broni (Ranger,
Kia ora koutou (hello everyone)
The Royalcam nest.
Since entering the world at 286g on the 28th of January, the Royalcam chick at Signal Station Flat has grown to 1.4kg on day 20 (Monday 17th of February)
View the graph on https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-a ... ks-weight/
Rangers use weight data to determine when a chick requires feeding intervention.
A small blood sample has been taken from all the chicks to determine each one’s sex. This enables us to be able to supplementary feed any chick that requires it to the correct amount as males are heavier than females, but they can be difficult to tell apart by sight. We usually have approximately 50:50male and female chicks. We sampled the Royalcam chick on the 17th of February.
Changeovers
There have been 2 changeovers since the last update with GLG coming in after a 4-day foraging trip and RLK/A85 arriving back after a 2-day foraging trip.
View — uploads.disquscdn.com Currently GLG is foraging off the Otago Peninsula.
View — uploads.disquscdn.com The trip of RLK/A85 was a 4-day foraging trip of over 230km off the Otago coast.
Apsardzes posms, sardzes posma beigasThe guard stage, end of guard stage
The first few weeks of the toroa chicks’ life is called the guard stage. It can vary from 3 to 5 weeks with an average of 4 weeks guarding the chick likely. By the end of the guard stage the chick is too big to be fully covered by the parent and will often have its head poking out from underneath. This makes the chick vulnerable to introduced land predators that these birds have not evolved with. Trapping these predators is a significant part of our work programme.
Read more about the work we do with the toroa here: https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-a ... albatross/
The Royalcam chick is now in the period where its head will often be poking out from under the parent. The parents will stand more often, particularly if the weather is mild. A secondary layer of down is growing through, and the growth of the chick is very rapid. The guard stage is just about to begin for the oldest chicks in the colony.
View — uploads.disquscdn.com RLK/A85 standing over his chick, we can expect to see more of this behaviour as the end of the guard stage approaches.
The squid, fish and octopus that the albatross is found on or just below the surface of the ocean. This is why they must fly such long distances to find food. The following link shows some foraging behaviour.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/7070/surface-feeding
Satellite Tracking
Today's GPS tag update of RLK/KA85, GLG and 10 juvenile toroa and from Pukekura (tagged 25th of September and 5th of October 2024)
View — uploads.disquscdn.com
The juveniles fledged between the 27th of September to the 14th of October 2024. They will not make landfall until they return to Pukekura in 4 to 10 years’ time. The shortest distance from Pukekura to the juvenile below Madagascar is over 9000km (the apps ruler would not let me measure the longer distance across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans where he has flown).
A closer look at the juveniles off the coast of South America.
View — uploads.disquscdn.com
Once the juveniles return to Pukekura they are adolescents and on average, 5 years old there is a range of returning age from 3 to 10 years of age.
No longer off the coast of South America.... View — uploads.disquscdn.com The last 30 days of travel of the 2024 North of Island Track male.
Where this individual ends up next is anyone’s guess.
un nedaudz par salu un albatrosiem: https://www.yamashina.or.jp/hp/english/ ... shima.htmlSakarā ar apdraudētā albatrosa pilnīgu atdzimšanu, Yamashiro putnu pētījumu institūts veic pētniecības un pētniecības pasākumus izolētajā jūras salā Izu salās Torishima. No 2025. gada 15. februāra līdz marta sākumam ...
Sharyn Broni (Ranger, DOC)Sharyn Broni (Ranger, DOC)
In the meantime, RLK/A85 is foraging offshore.