A juvenile Tristan albatross (Diomedea dabbenena) on land at the Crozet Islands
Citations
Altmetric:
Advisors
Editors
Other Contributors
Affiliation
EPub Date
Issue Date
2020-12-19
Submitted Date
Subject Terms
Crozet Islands
dispersal
Gough Island
prospecting
dispersal
Gough Island
prospecting
Collections
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Other Titles
Abstract
Abstract: 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.
Citation
Bond, A.L., Taylor, C., Kinchin-Smith, D. et al. A juvenile Tristan albatross (Diomedea dabbenena) on land at the Crozet Islands. Polar Biol 44, 229–233 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02786-0
Publisher
Journal
Research Unit
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Embedded videos
Type
Journal Article
Item Description
This is an open access article, available to all readers online, published under a creative commons licensing (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
NHM Repository
NHM Repository
Series/Report no.
ISSN
0722-4060
EISSN
1432-2056