Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2022 | 14(7): 21473–21475
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7992.14.7.21473-21475
#7992 | Received 27 April 2022 | Final
received 19 May 2022 | Finally accepted 09 July 2022
First Asian record of
Light-mantled Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata (Foster, 1785) from Rameswaram Island,Tamil Nadu, India
H. Byju
1 & N. Raveendran 2
1 Centre of Advanced Study in
Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Parangipettai,
Tamil Nadu 608502, India.
2 Iragukal Amritha
Nature Trust, 61, Ramachandra Thadaga Street, Thirumangalam, Madurai, Tamil Nadu 625706, India.
1 byjuhi@gmail.com (corresponding
author), 2 Iant.ravee@gmail.com
Editor: P.A. Azeez, Coimbatore, Tamil
Nadu, India. Date of publication: 26 July 2022
(online & print)
Citation: Byju,
H. & N. Raveendran (2022). First Asian
record of Light-mantled Albatross Phoebetria
palpebrata (Foster, 1785) from Rameswaram Island,
Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(7): 21473–21475. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7992.14.7.21473-21475
Copyright: © Byju
& Raveendran 2022. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: Our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Yaswanth for the bird rescue, as well as for passing on the
information to the forest authorities. Mr. Francis Aravind of the Rameswaram
Forest Range deserves special recognition for successfully returning this bird
to the oceans.
This is the first documented
record of the Light-mantled Albatross Phoebetria
palpebrata from Rameswaram Island in southern
India: an unusual sighting from the region as it has not previously been
recorded from either southern Asia or the Oriental region.
Albatrosses (Procellariiformes:
Diomedeidae) are big birds primarily found in the
southern hemisphere (Sick 1997). The Light Mantled Albatross is the most common
species in the Antarctic seas (Ainley et al. 1984).
It is listed as ‘Near Threatened’ by the IUCN Red List because of diminishing
population mainly due to being trapped as bycatch in longline fisheries and
also, perhaps, due to the effects of imported predators (BirdLife
International 2022).
With broad pelagic habits, the
species maintains a circumpolar distribution in the Southern Ocean, mainly
south of the subantarctic convergence between 40° and
60° S (Carboneras 1992; Brooke 2004). In summer, it
spreads across frigid Antarctic waters as far south as the pack ice (Weimerskirch & Robertson 1994; Phillips et al. 2005; Terauds & Gales 2006; Lawton et al. 2008; Mackley et al. 2010), but in winter, it ranges north into
temperate and subtropical seas.
The birds breed on several
sub-Antarctic islands, including Heard, MacDonald, and Macquarie Islands
(Australia), South Georgia (United Kingdom), Prince Edward and Marion Islands
(South Africa), Iles Kerguelen and Crozet (France), and Auckland, Campbell, and
Antipodes Islands (New Zealand), and forage over cold Antarctic waters as far
south as the pack ice in summer (ACAP 2012). This species is a biannual breeder
that usually nests alone or in tiny colonies. Most eggs are placed between
October and November; hatch between December and January; the chicks fledge
between May and June (Croxall & Gales 1998).
Breeding birds on Macquarie Island generally feed in shelf seas around the
island, but they also use sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters southwest of the
island (BirdLife International 2004). The diet
consists primarily of cephalopods and euphausiids but
they also consume fish and carrion (Thomas 1982; Cooper & Klages 1995).
The worldwide population was
estimated in 1998 to be 21,600 breeding pairs (Gales 1998); 5,000 breeding
pairs, 25% of the global population, nest in the Auckland Islands (ACAP 2012),
1,850–2,450 pairs on Macquarie Island, 1,949 pairs in the Crozet group, 5,000
pairs on South Georgia, 3,000–5,000 pairs on Kerguelen, at least 1,600 pairs on
Campbell Island, and 170 pairs on the Antipodes Islands (Croxall
& Gales 1998; Taylor 2000), 350 pairs on Marion Island, and 129 pairs on
Prince Edward Island (ACAP 2012).
This note reports the sighting of
an adult Light-mantled Albatross bird on 8 September 2020 at 1300 h at Anthoniyapuram beach (9.291806 N, 79.251155 E) at
Rameswaram Island in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil
Nadu state, India. This location is part of Palk Bay and near the Gulf of Mannar, an Important Bird Area (IBA) on India’s southeastern coast (Balachandran 2006).
The second author spotted
the bird on the seashore. The bird was quite frail, may be dehydrated, and
unable to fly, and this was informed to the forest department (FD) by the
fishermen. The FD people and the fishermen looked after the bird, rested it,
and attempted feeding it before releasing it into the sea.
The Light-mantled Albatross has
sooty plumage with a light grey back, a vinaceous
dark brown head, darker wings and tail with the contrasting light grey back
clearly distinguishing the white crescent framing the top of the eye and the
black bill with narrow pale bluish sulcus and white shafts (Harrison 1983,
1987; Enticott & Tipling
1997; Onley & Scofield 2007). The above description was found to be so fit
for our bird that its identification was confirmed (Image 1&2).
The bird has not been previously
recorded from southern Asia (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012) or the Oriental
Region (Inskipp et al. 1996). This is the first
record from the region. It is assumed that the bird was driven to the location
by a wind current or a storm; however, there was no storm in the vicinity.
Behavioural studies (Spruzen & Woehler 2002) on Light-mantled Albatross found no
association with a high or low-pressure system in the atmosphere for movement
for foraging. As a result, in addition to pelagic birding, we must maintain
close contact with our fellow fishermen to gain more such incredible bird
sightings. This find also sheds light on bird migration away from well-known
and established routes and sites.
For
images - - click here (for full PDF)
References
ACAP (2012). Agreement on the Conservation
of Albatrosses and Petrels. ACAP Species assessment: Light-mantled
Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata.
Downloaded from http://www.acap.aq on 20.04.2022.
Ainley, D.G., E.F. O’Connor & J.R. Boekelheide (1984). The marine ecology of the Ross
Sea, Antarctica. Ornithological Monographs 32: 1–97.
Balachandran,
S. (2006). The decline
in wader populations along the east coast of India with special reference to
Point Calimere, south-east India, pp. 296–301. In: Boere, G., C. Galbraith & D. Stroud (ed.). Waterbirds Around the World. The Stationary
Office, Edinburgh, UK.
BirdLife International (2004). Tracking Ocean
Wanderers: the global distribution of albatrosses and petrels. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.
BirdLife International (2022). Species factsheet: Phoebetria palpebrata.
Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25 April 2022.
Brooke, M.
(2004). Albatrosses
and petrels across the world. New York: Oxford University Press. 1-240.
Carboneras, C. (1992). Family Diomedeidae
(Albatrosses), pp. 198–215. In: Del Hoyo, J., A.
Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.). Handbook of the
Birds of the World: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions,
Barcelona.
Cooper, J.
& N.T.W. Klages (1995). The diets and dietary
segregation of Sooty Albatrosses Phoebetria
spp. at subantarctic Marion Island. Antarctic
Science 7(1): 15–23.
Croxall, J.P. & R. Gales (1998). Assessment of the conservation
status of albatrosses, pp. 46–65. In: Robertson, G. & R. Gales
(eds.). Albatross Biology and Conservation. Surrey Beatty &
Sons, Chipping Norton, Australia.
Enticott, J. & D. Tipling
(1997). Seabirds
of the World: The Complete Reference. Stackpole Books, New Holland, 234 pp.
Gales, R
(1998). Albatross
populations: status and threats, pp 20–45. In: Robertson, G. & R. Gales
(ed.). Albatross biology and conservation. Surrey Beatty &
Sons, Chipping Norton, Australia.
Harrison, P.
(1983). Seabirds:
An Identification Guide. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 448 pp.
Harrison, P.
(1987). Seabirds:
A Photographic Guide. Christopher Helm, London, 317 pp.
Inskipp, T., N. Lindsey & W.
Duckworth (1996). An
annotated checklist of the birds of the Oriental Region. Oriental Bird Club,
UK, 294 pp.
Lawton, K.,
R. Kirkwood, G. Robertson & B. Raymond (2008). Preferred foraging areas of
Heard Island albatrosses during chick raising and implications for the management
of incidental mortality in fisheries. Aquatic Conservation. Marine and
Freshwater Ecosystems 18(3): 309–320.
Mackley, E.K., R.A. Phillips, J.R. Silk,
E.D. Wakefield, V. Afanasyev, J. Fox & W.R.
Furness (2010). Free as a
bird? Activity patterns of albatrosses during the nonbreeding period. Marine
Ecology Progress Series 406: 291–303.
Onley, D.
& P. Scofield (2007). Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World. Princeton
University Press, Princenton, 240 pp.
Phillips,
R.A., J.R.D. Silk & J.P. Croxall (2005). Foraging and provisioning
strategies of the light-mantled Sooty Albatross at South Georgia: competition
and co-existence with sympatric pelagic predators. Marine Ecology
Progress Series 285: 259–270.
Rasmussen,
P.C. & J.C. Anderton (2012). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. 2nd
ed. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions,
Washington, D.C. and Barcelona. 2 vols.
Sick, H.
(1997). Ornitologiabrasileira. Nova Fronteira,
Rio de Janeiro, 912 pp.
Spruzen, F.L. & E.J. Woehler (2002). The influence of synoptic
weather patterns on the at-sea behaviour of three species of albatross. Polar
Biology 25: 296–302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-001-0344-9
Taylor, G.A
(2000). Action
plan for seabird conservation in New Zealand. Department of Conservation,
Wellington, 236 pp.
Terauds, A. & R. Gales (2006). Provisioning strategies and
growth patterns of Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses Phoebetria
palpebrata on Macquarie Island. Polar
Biology 29(11): 917–926. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0133-6
Thomas, G.
(1982). The food and
feeding ecology of the Light-mantled Sooty Albatross at South Georgia. Emu 82:
92–100.
Weimerskirch, H. & G. Robertson (1994). Satellite tracking of
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross. Polar Biology 14:
123–126. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234974