Albatrosses counted from space

By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent

Scientists have started counting individual birds from space.

They are using the highest-resolution satellite images available to gauge the numbers of Northern Royal albatrosses.

This endangered animal nests almost exclusively on some rocky sea-stacks close to New Zealand’s Chatham Islands.

The audit, led by experts at the British Antarctic Survey, represents the first time any species on Earth has had its entire global population assessed from orbit.

The scientists report the satellite technique in Ibis, a journal of the British Ornithologists' Union.

It is likely to have a major impact on efforts to conserve the Northern Royals (Diomedea sanfordi).

Ordinarily, these birds are very difficult to appraise because their nesting sites are so inaccessible.

Not only are the sea-stacks far from NZ (680km), but their vertical cliffs mean that any visiting scientist might also have to be adept at rock climbing.



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Hope for critically endangered bird

The hatching of the first eggs of a critically endangered species of seabird on the Chatham Islands is being heralded as a major milestone for the bird's conservation.

The Chatham Islands taiko (magenta petrel) is one of the world's rarest seabird species, with only 14 known breeding pairs in the predator-free environment in Sweetwater Conservation Covenant.

All 57 known taiko chicks were transferred to Sweetwater between 2007 and 2011.

Sweetwater is a 2.4 hectare forest protected by an 800-metre predator-proof fence on private land owned by Bruce and Liz Tuanui, who covenanted the land for taiko conservation in 2004.

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Rare bird gets zoo treatment

One of the world's rarest birds arrived at Wellington Zoo today for treatment, after failing to leave its nest.

The taiko, also known as a magenta petrel, was flown from the Chatham Islands for treatment when monitoring showed the young bird was severely underweight.

The bird will be treated at the Zoo's hospital, the Nest, by the same team that treated Happy Feet, the penguin found on Peka Peka Beach in June 2011.

The juvenile seabird is one of the rarest bird species, currently critically endangered, with as few as 120 remaining in the wild.

The Zoo veterinary team, led by Dr Lisa Argilla, will run tests on the sick bird during the weekend.

Members of the public will be able to catch a glimpse of the rare fledgling when x-rays are taken of it on Sunday.

Only one other taiko has been brought to the New Zealand mainland from the species' breeding ground in the Chatham Islands - another sick bird successfully treated by Wellington Zoo in 2011.

Taiko once bred in huge numbers in the southwest of Chatham Island before the species was decimated by introduced mammals.

The birds were considered extinct until 1978 when a small number were rediscovered by New Zealand ornithologist David Crockett.

They are currently closely monitored by the Conservation Department and the Chatham Islands Taiko Trust.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/8252702/Rare-bird-gets-zoo-treatment