Albatross Nesting Grounds

For a birder like me, writing "Northern Royal Albatross" into my Life List Journal was an extremely satisfying moment.  These birds are now endangered due to changes in habitat and climate.  Many of their nesting grounds have been destroyed in storms.  Add this to slow reproductive rates and the poor bird doesn't have much of a chance for survival.  The rangers at Taiaroa Head on the South Island of New Zealand are doing everything they can to prevent extinction.  There are 25 pairs of this species of Albatross that nest here.  The rangers help to keep predators away from the eggs and fledglings, and in the summer there is a sprinkler system that is turned on to keep them from getting overheated.




The birds begin to arrive in September and start building their nests in November.  They lay one egg and one egg only about every other year.  The parents take turns with incubation duties and feedings once the chicks arrive in late January.  The little ones aren't fully fledged until the following September when they finally spread their wings and take off during a strong wind.

There is an observatory for viewing these birds at Taiaroa Head on the tip of the Otago Peninsula.  It is only a 45 minute drive from Dunedin.  Because this is the only albatross colony found on a human-inhabited mainland, Lonely Planet has listed this nesting ground in their "1000 Ultimate Sights."  We had the extreme luck to visit this place when the chicks were three months old.  We saw three chicks and two adults.

Their long, narrow wings can span 11 feet, making them  the largest seabirds in the world.  They do not flap these wings, but rather glide on air currents.  This is called "dynamic soaring" and requires less energy than sitting on a nest!  Because of this ability, they cover as much as 190,000 km a year.  They land on water to feed and to sleep, returning to land only to breed.  As you can see from the photographs, they are extremely graceful in the sky, but due to their massive size, take-offs and landings can be very comical.  We did not witness this, but nevertheless, were happy to get a chance to see them in flight.  I thank the staff at the Taiaroa Head Nature Reserve in New Zealand for their dedication and determination to save this spectacular bird.