Aerial counts of southern royal albatrosses at ... - DOC
Transcript of Aerial counts of southern royal albatrosses at ... - DOC
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Aerial counts of southern royal albatrosses
at Enderby Island ― January 2017.
Barry Baker, Rebecca French, Katrina Jensz &
Chris Muller
Latitude 42 Environmental Consultants
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background― accurate estimation of numbers critical for
determining conservation status of any animal
― aerial photography increasingly preferred as
census method of choice for surface nesting
seabirds, especially in remote locations (Wolfaardt & Phillips 2011)
― applied to a range of colonially nesting
albatrosses BBA, WCA, SA, GHA
― techniques still under development for loosely
colonial species
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background― 2012 & 2013 trials conducted on: Enderby Is –
Southern royal albatross
Disappointment Is – Gibson’s albatross
― 2 approaches adopted:― construction of landscape-style montage
‘scenic photo’ or ‘landscape’ approach
― use of transects to construct strip montages
‘transect photo’ approach
― 2015 & 2016 Adams Island preliminary work
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Scenic or landscape
photo approach
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Transect approach
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Photo-mapping• 2016 photo mapping technique developed for
Gibson’s albatross at Adams Island
• In particular,
- vertical mounted camera in waterproof pod
- transect precision with GPS guidance system
TracMap Flight Pro
- Nikon D800 DSLR, 36 mp, fitted with Garmin
GPS, GPS stamp stored in EXIF metadata
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―photo resolution fit for purpose,
―extensive transect overlap permitted high
resolution maps to be built
―birds easily detected on maps
―high correspondence between ground & aerial
counts
BUT
―costly to produce maps as extensive helicopter
charter necessary to ensure ground coverage &
transect overlap 7
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Photo analysis
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Project aims
― test the suitability of direct counts of
nesting southern royal albatross on
Enderby I.
―develop a rapid assessment & cost-
effective method for counting
Gibson’s albatross in the Auckland Islands
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SRA background―endemic NZ species
biennial breeder
―Campbell Island8,300 – 8,700 pairs Moore et al 2012
―Enderby Is, Auckland Islands60 pairs
―both populations severely reduced
during the farming era, now recovered 11
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methods
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―Enderby Island (50°30´S, 166°20´E)
small 710 ha, low lying, max elevation 45 m
― history of annual ground counts
― flew series of 8 transects spaced at 200 m running
West to East
― Direct count of birds seen within 200 m wide
transect
―
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methods― timing January 2014
―SRA mid incubation
―chicks from previous year fledged
― aerial platform Squirrel Helicopter― flight height 300 ft asl
― flight speed 40 knots
— data recorded―distance of bird from transect line
― angle from the line
―angle of inclination (to permit conversion of offset spatial data)
―potential use of distance sampling to estimate popn size
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ground counts
—ground search of Enderby Is. carried out
1 day after aerial count 22 January 2017
—search by 2 people walking 20 – 40 m apart
—most of island searched, dense rata excluded
—location of all nests mapped & GPS
—sample of nests inspected to determine breeding
status
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SRA results
―19 birds assessed on ground
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Aerial count Ground count
62 apparently occupied
sites
52 occupied sites
apparently
occupied
sites
loafer egg broken
egg
19 5 12 2
26%
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SRA results
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Adjusted Aerial count Ground count
46 nesting pairs 38 nesting pairs
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discussion• Use of transects and counts of 200 m wide
transects was effective in rapidly assessing
population size of royal albatrosses on Enderby Is.
• Ground counts were 16.1 % lower than ground
counts, but ground count may have under-
estimated birds present?
– only 2 observers used, survey time shorter than usual
2 days historically allocated to ground counting
• Technique permits rapid counting of great
albatrosses, & is cost-effective
• Use of GPS guidance system TracMap Flight Pro
recommended to improve transect precision 18
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Acknowledgements
Department of Conservation
Katie Clemens-Seely
Southern Lakes Helicopters
Mark Hayes
Blue Planet Marine
Simon Childerhouse, Sarah Michael,
Deepwater Group, MPI
Funding for charter of helicopter
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Thank you
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