Northern Royal Albatross webcam, Taiaroa Head, New Zealand 2017

[AlisonL]

Since the Northern Royal Albatross breeds only every second year, a different pair will be the focus of the webcam this year. They are younger than last year's pair, and have raised a chick once before. They are identified by their band colors; the male is known as BK (B = blue and K = black), while his mate is known as RBK (for Red, Blue, Black).

Their egg hatched on January 28, while BK was on the nest and RBK was away at sea.

They are a beautiful pair, and very bonded. When RBK returned from the sea, she saw her chick for the first time.







The chicks are weighed and checked daily at this stage. They are vulnerable to fly strikes and other potential problems, particularly during the first week.

Head Ranger Lyndon Perriman checking the chick yesterday:



http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/albatrosses/royal-albatross-toroa/royal-cam/

[Carol P.]

A beautiful pair for sure! 

[AlisonL]

A beautiful pair for sure! 

Carol, I posted this in the wrong place. Sorry! I had intended to post it under "Other Nature Webcams". Could you please either delete or move it? Thank you.

[Carol P.]

A beautiful pair for sure! 

Carol, I posted this in the wrong place. Sorry! I had intended to post it under "Other Nature Webcams". Could you please either delete or move it? Thank you.

Done! 

[Kris G.]

They are a beautiful pair but sad news about the chick was posted yesterday..hopefully it will do well and can return to its parents.  From FB..

Department of Conservation Update
The web cam chick hatched on 28 January and was doing well. Yesterday we found that it was fly blown. We removed eggs/maggots from the chick and used antiseptic to clean the area.

Today the chick has dropped below its hatch weight. As a result we’ve removed the chick from the nest in to intensive care.

Meanwhile we have given the webcam pair a foster chick, so the chick you see currently in the nest is not their own. The foster chick was moved due to a problem it had at its own nest.

Fostering of chicks is a regular occurrence at the colony. The ability for staff to be able to do this and for albatross to accept other chicks increases survival of the chicks.

Staff at the colony generally try to give parents back their own chick before the post guard stage (when the chicks are around 6 weeks old) as the adult albatross won’t accept chicks that have been swapped after that stage.

We'll update you as often as we can but bear in mind this is the busiest time of year for our rangers at Taiaroa Head. Thanks for your patience.

[AlisonL]

A beautiful pair for sure! 

Carol, I posted this in the wrong place. Sorry! I had intended to post it under "Other Nature Webcams". Could you please either delete or move it? Thank you.

Done! 

Thank you so much, Carol!

[AlisonL]

From 11 hours ago:

Royalcam Chick update. The chick is still alive - we'll give you an update from the dedicated DOC Rangers in the morning. Lets hope it has a great night's recovery.

Hoping for better news today. I know that one chick which had hatched earlier did not survive due to an infection. Poor little one. At least 19 chicks have hatched so far.

Meantime RBK has been doing a good job of feeding her little foster chick.

[AlisonL]

The foster chick was checked and weighed this morning, and quickly returned to RBK.

[Kris G.]

The foster chick was checked and weighed this morning, and quickly returned to RBK.

I can't get over how calm these birds are when eggs/chicks are checked.

[AlisonL]

I have not seen an official report yet from the DOC Rangers, but there is good news about the little chick.

From an article in the February 1 edition of the Otago Daily Times:

Albatross chick on the mend

Dunedin's new Royal cam albatross chick is out of intensive care.

The newborn chick was moved to intensive care at the Taiaroa Head colony on Tuesday, after being found to be fly-blown and dropping below its hatch weight.

However, the chick had made it through the night and was now "perky, chirpy and hungry'' after extra feeding and antibiotics, Otago Peninsula Trust marketing manager Sophie Barker said this morning.

The chick was now out of intensive care and, for now, had been placed in a foster nest near the Department of Conservation rangers' office at the colony, she said.

News of the chick's arrival on Saturday was met with excitement after its predecessor, Moana, shot to internet stardom last year.

Moana was the first chick to feature on Doc's Royal cam, and coverage of her progress attracted more than 600,000 views until she fledged, and flew away, last September.

The Taiaroa Head colony's latest breeding season was going as expected, Ms Barker said.

The colony's 36 nests had produced 34 fertile eggs, but eight embryos had died, she said. Another egg had been crushed by one of the parent birds, who had ''feet as big as someone's hand'', Ms Barker said.

Of the 21 chicks to have hatched so far, 20 remained alive. One which hatched last week had died of an infection days later, she said. Another four eggs were still to hatch, she said.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/albatross-chick-mend

[AlisonL]

I can't get over how calm these birds are when eggs/chicks are checked.

The DOC staff are very gentle and caring with the birds, and as a result the birds are not stressed by their presence. In the later stages of incubation, when conditions were favorable for blowflies, they replaced each egg with a dummy egg during the day, placed the eggs in an incubator, and returned each egg in the evenings when the flies were not a problem.

Hoping to see confirmation of the good news about the little chick soon.

[Kris G.]

I can't get over how calm these birds are when eggs/chicks are checked.

The DOC staff are very gentle and caring with the birds, and as a result the birds are not stressed by their presence. In the later stages of incubation, when conditions were favorable for blowflies, they replaced each egg with a dummy egg during the day, placed the eggs in an incubator, and returned each egg in the evenings when the flies were not a problem.

Hoping to see confirmation of the good news about the little chick soon.

Yes, hopefully good news soon that the chick has been returned to its own nest. 

[AlisonL]

Confirmation from the Royal Albatross Centre, posted six minutes ago:

Great news from the dedicated DOC Rangers who've worked really long hours during hatching.

The Royalcam chick is doing well, it's had a few feeds, put on some weight, is on antibiotics and with a great foster parent in a nest where the Rangers can keep a close eye on it.

We just need some cooler weather to keep those nasty flies away...

In the videos Lyndon is putting some disinfectant on the foster parent's feet to clean up spilt squid, which attracts flies. The other video shows Lyndon putting peppermint essence around the nest to discourage flies.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers- we all appreciate them!

https://www.facebook.com/albatrosscentre/posts/1279624462132669

[MAK]

 

[Carol P.]

"perky, chirpy and hungry." Love it!