Bonnell Cove (84323)

Albatross Dispersal from Kure Atoll - 2008

A project of Albatross Conservation Collaborative.

click map for full-size version Movements of a Black-footed Albatross equipped with a satellite-linked transmitter programmed to operate on a 60-second repetition rate continuously. Only good quality locations (classes 1, 2, 3, 0) are shown as connected filled circles, with the color indicating the timing of the location. Poor quality locations (classes A and B) are shown as black dots.

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Species: Black-footed Albatross
Life Stage: Sub-adult (Plumage 2)
Gender: Unknown
Release Date: 2008-05-26 12:05:25
Release Location: Kure Atoll, NWHI
Last Location: 2008-07-31 20:59:42

Background

This albatross is an age class 2 bird, without the white rump characteristic of sub-adults (1 - 4 yrs), and weighed 2600 grams. In fact, because this individual was banded in the past (band number 1307-94542), we will find out the actual age from the database managed by the Bird Banding Laboratory. This bird fed a large and healthy chick on May 26 at the West Beach Dump sub-colony, before being tagged.

This bird was tracked for 66 days, well beyond the anticipated 55-day battery life-span. The sensor data transmitted by the tag revealed that the voltage dropped precipitously during the last few days of transmissions, suggesting that the two AA batteries were exhausted.