Royal albatross chick dies after ingesting regurgitated plastic
A toroa/northern royal albatross returned to its colony after foraging for food at sea, but that included regurgitating soft plastic into its chick, which has died.
The death of the 10-day-old chick was the first of its kind at the Pukekura/Taiaroa Head colony, near Dunedin.
“Rangers had feared something like this could happen after other incidents involving plastic rubbish in recent years,” Department of Conservation coastal Otago biodiversity ranger Sharyn Broni said.
“The parent will have picked up the plastic while foraging at sea and then regurgitated it for the chick, which unfortunately has blocked the digestive system.”
“This heartbreaking incident is a reminder it’s vital to dispose of plastic rubbish carefully. People can also help by picking up litter they see on beaches, near waterways, or out on the ocean.
“Every piece you pick up could save a seabird’s life.”
It comes after a 9cm-long plastic pony toy, which had been regurgitated by a parent, was found in a chick’s nest in May 2021.
“DOC staff found plastic in almost all the toroa chick regurgitations checked last season. The most common plastics seen were bottle caps, however, items like a plastic syringe were also found,” Broni said.
Dunedin Wildlife Hospital director Lisa Argilla said “The soft but very tough plastic was discovered at necropsy and had caused an obstruction in the gastrointestinal tract which ultimately led to starvation and organ failure”.
“We echo the call from DOC to please dispose of plastic carefully, even better would be to try to limit how much plastic you use and therefore reduce waste.”
Otago Peninsula Trust Ecotourism manager Hoani Langsbury says the Royal Albatross Centre, located next to the breeding colony at Pukekura, has been single-use-plastic free for five years
“Staff were shocked to learn that plastics caused the death of this chick.”
Toroa, one of the largest seabirds in the world, have a conservation status of “nationally vulnerable”. Their threats (other than plastic pollution) include the impacts of climate change on their habitat and food sources, and fishing bycatch. They return to land only to breed, and breed slowly – one chick every two years.
Pukekura/Taiaroa Head is the only mainland colony of northern royal albatross in the world, it features a round-the-clock livestream Royal Cam, which follows one toroa couple as they raise a chick from egg to fledging.
This season’s Royal Cam chick hatched on January 23.