Hello Birding-Aus people,
Mick and Steve Roderick, members of the Hunter Bird Observers Club,conduct pelagic birding trips from Port Stephens, NSW.
On the trip on October 22 a Wandering Albatross was photographed about 50km south east of Port Stephens. It was a banded bird and, serendipitously, the number on the band was readable in the photo.
The photo was forwarded to the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme in Canberra. They passed it on to the groups that band Albatrosses.
The French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (= our CSIRO) had banded this bird at the Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean in 1975. The bird, a female, was then at least six years old, i.e. had fully adult plumage. This makes the bird, J26, now to be at least 42 years old.
The Wandering Albatross with its three metre wingspan is a magnificent animal at any time. To have survived the fishing hooks and other hazards of the Southern Ocean for at least 42 years is something to marvel at.
Cheers,
Jim Smart East Maitland
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