Royal Albatross 2021

[Ondine]

We have a new chick although dad is still sitting on it.

 

Rangers checked the egg 3 days ago and found that the baby was starting to peck a hole in the shell.  They took the egg to the laboratory (gave dad a fake egg to sit on) and waited for it to hatch, which it did yesterday.  All to do with hatching being a very dangerous time with mites and other things to go wrong.

 

Last night they took the baby back to LGK and replaced the fake egg and so now we just have to wait to get a glimpse of the new arrival.  Mum LGL is away feeding so she is in for a surprise when she returns.

 

 

[By The Bay]

Thanks for the post. Looking forward to the webcam images.

[MicCanberra]

Yes, great stuff.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Just clicked on and caught the rangers getting a pic

 

[MicCanberra]

Cheers David.

[boeckli]

This was just before the picture that David posted - chick has been weighed and checked by the rangers and is about to be returned to mum (who returned and relieved dad during last night)

 

[windsor26]

very trusting parents

[Ondine]

Mum/Dad feeding chick today.

[boeckli]

Being returned to mum after weigh-in this morning

[By The Bay]

I am amazed that the parents allow the rangers to handle their chick and don't abandon the chick after they have touch them. I suppose having been handled themselves when young might have them use to human contact.🤔

[Blackduck59]

How cool is this. I knew Albatross' were large but had no idea until I saw them with humans beside them for reference. I am so happy that there is ongoing work to help the species carry on and glad to see that the rangers have established a relationship with the birds.

[Ondine]

If anyone wonders why we watch this it is because the colony is located on South Head as you enter/exit the entrance to Port Chalmers (Dunedin) and in the summer (in the olden days pre covid) you  see the cruise ships passing.  The captains usually tell you to watch out as you sail past.  You can do shore trips there also.

[mr walker]

42 minutes ago, Ondine said:

If anyone wonders why we watch this it is because the colony is located on South Head as you enter/exit the entrance to Port Chalmers (Dunedin) and in the summer (in the olden days pre covid) you  see the cruise ships passing.  The captains usually tell you to watch out as you sail past.  You can do shore trips there also.

On our cruise in Jan 2019 we did a wonderful tour in Dunedin with Russ Caradus of Tourworks NZ, in which we visited Taiaora Head where the Royal Albatross Colony is. We actually got to see an Albatross flying quite nearby, which he said you don't always see as they are off-shore a lot of the time.

These people at the Colony are doing a tremendous job, as are many others looking out for penguins etc throughout the South Island.

[MicCanberra]

A wonderful place to visit if you get the chance.

[boeckli]

Chick is growing fast

 

 

Interesting combination

 

[MMDown Under]

On 2/1/2021 at 1:46 PM, Ondine said:

If anyone wonders why we watch this it is because the colony is located on South Head as you enter/exit the entrance to Port Chalmers (Dunedin) and in the summer (in the olden days pre covid) you  see the cruise ships passing.  The captains usually tell you to watch out as you sail past.  You can do shore trips there also.

After learning about the albatross on South Head from cruise critic, I took my big binoculars on my cruise, so I could see them sitting on their nests, as we cruised past.  As I love albatross, this was a memorable experience.  Wonderful now to be able to watch the progress of the baby albatross.  

[Docker123]

When I took QE from Fremantle to Melbourne, I kept trying to photograph albatross from my balcony. Mostly to far away for quality, but bird friends were excited by a wandering albatross.  Strange friends.

 

 

A couple of mornings later, I was up in the gym, and a couple of them were gliding in the slipstream from the superstructure. Huge birds, but no camera.

 

I do enjoy this website.

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by Docker123

[Ondine]

Just waiting to see a big white ship instead of the red one but even better to be on a big white ship.

 

Yes the chick is growing fast and seems to be quite cheeky when it gets out from under dad or mum.  I don't know how it survives being under the parent all day especially when the parent wriggles and wriggles to get  comfortable.

 

There is a red line on the bottom of the live video and you can slide it along to see all of the day's filming.  So if the parents feed the chick in the morning you can go back and see it or anything else.  Just in case anyone doesn't know this line exists.  Took me a while to wake up to it.

[Docker123]

Quoted from website: DNA analysis has confirmed that the chick and her nearby chick neighbours are female. This season there are 17 females and 15 males – with 1 unknown (TBC).

She is 44 days old & weighed a healthy 3.5 kg today.
 

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Face-planting albatross in New Zealand shoots to global fame:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/dunedin/300248825/faceplanting-albatross-in-new-zealand-shoots-to-global-fame

[Blackduck59]

1 hour ago, Kiwi_cruiser said:

Face-planting albatross in New Zealand shoots to global fame:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/dunedin/300248825/faceplanting-albatross-in-new-zealand-shoots-to-global-fame

 

You can't help but laugh. Are they kind of clumsy on land?

[Ondine]

2 hours ago, Kiwi_cruiser said:

Face-planting albatross in New Zealand shoots to global fame:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/dunedin/300248825/faceplanting-albatross-in-new-zealand-shoots-to-global-fame

 

Gosh that made me laugh.  So funny poor thing.  

 

I have been watching LGL lately trying to sit on her chick who is now rather large.  She has trouble but is determined to keep mothering her chick.  She is very broody.

[MicCanberra]

Wonderful stuff, the embarrassed but walk it off attitude was even more hilarious after the face plant.

[lyndarra]

Anyone following the Eagle cam on Sunrise?

[MicCanberra]

I have seen the footage of when the eagle landed in 1969.