Reviving an endangered albatross

Shigeo Kida / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

To bring the short-tailed albatross back from the brink of extinction, a breeding project is underway on an uninhabited island.

The project was launched two years ago on Mukojima island, one of the Ogasawara Islands.

Once, it is said, there were millions of the short-tailed albatross, the largest seabird of the Pacific. But the number has fallen drastically to only about 2,700 due to overhunting since the Meiji era (1868-1912). The bird was sought after for its feathers, which were used in bedding.

The seabird, which breeds only on Torishima, one of the Izu Islands, and the Senkaku Islands, has a wingspan of about two meters. It walks in a staggering manner on land and is easily caught, causing people in Japan to name it ahodori, or stupid bird.

Currently, about 500 to 1,000 short-tailed albatross fly to Torishima island each year to breed at a large colony on a steep sandy slope, named Tsubamezaki.

"A major landslide could occur at any time and devastate the bird," warns Kiyoaki Ozaki, deputy director general of Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, who is working to save the endangered fowl.

In attempts to help, the Environment Ministry planted Japanese silver grass to prevent landslides and tried to coax the birds to move their colony to a more gently sloping grass field. However, as the island is volcanic, these measures will be for naught if any eruptions occur.

In 2008, the ministry moved 10 albatross chicks to Mukojima island, about 370 kilometers away, and raised them artificially over three months from February to May. The project aims to turn the island into a breeding site by making use of the birds' habit of returning to their native island.

The first group of birds successfully left the island and are being tracked by attached transmitters, which show the birds have traveled to near the Aleutian Islands.

Last year, a second batch of 15 birds left the island and reached areas near the west coast of North America, the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. Each bird bore an identification mark, allowing a group of observers in the United States to report seeing one bird trying to catch fish off San Francisco in October.

The ministry intends to have a total of 70 birds leave from Mukojima island by 2012.

This spring, there was news of success.

In 2007, the Yamashina institute and other organizations transferred nine black-footed albatross chicks, which have similar habits to short-tailed albatross, to Mukojima island from nearby Nakodojima island. The researchers raised them and allowed them to leave the island to test the effectiveness of the project.

This year, three of the group returned to Mukojima during March and April.

It is said that both short-tailed albatross and black-footed albatross return to their native island from the age of 3.

Ozaki said: "A male and female black-footed albatross that came back [to Mukojima island] faced each other and moved their necks up and down. That's a sign of courtship. We've been really anxious about whether they'd mate after being artificially raised and returned to the wild. This is a big step forward."

By the end of May, 15 short-tailed albatross chicks had left their nests on Mukojima. The first batch that left in 2008 may return this autumn at the earliest.

Although the birds usually do not reproduce until the age of 5, the researchers' effort to make a paradise for the short-tailed albatross has already passed its first test.