KEY POINTS:
It may be number 500 but it has a linkage back to the very first birds. The 500th albatross chick hatched at Taiaroa Head near Dunedin was officially named yesterday by Minister of Conservation Chris Carter.
The chick was named Toroa, the Maori word for albatross.
The Northern Royal Albatross colony had its beginnings in 1937 when Lance Richdale camped out beside a nest at Taiaroa Head to protect birds and eggs. Previously they were being killed by predators and people.
Among the four birds at the colony at the time was the bird to be known as Grandma.
Grandma had 15 chicks, with the last being a male known as Button in 1989.
Grandma left the colony that same year, aged at least 60, never to be seen again.
Button, so named by former Wildlife Service ranger Shirley Webb, as he was a "dear wee button" when born, grew up and then returned in the late 1990s to start breeding.
Toroa was his fourth chick and Button was sitting on the chick yesterday as the mother was out at sea looking for food. The mother has had six chicks.
The birds are not usually given names, going instead by the colours of the bands on their legs.
The sex of Toroa, which was born in late January, is not yet known.
Mr Carter said yesterday the colony was something special.
The management tools used at the albatross colony, especially hand-rearing chicks, are used on sea birds species worldwide.
"The colony very possibly represents the longest-running study of a known population of any animal species anywhere, with the exception of humans," Mr Carter said.
Minister for the Environment David Benson-Pope was also in attendance.
There have been 746 eggs laid since 1937 at the colony and 366 birds have successfully fledged.
The colony has had a great past season with 23 chicks hatching, the second-highest on record. More than 50 non-breeding birds have returned to the colony this season, which is a record.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
