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Field note

Albatross in 1956: Wisdom banded · 279

[278] [desk-albatross-4] In 1956, the field log for Albatross is headed “Wisdom banded.” The figure kept beside that heading is 3. It is a count or a date from the work, not a rank of the species’ worth. A zoo birthday card does not replace the log. RSPB, NatureScot, reintroductions and a dense NGO press shape how this atlas type is taught in British English.

Why are longlines the central threat? Baited hooks look like squid. One set can kill dozens of birds. Night setting, weighted lines and tori lines cut the kill when fleets actually use them. What did Coleridge actually do to the bird? The 1798 Rime made killing an albatross a moral crime. The poem outran the biology and still titles newspaper bycatch stories.

The northern royal albatross colony near Dunedin is a mainland breeding site with public hides — rare for a family that usually needs remote islands. Do mice really eat albatross chicks? On Gough and some other islands, introduced house mice attack chicks of albatrosses and petrels. Eradication attempts are now as central as hook rules.

The atoll is also the world’s largest Laysan albatross colony. Plastic and lead paint joined the WWII ruins as management files. How many albatross species are threatened? BirdLife assessments have long placed a majority of Diomedeidae in threatened categories — an unusual concentration for a small family.

Keep 1956, “Wisdom banded,” and 3 together or the note on Albatross stops being that year’s record.1956

Figures to keep

Year of the note
1956
Figure to keep
3
Species
Albatross
Line in the log
Wisdom banded

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