Black-browed albatross chicks on Steeple Jason Island.

Steeple Jason Island (owned by the Wildlife Conservation Society of new York) is the most westerly group of islands in the Falklands archipelago, and is of global importance as a breeding site for seabirds. The island hosts close on 30% of the world population of Black-browed Albatross and a minimum of six percent of the world population of Southern Rockhopper Penguins.

As part of the Falkland Islands Seabird Monitoring Programme, Falklands Conservation has been monitoring the seabirds breeding on Steeple Jason to provide for their protection and conservation management. This latest Report reviews monitoring results for the 2008/2009 field season. Visits were made from 5 - 18 of November 2008, 19 - 22 January 2009. Chicks at black-browed albatross colonies were counted between 17 - 20 of March 2009.

Although breeding success was generally not better than previous years, all seabird colonies appear to be thriving. Gentoo penguin colonies more than doubled in numbers, though the population is still substantially smaller than 2000. There was a noteworthy increase of 20% for rockhopper penguins and Magellanic nest occupancy rate increased from 15% to 34%. Black-browed Albatross breeding pairs, within the monitored colonies, increased to 3,432 from last year’s 3,170, representing an increase of 8%. Southern Giant Petrels numbers rose from 987 (2000), to a record high of 1,819 during this past season, almost doubling in numbers.

For further information and analysis of the latest monitoring work, visit:

Seabird Monitoring on Steeple Jason Island 2008/2009
(827kb PDF)

Download here