MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Albatross colony observed in Southern Chile

Research by Chilean scientists revealed the presence of black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses in Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of Chile.

Investigation by the Cuarternario Fuego Institute (Ceque), and the Institute of Chilean Antarctic Research (Inach) revealed the southern end of the country, only a few hundreds kilometers south of Punta Arenas, has become a breeding ground for the huge gliders of the sky.

In 2003, Ceque biologist Jorge Acevedo first located seven albatross chicks in the area. He detected nine young birds two years later, and recently he has observed 16 birds.

Albatrosses are legendary in the world of naval and aerial exploration. Early adventurers of the southern hemisphere in the 1800s often noted them flying over open water for days on end.

Over the last two years, researchers at the British Antarctic Survey reported for the first time conclusive evidence that albatrosses regularly circumnavigate the globe. For a round-the-world trip, the birds can take as little as 46 days.

Chile's colonies may help scientists study the birds. In 2004, at their breeding colonies in South Georgia, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean near Chile's tip, British researchers tagged 47 young gray-headed albatrosses with instruments that log daylight levels. When 35 returned 18 months later, the team downloaded data from 22 of the instruments and read the pattern of daylight lengths.

Twelve birds flew east, all the way around the world. Three flew around the globe twice. Typical journeys involved flights of as much as 600 miles in day.

There are 21 different kinds of albatross, 19 of which (including the type found in southern Chile) are threatened with extinction. An estimated 300,000 albatrosses die every year on the baited hooks used by long-line fishermen. The Great Wandering Albatross, which lives for as many as 80 years and grows an incredible 12-foot wingspan, has seen its population drop into the thousands. The Santiago Times - News about Chile