Royal Albatross ~ WYL Gets A GPS Tracker! 💖 Egg Swap With Dummy Egg & Sharyn Mists WYL! 12.28.25

Ranger Sharyn will perform an egg swap -she takes WYL's fertile egg & swaps in a dummy egg while they put a GPS tracker on her. They remove the egg & keep in an incubator so it is warm & is protected against any accidental breakage.

Sharyn & helper then put a GPS tracker on WYL and Sharyn will return him to the nest. A few minutes later, Sharyn returns with a water mister and container containing WYL's fertile egg. She swaps out the dummy egg and puts his egg back underneath him to incubate. Sharyn then mists WYL with water as it is a warm day. This helps to keep the incubating parent comfortable for their long incubation shifts.

From Sharyn Broni: "Like last years Royalcam pair, WYL and BOK will receive GPS trackers, we will be able to follow their foraging journeys as they take turns to incubate the egg.

Forty-seven eggs were laid in total this season, 2 eggs have broken and 2 were infertile, the rest are viable so far. Loses are inevitable, our work maximises the number of chicks fledging but cannot prevent all negative outcomes.

Parents take turns incubating their large, single egg for the long incubation period until the chick hatches. Incubation stints can be quite short at the beginning and the end of the eggs incubation but often become quite long during the middle as they need to find enough food for themselves and the new chick to come.

If a parent is on the nest for 13 days, we remove the egg to the incubator room for safe keeping as there is a risk of desertion. The toroa are happy to incubate a dummy egg. Hydration and supplementary feeding can be provided to toroa who have been on the nest longer than 15 days.

In other GPS news the male who first rounded Cape Horn from the 2025 cohort is now heading across the Atlantic Ocean and has nearly reached South Africa! This juvenile spent over 3 weeks feeding off the northern coast of Argentina and the last 11 days travelling 7500km across the Atlantic Ocean." Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk

Please join the official facebook group Royal Cam Albatross Group New Zealand for up to date information on the albatross family and to share information on albatross conservation, photos and comments!   / 991026361293354  

Courtesy of Dept of Conservation Royal Cam, Royal Albatross Taiaroa Head, New Zealand https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/ro...

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