MOLLYMAWKS, THE SMALLER ALBATROSSES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 378, 20 September 1946, Page 18

MOLLYMAWKS, THE SMALLER ALBATROSSES

| Written for "The Listener" |

By

J. H.

SORENSEN

| HOSE who travel any distance by sea are more or less | familiar with the mollymawks. Usually these small albatrosses are called mollyhawks and, indeed, so general has this name become that one might fairly be accustd of being pedantic in insisting on the retention of their correct title. The name mollymawk requires some explanation. According to an authority, it is corruption of an English word. corrupted from a German word, corrupted in turn from the Dutch! It was originally a name for the Arctic fulmar, whose fast flight reminded the early Dutch whalers of mallemugge (pronounced molla-murger), the tiny midges that whirl around a lamp. To-day mollymawk is applied by mariners of nearly all nations to the smaller albatrosses of the southern oceans. In view of the peculiar history of the derivation of the name it is perhaps. excusable that so many people now call them mollyhawks.

Largest in numbers (although smallest in size) of the albatross family, the mollymawks belong to probably nine different species, the majority of which are found in southern oceans. They differ from their larger relatives, the Wandering and Royal albatrosses, in that the dark colouration of the wings is continuous across the back. In the larger or true albatrosses the white of the head and neck is continued unbroken to the tail. Four species are common and breed on our sub-antafctic islands. Buller’s mollymawk breeds on the Snares, the Shy mollymawk on the Auckland Islands, and the Black-browed and the Grey-headed mollymawks on the Campbells. The latter two associate in the same colonies; sometimes one species is dominant in numbers, sometimes the other. The Campbells Colonies On Campbell Island, only the northern coast is used by breeding birds. Almost the whole of Courjolles Peninsula at the north-western corner of the island is occupied in the season, and the effect, from a distance, is as if one were looking at a gigantic carpet of daisies draped over the cliffs. And at a-distance one’s view has to be, for a deep Ushaped gap/on a knife-edged ridge prevents access to the colonies. Fortunately there are other . accessible breeding areas and, as no birds of a different species have been noted near the. island, ‘| presumably the Courjolles birds are the same kinds as those one can visit. My first visit to a mollymawk colony was in the month of October, when thousands upon thousands of these birds had arrived from the sea and begun to occupy the territory they had abandoned some four months previously. The rowdy courtship of birds pairing off, the activities of birds already mated and building their nests, the constant arrival of new members from the sea and departure: of others in search of food made a memorable sight. I watched and wondered at the industry of the birds and raarvelled at ‘the instinct that brought them back over hundreds of

miles of trackless ocean to this particular spot. "Like a gigantic poultry-farm gone mad!" said my companion, breaking the spell, and for want of a better description it must suffice; it was certainly hard to hear oneself speak. As for the birds, they took little notice of human intruders. Time was obviously a serious matter to them; there seemed so much to do and so little time in which to do it. At the northern end of the Campbells, ledges and terraces have been gradually eroded on the steep cliffs. These are fully utilised by hundreds of thousands of mollymawks, and the cliffs, starred with the white breasts of sitting birds, are a wonderful sight from the sea. Intensive Settlement The queer -mud and straw nests, shaped like huge cheeses, are situated about four feet apart-just enough room is left for incoming birds to walk to their own homes without being pecked by the occupants of others. With such intensive settlement the ground becomes heavily fertilised and supports a lush growth of several species of plants. In the late spring, the brilliant green carpet of, plants, studded with dark brown nests and occupied by thousands of snowy-plumaged, black-winged birds, is one of the sights of the subantarctic. The nesting birds, and thousands more wheeling in flight, contrasted with the sombre cliffs and the almost unnatural blue of the vast ocean hundreds of feet, below, never failed to impress all on the Campbells: who made the long trip from the camp to Courjolles. The construction of the nest is done by the building bird gathering mud and straw and trowelling it on with the side of the huge beak. Usually the nests are constructed on earthy ground where plenty of mud and grass is available; (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) but a few unconventional birds build their nests on the tops of huge boulders. The transport of many pounds weight of sloppy mud and grass is quite an achievement, but, once constructed, the nest and its proud occupant are away from the "madding crowd" and seem to. look down disdainfully on the crowded slum-dwellers below. * Breeding in such immense numbers as they do, the ‘mollymawks naturally suffer heavy casualties. Woe betide any parent a little careless in the guarding of any egg or young chick, for the everwatchful and rapacious skua gulls would instantly seize them. Over-zealous or clumsy parents trample some young chicks; some eggs are infertile and a few chicks are too weak to break ‘out of the egg. There are many casualties in the breeding year, and it only takes a failure in the normal food supply to bring death from staivation © to "Ghousands of chicks. Amenable Dispositions Clothed in soft light grey down, with tiny black beaks and bright brown eyes, the mollymawk chicks were admired and loved by all who saw them. Like their parents, they were entirely without fear of mankind and, if one took a little time and gained their confidence, could be handled with ease for weighing and measuring. ‘The adults have a large and powerful beak which, if used in defence, would lay open a finger to thg bone. But they rarely showed any tendency to use the beak for offensive purposes. All one had to.do was to sit still near a nest and the bird, although wary and watchful at first, soon settled down and would even submit to the indignity of having oe

its head scratched by the human intruder. If not suddenly startled the mollyhawks soon went about their every‘day business in a completely natural, manner, and I was able to obtain hundreds of feet of movie and many excellent -still pictures by using a little patience. Even chicks being fed were photographed at a distance of only two feet! As in most large colonies of birds, there was so much going on at the one. time that one found it difficult to concentrate on individuals. Although. so tolerant of human beings entering their breeding area, the mollymawks were ‘Most intolerant of other members of their own species. Any bird not using discretion in walking to its own nest along the. ill-defined tracks was harassed by the other sitting birds. The latter seemed to take a keen delight in reaching out to nip at any part of the walking bird they could reach. Nor was it any use the indignant recipient retaliating, for any attempt to do so only exposed it to attack from another quarter. It paid to keep to the "straight and narrow" path.