Up, Up, And Away: Royal Albatross Chick Atawhai Fledges! | DOC | Cornell Lab – Sept. 16, 2020

Atawhai, the Northern Royal Albatross chick has fledged!

After weeks of flapping on the ground, holding her wings out facing the wind, and getting in some much-needed hovering practice, the recently named RoyalCam star Atawhai has gained enough strength to take-off from the headland and leave her nest on September 16. Watch the chick hover on the day before fledge in this clip form the RoyalCam.

At 230 days old, she'll now fly and navigate the ocean as she leaves Pukekura/Taiaroa Head to feed off the edge of the continental shelf on the east coast of the South Island, before taking the long 5600 mile (9000 km) journey to one of the richest areas of marine life in the world, the continental shelf of the western side of South America.

This is not a goodbye but a very long 'mā te wā (Maori for see-ya-later), as we'll hopefully see Atawhai return to the colony in 4–10 years, when she might be the parent of one of our future RoyalCam stars.

RoyalCam was set up in January 2016 by the Department of Conservation. For the 2019/2020 season we have collaborated with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. To learn more while watching, view the cam at

https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native...

or at

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/ro...

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Royal Cam is a 24-hour live stream of a Northern Royal Albatross nest during the breeding season at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head on the southeast tip of New Zealand's South Island.

The season of 2019/2020 has seen the Royal Cam once again move up the hill. Now at Top Flat Track our new pair is OGK (banded Orange, Green, Black) a 21 year old male and YRK (banded Yellow, Red, Black) and 25 year old female. YRK laid the egg on 14 November 2019.

This season the live stream has partnered with Cornell Bird Lab. There are some new features including a trial of night vision and the ability to pan and zoom the camera at the rangers discretion.

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