Albatross back with bells on

Opoho School pupils were among many across Dunedin to ring a bell at 1pm yesterday to mark the start of the Toroa royal albatross breeding season at Taiaroa Head.

Otago Peninsula Trust and Royal Albatross Centre ecotourism manager Hoani Langsbury said last year "people around the planet were ringing bells; even Notre Dame rang its bell last year".

He told RNZ the bells marked the chicks leaving and the return of the breeders from the previous season, adding that the birds needed to take a year off and they usually travelled to the Humboldt Current off South America and regain the weight lost flying around the world.

The first returnee this year was YRK, who returned last Tuesday.

She is a former Royal Cam parent who raised Atawhai in 2020 and Lilibet in 2022.