Sophie Barker was delighted when she found out the breeding colony on Otago Peninsula had reached the milestone.
"Oh my gosh! That’s super exciting news."
Ms Barker said she would find a flag donated to the Royal Albatross Centre during her time there as marketing manager to fly on the mayor’s flagpole.
"It’s one of the privileges [I have as mayor]."
The 1000th chick was a "great story of conservation success", she said.
"I think that it’s a huge significance because it shows how we can have success in conservation — and the amazing work that Doc [the Department of Conservation] do in partnership with the Otago Peninsula Trust and also the Pukekura Management Trust."
The colony had had some "rough years" in the past, but the recent breeding success had been exponential with a record 38 albatross chicks fledging last year, she said.
"It’s something incredibly special for our city when you think of how we sit there as an icon of wildlife throughout the world."
Ms Broni was the one to carefully place the chick, which was still breaking out of its shell, in an incubator moments after it hatched on Sunday.
She said she nearly missed the moment because it had been such a busy hatching season.
"I almost missed it because there was two others hatching ... and we had a very wet day yesterday [Sunday] so there was a lot going on."
The chick was named TF after the place it was born, Top Flat.
Ms Broni began working at the Royal Albatross Centre 28 years ago and was there in 2007 when the 500th chick hatched.
Since breeding began at the site in 1938, it had become increasingly successful as the world’s only mainland colony of the birds.
So far this season, 16 eggs had already hatched and another 26 were on the way.
"We fledge many more chicks here than can fledge in the wild on the Chatham Islands, where the rest of the population lives," Ms Broni said.
They grew to about 10kg in the seven and a-half months before they left the colony.
They flew for about 25,000km around the Southern Ocean before they returned to Taiaroa Head to breed.
Ms Broni said it was important the chicks were put into incubators after they hatched so they did not get attacked by flies and die.
Hoani Langsbury, the longtime ecotourism manager for the Otago Peninsula Trust, responsible for the Royal Albatross Centre, said achieving 1000 chicks was a significant milestone.
It reflected how well all species on the peninsula were doing.
He said tourism revenue in the area had directly contributed to the survival rate of the birds — 30,000-$40,000 went towards their conservation each year.
The money funded essentials like incubators and fish for supplementary feeding.
When breeding began at the site, under the watch of pioneering New Zealand ornithologist and conservationist, Dr Lance Richdale, two chicks hatched.
