wandering albatross britannica

{{ searchResult.title }}

Wandering Albatross

Diomedea exulans

Known for its majestic wingspan and far-ranging travels, the Wandering Albatross is a captivating presence in the Southern Ocean's expanse. As the bird with the widest wingspan globally, this remarkable creature glides effortlessly across vast oceanic distances, its brilliant white plumage and solitary habits making it a unique symbol of the wild, open sea.

On this page

Appearance and Identification

Vocalization and sounds, behavior and social structure, distribution and habitat, lifespan and life cycle, conservation status, similar birds.

Males and females have similar plumage

Primary Color

Primary color (juvenile), secondary colors.

Black, Grey

Secondary Colors (female)

Secondary colors (juvenile).

White, Grey

Secondary Colors (seasonal)

Wing color (juvenile).

Large, Hooked

Beak Color (juvenile)

Leg color (juvenile), distinctive markings.

Black wings, white tail, large pink beak

Distinctive Markings (juvenile)

Darker than adults, brown beak

Tail Description

White with black edges

Tail Description (juvenile)

Brown with white edges

Size Metrics

107cm to 135cm

250cm to 350cm

6.72kg to 12kg

Click on an image below to see the full-size version

Pair of Wandering Albatrosses

Juvenile Wandering Albatross

Wandering Albatross resting on the sea

Wandering Albatross in-flight over the ocean

Wandering Albatross at nest with downy chick

Primary Calls

Series of grunts and whistles

Call Description

Most vocal on breeding grounds, otherwise silent

Alarm Calls

Loud, harsh squawks

Daily Activities

Active during day, rests on water surface at night

Social Habits

Solitary at sea, social on breeding grounds

Territorial Behavior

Defends nest site during breeding season

Migratory Patterns

Non-migratory but wanders widely at sea

Interaction with Other Species

Occasionally forms loose flocks at sea

Primary Diet

Fish, Squid

Feeding Habits

Surface seizes and scavenges

Feeding Times

Day and night

Prey Capture Method

Plunge-diving, surface-seizing

Diet Variations

May eat carrion

Special Dietary Needs (if any)

Nesting location.

On ground on isolated islands

Nest Construction

Mound of mud and vegetation

Breeding Season

Every other year

Number of clutches (per breeding season)

Once every two years

Egg Appearance

White, oval

Clutch Characteristics

Incubation period.

Around 80 days

Fledgling Period

Approximately 9 months

Parental Care

Both parents incubate and feed chick

Geographic Range

Circumpolar in Southern Ocean

Habitat Description

Open ocean, breeds on remote islands

Elevation Range

Migration patterns, climate zones.

Polar, Temperate

Distribution Map

Please note, this range and distribution map is a high-level overview, and doesn't break down into specific regions and areas of the countries.

Non-breeding

Lifespan range (years)

Average lifespan, maturity age.

7-10 year(s)

Breeding Age

Reproductive behavior.

Monogamous, long-term pair bonds

Age-Related Changes

Younger birds are darker, gain white plumage with age

Current Status

Vulnerable (IUCN Red List)

Major Threats

Longline fishing, plastic ingestion, climate change

Conservation Efforts

Protected under international law, conservation programs on breeding islands

Population Trend

Slow but steady population decrease due to threats

Royal Albatross

Diomedea epomophora

Classification

Other names:

Snowy Albatross, White-winged Albatross

Population size:

Population trend:

Conservation status:

IUCN Red List

Get the best of Birdfact

Brighten up your inbox with our exclusive newsletter , enjoyed by thousands of people from around the world.

Your information will be used in accordance with Birdfact's privacy policy . You may opt out at any time.

© 2024 - Birdfact. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced without our written permission.

Smithsonian Ocean

Wandering albatross.

A wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any bird, 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) tip to wing tip.

• Make Way for Whales
• Sharks & Rays
• Invertebrates
• Plants & Algae
• Coral Reefs
• Coasts & Shallow Water
• Census of Marine Life
• Tides & Currents
• Waves, Storms & Tsunamis
• The Seafloor
• Temperature & Chemistry
• Ancient Seas
• Extinctions
• The Anthropocene
• Habitat Destruction
• Invasive Species
• Acidification
• Climate Change
• Gulf Oil Spill
• Solutions & Success Stories
• Get Involved
• Books, Film & The Arts
• Exploration
• History & Cultures
• At The Museum

Search Smithsonian Ocean

Albatross: Lifetime at Sea

When hearing the word  albatross , some might think of a really good round of golf (three under par). Like scoring an albatross in golf, sighting a long-lived master of flight in the Albatross family is a special treat. Chances are you haven’t seen one in person, but to put a name to this special type of seabird opens the door to their world.

Masters of Efficient Flight

There are 22 species of albatross that share the gift of efficient long-distance gliding flight. They are famously recognized by their lengthy wingspans with the Wandering Albatross holding the record at nearly 12 feet. These remarkable wingspans are vital for a lifetime at sea. With the help of air currents and temperature changes, these wings are able to provide enormous amounts of lift; albatross can spend hours in flight without rest or a single flap. Their flying abilities allow albatross to journey thousands of miles across open oceans.

Many people view their elders and put some thought into what those eyes have seen over a lifetime; what experiences that person has had, or wisdom and knowledge they’ve picked up through the years. These same thoughts could be applied when looking into the eyes of an albatross. Albatross can live decades and spend most of their long lives at sea. When an albatross encounters a fishing vessel or is counted on the breeding grounds, these birds may be decades older than the people studying these magnificent gliders. It could be safe to assume that an adult albatross knows their way around the seas better than the career fisherman or woman they are following.

Throughout history, humans have shared the seas with these seabirds. Many sailors recognize that albatross will follow their vessels, looking for an easy meal. Interactions, intentional or accidental, have resulted in the near-extinction of some species of albatross. Conservation efforts have been put in place by multi-nation partnerships, which have contributed to success in rising numbers of albatross seen in the Pacific Ocean.

Albatrosses in Alaska

Alaska is within the range of Short-tailed, Laysan and Black-footed Albatross which are commonly seen at-sea. These birds take to land to breed on ocean islands, including the world’s largest albatross colony on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge .

Short-tailed Albatrosses

This endangered species breeds primarily on two remote islands in the western Pacific with the majority (~85%) breeding on Torishima, Japan (an active volcano in the Izu Island Group, northwest of Taiwan). From 2008 to 2012 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Japanese partners at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology worked together to establish a third breeding colony by translocating chicks from Torishima to a historic breeding location on the island of Mukojima. Recently, short-tailed albatrosses have also successfully bred on Midway Atoll.

Short-tailed Albatrosses generally head toward their feeding grounds around April and May, but have been known to make the long journey into Alaskan waters just to feed and return to their nest. They have been seen feeding along shelf breaks in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, along the Aleutian Islands, and southeast Alaska. They also occur along the Pacific coasts of Canada and the United States including waters along Washington, Oregon, and California.

Short-tailed Albatross follow fishing vessels and are sometimes hooked or entangled in longline fishing gear and drowned. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been working with the commercial fishing industry, Washington Sea Grant, and National Marine Fisheries Service to minimize take of this endangered seabird. Through this collaborative conservation effort, a type of seabird avoidance technology called “streamerlines” was developed to reduce the bycatch of albatrosses.

Streamerlines create a visual barrier that keeps seabirds away from the baited hooks. In Alaska, streamerlines deployed on fishing vessels has led to a major reduction in the bycatch of albatrosses. Fishermen who have used streamerlines to ward off seabirds say there is also a financial benefit: the streamer lines keep seabirds from swiping their bait, saving them money in the long run.

From near extinction at the turn of the 20th century, to being listed as endangered throughout its range in 2000, the population of short-tailed albatross continues to grow with a current estimate of 7,365 individuals and a population growth rate of 8.9%. This is something to celebrate.

Black-footed Albatross

Unlike the Short-Tailed Albatross, the Black-footed Albatross is not currently listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Black-Footed Albatross are only found in the Pacific Ocean with breeding populations located on the Hawaiian and Japanese islands. Breeding occurs from late fall to mid-summer and involves a colorful display of head bobs, wing flaps, and foot stomps. If you have not witnessed a Black-Footed Albatross mating dance, that should be your next internet search as it is a sight to see. Black-footed Albatross, like other albatross species, are thought to mate for life but will find a new mate if their partner disappears or passes away.

After breeding these seabirds can be seen in the North Pacific where they feed on fish, squid, and crustaceans. Like other albatross species, these birds can also be seen tailing ships for easy meals and have sometimes become victims to accidental entanglement into fishing equipment at sea. They too have benefited from Short-tailed Albatross conservation efforts via reduced accidental bycatch.

Laysan Albatross

One of the easier identifiable albatross seen in the seas surrounding Alaska is the Layson Albatross. These seabirds are generally smaller in size when compared to other albatross sharing its range, but is most noticeably different by its white belly and head that is often referred to as “gull-like”. Add in a gray-brown wings with white undersides and a dark tail and you’ve got yourself a Laysan Albatross.

Laysan Albatross are more commonly seen out at sea away from North American shores. 97.7% of the population call the northwestern Hawaiian Islands home during the breeding season (late fall to mid-summer) before moving north through the Pacific eventually making their way to Alaskan fishing regions. For those of you traveling through the southwest, don’t be too surprised to see one of these seabirds overhead, they’ve been known to wander inland during their migration north.

These seabird’s have a diet consisting of squid, fish, crustaceans and flying fish eggs. They primarily feed at night. In regards to fishing bycatch, this could be beneficial or negative depending on fishing operation times and the effectiveness and use of mitigating equipment such as streamers at night. Like other albatross, Laysan Albatross sometimes fall victim to fishing equipment such as baited lines and driftnets. They have also benefited from conservation efforts to reduce seabird bycatch during fishing operations. Fishing bycatch, however, is not the only issue that Laysans and other sea life must face, plastics and debris scattered through the world’s oceans are also part of this seabird’s diet, which in many cases can prove to be fatal.

A note on plastic pollution:  Be Part of the Solution

Like many birds, albatross can fall victim to plastic pollution that makes its way to sea. Because they feed along the surface on squid, krill, fish eggs and other items, albatrosses often accidentally swallow floating plastic. This becomes a problem when their stomach becomes impacted and full of plastic resulting in lack of nutrition from natural prey. On the breeding grounds, baby albatrosses suffer from a diet of this plastic trash brought in by their parents from the ocean. Parents feed their chicks by regurgitating what they’ve found out at sea. It’s estimated that adult albatrosses unwittingly bring back thousands of pounds of marine debris back to places like Midway atoll every year. Dead chicks that have starved due to plastic ingestion can be found on the breeding grounds and are testament to this global problem.One way you can make a small difference is picking up plastic trash before it makes its way into rivers and eventually to sea.

You can help albatross and all seabirds by recycling as much or your plastic as possible, saying ‘no’ to single use plastic, using a re-usable water bottle, bringing re-usable bags to the grocery store. We can all do our part to help make the oceans safe for all birds and ensure that the graceful flight of the albatross can be witnessed by generations to come.

In Alaska we are shared stewards of world renowned natural resources and our nation’s last true wild places. Our hope is that each generation has the opportunity to live with, live from, discover and enjoy the wildness of this awe-inspiring land and the people who love and depend on it. Compiled by Kristopher Pacheco, Alaska Digital Media Assistant for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with Katrina Liebich and staff from Migratory Birds Management and Ecological Services. For this article and others, follow us on Medium .

Recreational Activities

Related stories.

Latest Stories

You are exiting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website

You are being directed to

We do not guarantee that the websites we link to comply with Section 508 (Accessibility Requirements) of the Rehabilitation Act. Links also do not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Woods Hole, Mass. — Wandering albatrosses, which are an iconic sight in the Southern Ocean, are highly adapted to long-distance soaring flight. Their wingspan of up to 11 feet is the largest known of any living bird, and yet wandering albatrosses fly while hardly flapping their wings. Instead, they depend on dynamic soaring—which exploits wind shear near the ocean surface to gain energy—in addition to updrafts and turbulence.

Now researchers, including Philip Richardson , a senior scientist emeritus in Physical Oceanography Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), are unlocking more clues about exactly how wandering albatrosses are such amazing flyers.

In a new paper analyzing GPS tracks of wandering albatrosses, researchers have found that the birds’ airspeed increases with wind speed up to a maximum airspeed of 20 meters per second (m/s; 45 mph). Researchers developed a model of dynamic soaring, which predicts that the birds could fly much faster than 20 m/s. The paper concludes that the birds limit their airspeed by adjusting the turns in their trajectories to be around 60°, and that in low winds the birds exploit updrafts over waves to supplement dynamic soaring.

“We hypothesize that wandering albatrosses limit their maximum across-wind airspeeds to ~ 20 m/s in higher wind speeds (and greater wind turbulence), probably to keep the aerodynamic force on their wings during dynamic soaring well below the mechanically-tolerable limits of wing strength,” according to the paper, “Observations and Models of Across-wind Flight Speed of the Wandering Albatross,” published in the journal Royal Society Open Science .

The paper adds that, given the complex field of wind waves and swell waves often present in the Southern Ocean, “it is also possible that birds find it increasingly difficult to coordinate dynamic soaring maneuvers at faster speeds.”

Regarding low flight speeds by albatrosses, the paper notes that a theoretical model predicted that the minimum wind speed necessary to support dynamic soaring is greater than 3 m/s. “Despite this, tracked albatrosses were observed in flight at wind speeds as low as 2 m/s. We hypothesize at these very low wind speeds, wandering albatrosses fly by obtaining additional energy from updrafts over water waves,” according to the paper.

“We tried to figure out how these birds are using the winds to go long distances—without overstressing their wings—for foraging for food and returning to feed their chicks. To do that, we modeled dynamic soaring and what different turn angles would do to stress on the birds’ wings and speed over the water,” said journal paper co-author Richardson. A dynamic soaring trajectory is an s-shaped maneuver consisting of a series of connected turns, he noted.

“This research is a step in the direction of understanding how wandering albatrosses are able to do these foraging trips and maintain a fairly large population. These birds figured out an amazing way to use the wind to almost effortlessly soar for thousands of miles over the ocean. We wanted to find out exactly how they did it,” he said.

In addition to learning more about albatrosses, the study could have broader implications for helping researchers better understand how to use dynamic soaring to power potential albatross-type gliders to observe ocean conditions, Richardson added.

Trajectories of breeding wandering albatrosses nesting on South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. These birds are highly adapted to long-distance soaring flight assisted by a wingspan of up to 11 feet--the largest known of any living bird. They use the winds to soar thousands of miles seeking food to bring back to nourish their chicks. (Map by Natalie Renier, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

For the study, researchers used GPS to track 46 wandering albatrosses during foraging trips the birds made between February to September 2004. The birds were breeding on Bird Island, which is off the northwest tip of South Georgia in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Wandering albatrosses lack sufficient musculature to sustain continuous flapping flight for long periods of time; however they have a shoulder lock that mechanically holds their wings outstretched so that little energy is expended while soaring, according to the paper.

Since the earliest days of scientific inquiry, the way that many birds are able soar—that is, fly without flapping their wings—has fascinated and perplexed observers, said paper co-author Ewan D. Wakefield , affiliate researcher at the University of Glasgow and postdoctoral research associate at the University of Durham, UK.  Wandering albatrosses are particularly remarkable for their ability to soar over the surface of the sea for long periods, covering vast distances, Wakefield said. He added that the physical principles explaining dynamic soaring flight were established over a century ago: Basically, albatrosses swoop up and down between layers of fast and slow moving air near the surface of the sea, gaining airspeed each time they do so.

“However, as our study shows, real-world albatross flight differs considerably from the predictions of simple physical models,” Wakefield said. “On the one hand, our GPS-tracking data show that they can and do fly in lighter winds than dynamic soaring models say should be possible. We suspect that this is because they can also fly by surfing updrafts created by the large waves that constantly surge around their Southern Ocean home. On the other hand, the upper limit of albatrosses' airspeed that we measured is much slower than physics predicts. We think that this is because albatrosses need to keep the forces on their wings within tolerable limits. After all, they're made from bone and muscle, not aluminum and titanium. Our study therefore points to ways in which theoretical models need to be refined to capture more faithfully the amazing complexity and beauty of albatross flight.”

Richardson recalled being entranced by wandering albatrosses ever since he observed them during a 1997 oceanographic cruise in the South Atlantic Ocean. “We were steaming upwind at 15 knots, pounding into waves, and these albatrosses caught up to us from astern and were cruising around and having a grand old time,” Richardson said. “I sat there for hours watching these birds in amazement, and wondering how they could fly like that. Now we are learning more about how they do it.”

Funding for this research was provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution emeritus fund and the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

Authors: Philip L. Richardson 1 and Ewan D. Wakefield 2

Affiliations:

1 Department of Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA

2 Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

About Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate an understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. WHOI’s pioneering discoveries stem from an ideal combination of science and engineering—one that has made it one of the most trusted and technically advanced leaders in basic and applied ocean research and exploration anywhere. WHOI is known for its multidisciplinary approach, superior ship operations, and unparalleled deep-sea robotics capabilities. We play a leading role in ocean observation and operate the most extensive suite of data-gathering platforms in the world. Top scientists, engineers, and students collaborate on more than 800 concurrent projects worldwide—both above and below the waves—pushing the boundaries of knowledge and possibility. For more information, please visit www.whoi.edu

Key takeaways:

• By analyzing GPS tracks of wandering albatrosses, researchers have found that the birds’ airspeed increases with wind speed up to a maximum of 20 meters per second (45 miles per hour).
• Researchers developed a model of dynamic soaring, which predicts that the birds could fly much faster than 20 meters per second (m/s). However, researchers hypothesize that the birds limit their maximum across-wind airspeeds to about 20 m/s in higher wind speeds (and greater wind turbulence), probably to keep the aerodynamic force on their wings during dynamic soaring well below the mechanically-tolerable limits of wing strength.
• The paper concludes that the birds limit airspeed by adjusting the turns in their trajectories to be around 60° and that in low winds the birds exploit updrafts over waves to supplement dynamic soaring.
• Although a theoretical model predicted that the minimum wind speed necessary to support dynamic soaring is greater than 3 meters per second (m/s), GPS-tracked albatrosses were observed in flight at wind speeds as low as 2 m/s. Researchers hypothesize at these very low wind speeds, wandering albatrosses fly by obtaining additional energy from updrafts over water waves.
• The study points to ways in which theoretical models need to be refined to capture more faithfully the amazing complexity and beauty of albatross flight.

Albatrosses: Facts about the biggest flying birds

The biggest flying bird in the world can go for years without touching land, has complicated, comical mating dances that take years to learn, and might even help scientists track down illegal fishing vessels.

Albatrosses are big, majestic birds that can be found soaring above most of the world’s oceans.

These frequent fliers are known for spending months in the air without touching down, as well as having some unique mating arrangements. However, thanks to harmful fishing techniques and predation by invasive species, albatrosses around the world are either under threat or endangered.

There are 23 species of albatrosses, though arguably the most famous is the wandering albatross ( Diomedea exulans ), which is the largest flying bird in the world. This bird has a 11-foot (3.4 meter) wingspan, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica — even bigger than the famous California condor — and it uses those massive flappers to travel thousands of miles in a single journey.

Related:   Your dumb party balloons are killing all the seabirds

A life in the air

But rather than flapping its wings, wandering albatrosses (and many other large albatrosses) travel such far distances by holding their extended wings in place so that the air rushing around the wings generates lift, similar to an airplane's wings. An airplane forces air over its wings with an engine, whereas albatross take advantage of the extremely windy latitudes in the southern oceans. 

This latitude range is "called the 'roaring 40s' and 'furious 50s' for a reason," said Andrea Angel, the Albatross Task Force manager with Birdlife South Africa, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bird conservation. With near constant wind in their environment, albatrosses are able to "lock their elbow joints and literally just fix their wings [in place] and just glide," Angel said. The birds also use something called "dynamic soaring," which involves changing the angle of their wings relative to the wind, to maximize the lift generated — a similar technique could help unmanned research aircraft stay aloft for months, the Independent reported .

Related: A hot blob in the Pacific Ocean caused 1 million seabirds to die

An albatross can go a year or more without setting foot on land, Angel said, although the birds do touch down in water in order to feed on the squid and fish that make up their diet. In fact, it's the tiny alpine swift, not the albatross, that holds the record for non-stop distance flying, as reported in a 2013 study published in the journal Nature Communications . 

As for sleep, Angel said that it's very likely that albatrosses sleep on the wing. A 2016 study published in Nature Communications described how a distant cousin of the albatross, the frigatebird, has many, seconds-long periods of sleep while flying, suggesting that sleeping in the air is definitely possible for other long-distance traveling seabirds. And, based on microchip-tracked movements of albatrosses, "they can [fly] for hours on end, and so it is theorized that they do sleep on the wing," Angel said. "It's an accepted fact [that] because of their movements, they have to sleep."

All albatrosses are very long-lived. The oldest wild bird in the world is a Laysan albatross ( Phoebastria immutabilis ) named Wisdom, who was tagged in 1956 at the Laysan albatross colony at Midway Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean when she was already a mature adult. That makes her at least 66 years old, but she's likely older, and she's still going strong — as of 2018 she was still raising chicks, NPR reported . According to Breck Tyler, a lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz and retired research scientist who studied the Laysan albatross colony on Midway Atoll for decades, there are other Laysan albatrosses just a few years younger than Wisdom, so "she's probably not an outlier."

Related: World's oldest wild breeding bird is expecting her 41st chick

Although they're seabirds, albatrosses are generally poor divers, with few exceptions. The wandering albatross can only dive about 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 1 m) into the ocean, yet based on an analysis of its diet, scientists are pretty sure the wandering albatross eats squid that live deeper in the water, and are too big for an albatross to convincingly take down. It's possible the large bird just waits until a squid swims up to the surface, but a more convincing hypothesis is that the birds are actually eating squid bits that have been vomited up by whales, as described in a 1994 study published in the journal Antarctic Science . 

After a meal of whale upchuck, an albatross might wash that down with some refreshing seawater. All seabirds have a gland above their eyes that functions like a miniature kidney, allowing them to drink salt water and excrete it through the tip of their beak, according to the Travis Audubon Society .

Albatrosses mate for life, but aren't exclusive

Because albatrosses mate for life, picking the right partner is a major decision. All species of albatross have some sort of complicated mating dance. For the Laysan albatross, the dance has 24 separate, complex steps, and it takes years for males to learn them all, Tyler said. And until the young males can master the choreography, they won't find a mate, he said. The females can afford to be picky, so if a male's sequence of honks, whistles, wiggles and neck thrusts doesn't impress her, she'll just move on to the next suitor. 

But once a pair does form, the "divorce rate" of albatrosses is among the lowest in the animal kingdom, and because albatrosses are so long-lived, these pairs can persist for decades. For this reason, it's been posited that albatrosses are the "most romantic" bird. But that human characterization ignores some key facts about albatrosses, Tyler said.

An albatross mating pair only sees each other a few days a year, when they meet at their breeding grounds. After a few days of catching up, the pair takes turns incubating the egg; one stays behind while the other forages for food. After about 90 days, and when the chick is big enough, the mating pair go their separate ways for the rest of the year, according to the Cornell Lab’s All About Birds .

Related: Adorable photos of baby shorebirds

Although they mate for life, albatross pairs aren't exclusive. Casual sex between non-paired birds, and even forced copulation, is not uncommon, the New York Times reported in 2010 . A 2006 study published in the journal IBIS found that out of 75 wandering albatross couples, about eight had chicks that weren't fathered by their mother's primary mate.

And in many albatross species, female-female pairs are quite common (so far, male-male pairs haven't been reported), as Live Science has previously reported . Those females rely on "cheating" paired males or unpaired males to fertilize their eggs, and then the two females raise a clutch of two eggs together, without a male's involvement, the Times reported. Laysan albatross males and females look virtually identical, so unless you were specifically looking for evidence of same-sex pairs, you'd likely miss them, the Times said — and it's likely that many other species of birds, especially if there aren't enough males to go around, form similar pair bonds, Tyler said.

Threats to albatrosses

All but one species of albatross are either threatened, endangered or likely to become so, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature . The biggest threats are invasive species at the birds' nesting grounds, and fishing vessels, which unintentionally snare birds when they're pursuing tuna and other commercial fish, Angel said.

Many of the world's albatrosses nest on islands that were once used as whaling vessel stopovers, Angel explained. With the human ships came cats and rats and mice. Gough Island in the South Atlantic, for example, is one of the most important seabird colonies, home to 24 different species of birds and multiple types of albatross. But the colony is gruesomely preyed upon by invasive mice that have evolved to be a much larger than normal size without the presence of predators, Hakai magazine reported . 

Perhaps because they have no other predators that would attack them this way, Albatross have not evolved a way to defend themselves against a mouse attack, and so some of the adults sit motionless, letting "the mice nibble on their flesh while they steadfastly incubate their egg." On a number of important bird islands, conservationists are launching aggressive mouse-eradication programs to attempt to save the remaining birds, National Geographic reported .

Related: In photos: Mice brutally attack and devour albatross on Gough Island

At sea, albatrosses face a different threat: fishing vessels. Albatrosses are pretty good at detecting fishing vessels — so good that researchers think the birds, outfitted with tiny radar detectors, could be used to find boats operating illegally, The New York Times reported. 

Large fishing vessels have onboard processing facilities where fish heads and tails and guts are removed and dumped back into the sea, which attracts all sorts of seabirds. "It is a seabird spectacle," Angel said. But as the trawler is dumping fish guts, it's simultaneously dropping the giant fishing net back into the ocean for the next catch. Seabirds, including albatrosses, get entangled in the net cables and dragged under water, then drown. And longline fishing boats, in which a 30-mile-long (48 kilometer) floating fishing line is set with hundreds of baited hooks, also attract seabirds which see the enticing meal from the surface, but get caught on the hooks and drown. 

BirdLife South Africa has reduced albatross deaths in the local trawl fishery by 99% by simply encouraging boats to use bird-scaring streamers and shifting the time that the boats dump out the fish waste to after the net is set. But worldwide there's still much more work to be done when it comes to encouraging commercial fishers to practice more seabird-friendly fishing techniques.

Additional resources:

• Learn more about the relationship between birds and humans on Midway Atoll with this feature from American Bird Conservancy
• Watch a Laysan albatross perform its complicated (and comical) mating dance .
• View not-quite-live-cam shots of albatrosses on Bird Island near the Antarctic Circle on BirdLife International’s Facebook page .

Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now

Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.

Rachel is a writer and editor based in Washington, D.C., who covers a range of topics for Live Science, from animals and global warming to technology and human behavior. Rachel also contributes to National Geographic News, Smithsonian Magazine and Scientific American, and she is currently a senior editor at Next City, a national urban affairs magazine. She has an English degree with a journalism concentration from Adelphi University in New York.

32 of the most colorful birds on Earth

East Africa's Lake Nakuru almost doubled in size in 13 years — and that's bad news for flamingos

Sun launches strongest solar flare of current cycle in monster X8.7-class eruption

Most Popular

• 2 Earth may have had freshwater and continents soon after forming, ancient crystals reveal
• 3 China creates its largest ever quantum computing chip — and it could be key to building the nation's own 'quantum cloud'
• 4 MIT gives AI the power to 'reason like humans' by creating hybrid architecture
• 5 Strange, red-glowing planet may be 'melting from within,' scientists report
• 2 China creates its largest ever quantum computing chip — and it could be key to building the nation's own 'quantum cloud'
• 3 Atoms squished closer together than ever before, revealing seemingly impossible quantum effects
• 4 'Quantum-inspired' laser computing is more effective than both supercomputing and quantum computing, startup claims

Albatrosses are threatened with extinction – and climate change could put their nesting sites at risk

Postdoctoral research fellow, Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Pretoria

Disclosure statement

Mia Momberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Pretoria provides funding as a partner of The Conversation AFRICA.

View all partners

The wandering albatross ( Diomedea exulans ) is the world’s largest flying bird , with a wingspan reaching an incredible 3.5 metres. These birds are oceanic nomads: they spend most of their 60 years of life at sea and only come to land to breed approximately every two years once they have reached sexual maturity.

Their playground is the vast Southern Ocean – the region between the latitude of 60 degrees south and the continent of Antarctica – and the scattered islands within this ocean where they make their nests.

Marion Island and Prince Edward Island , about 2,300km south of South Africa, are some of the only land masses for thousands of kilometres in the Southern Ocean.

Together, these two islands support about half of the entire world’s wandering albatross breeding population, estimated at around 20,000 mature individuals . Every year scientists from South African universities survey Marion Island to locate and record each wandering albatross nest.

The species, listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature , faces huge risks while in the open ocean, in particular due to bycatch from longline fishing trawlers. This makes it important to understand their breeding ecology to ensure that the population remains stable.

I was part of a study during 2021 to investigate which environmental variables affect the birds’ choice of nest site on Marion Island. The birds make their nests – a mound of soil and vegetation – on the ground. We looked at wind characteristics, vegetation and geological characteristics at nest locations from three breeding seasons.

Elevation turned out to be the most important variable – the albatrosses preferred a low (warmer) site and coastal vegetation. But these preferences also point to dangers for the birds from climate change. The greatest risk to the availability of nesting sites will be a much smaller suitable nesting range in future than at present. This could be devastating to the population.

Variables influencing nest site selection

Marion Island is of volcanic origin and has a rough terrain. Some areas are covered in sharp rock and others are boggy, with very wet vegetation. There is rain and strong wind on most days. Conducting research here requires walking long distances in all weathers – but the island is ideal for studying climate change, because the Southern Ocean is experiencing some of the largest global changes in climate and it is relatively undisturbed by humans.

Using GPS coordinate nest data from the entire breeding population on Marion Island, we aimed to determine which factors affected where the birds breed. With more than 1,900 nests, and 10,000 randomly generated points where nests are not present, we extracted:

elevation (which on this island is also a proxy for temperature)

terrain ruggedness

distance to the coast

vegetation type

wind turbulence

underlying geology.

The variables were ranked according to their influence on the statistical model predicting the likelihood of a nest being present under the conditions found at a certain point.

The most important variable was elevation. The majority of the nests were found close to the coast, where the elevation is lower. These areas are warmer, which means that the chicks would be less exposed to very cold temperatures on their open nests.

The probability of nests being present also declined with distance from the coast, probably because there are more suitable habitats closer to the coast.

Vegetation type was strongly determined by elevation and distance from the coast. This was an important factor, as the birds use vegetation to build their nests. In addition, dead vegetation contributes to the soil formation on the island, which is also used in nest construction.

The probability of encountering nests is lower as the terrain ruggedness increases since these birds need a runway of flat space to use for take-off and landing. During incubation, the adults take turns to remain on the nest. Later they will leave the chick on its own for up to 10 days at a time. They continue to feed the chick for up to 300 days.

Areas with intermediate wind speeds were those most likely to have a nest. At least some wind is needed for flight, but too much wind may cause chicks to blow off the nests or become too cold.

Delicate balance

Changing climates may upset this delicate balance. Human-driven changes will have impacts on temperature, rainfall and wind speeds, which in turn affect vegetation and other species distribution patterns .

By 2003, Marion Island’s temperature had increased by 1.2°C compared to 50 years before. Precipitation had decreased by 25% and cloud cover also decreased, leading to an increase in sunshine hours . The permanent snowline which was present in the 1950s no longer exists . These changes have continued in the 20 years since their initial documentation, and are likely to continue.

Strong vegetation shifts were already documented in the sub-Antarctic years ago. Over 40 years, many species have shifted their ranges to higher elevations where the temperatures remain cooler. Wind speeds have also already increased in the Southern Ocean and are predicted to continue doing so, which may have effects on the size of areas suitable for nesting.

If nesting sites move to higher elevations on Marion Island as temperatures warm, and some areas become unsuitable due to changes in vegetation or wind speeds, it is likely that the suitable nesting area on the island will shrink considerably.

Our study adds to what is known about the elements affecting nest-site selection in birds. Notably, we add knowledge of wind, an underexplored element, influencing nest-site selection in a large oceanic bird. The results could also provide insights that apply to other surface-nesting seabirds.

• Climate change
• Southern ocean
• Natural world

Program Manager, Scholarly Development (Research)

Lecturer / Senior Lecturer - Marketing

Assistant Editor - 1 year cadetship

Executive Dean, Faculty of Health

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Earth System Science (School of Science)

The Wandering Albatross and Global Warming

The giant oceanic birds are producing more and plumper chicks, at least for now

Weather changes not just from season to season, but also from year to year. Where I live in Minnesota, we had only a few days of frost before the year’s end, and January, normally the coldest month of the year, was relatively balmy. But in another year we might have days on end of sub-zero weather during the winter. It is hard for a person to detect climate change at this scale, even though global temperature measurements clearly show that the planet has warmed.

But every now and then something comes along that demonstrates a longer term trend that we can see and measure more directly. For instance, the USDA recently released a new version of its “ Plant Hardiness Zone Map .” If you are a gardener in the United States, you probably already know about this map; its zones are used to determine what kinds of plants can be grown outdoors in your area, the estimated dates of the last killing frost in the spring and the first killing frost in the fall. This is at least the second time in my memory that this map has been redrawn with all the zones moved to the north, reflecting a warming planet in a way that every gardener can observe and understand.

Not all global climate changes are simple warming, however. Global warming causes changes in ocean and atmospheric circulation as well. Westerly winds in the southern Pacific Ocean have shifted south towards the pole and have become more intense. A recent study in Science shows that the foraging patterns of breeding Wandering Albatross ( Diomedea exulans ) on the Crozet Islands has been changed by global warming in a way that seems to benefit them now, but that will likely harm them in the future.

Albatross are members of the bird order Procellariiformes, also known as the “tubenoses” because of the tube-like “nostrils” on their beaks. There are about 170 species of this kind of bird, including the petrels, shearwaters, storm petrels, diving petrels, and albatrosses. It is commonly said that the ocean is the last great frontier on earth, and this is probably true. It should not come as a surprise, then, that the Procellariiformes are among the “last great frontiers” of birding and bird research. Since the tubenoses spend almost all of their time at sea, they are hard to study. They come to land only to breed, and even then, usually on remote islands. They are so committed to being in the air over the ocean or floating on the surface of the sea that most members of this order are unable to walk at all. One group of tubenoses has the capacity to shoot a stream of noxious liquid (from its gut) at potential predators, which is an interesting adaptation to being unable to stand up and peck at intruders attempting to eat one’s egg or chick. (See this post for more information on tubenoses and a review of an excellent recent book on the tubenoses of North America.)

For all these reasons, foraging during nesting is a stress point in the life history of albatross. The birds forage by soaring around over the ocean, using wind as their main form of propulsion, literally sniffing out food sources (they have excellent smelling abilities). Therefore, the pattern of oceanic winds should matter a lot to their survival, especially during breeding season.

Which brings us back to changes in wind patterns due to global warming. The study by Henri Weimerskirch, Maite Louzao, Sophie de Grissac and Karine Delord is destined to become a classic because it touches on a sequence of logically connected observations to tell a compelling story. For my part, I’m going to use this in a classroom to demonstrate interesting science at my next opportunity. Let’s go over it step by step.

Albatross breeding is clearly difficult, and failure is likely common. One indicator of this is the fact that wandering albatross lay only one egg per season. Most coastal and terrestrial birds lay more than one, and in many species the number they lay varies from year to year depending on conditions. If wandering albatross lay only one egg, ever, there is a sort of underlying biological expectation of a low success rate.

For most birds, size matters. Within the normal range for a species, individual birds grow larger when conditions are good, and those birds do better in periods of difficulty because a large body stores more reserves and provides for more effective competition with other birds. A bird can grow large and bring lots of food back to the nest only if foraging is good, and the amount of food a bird obtains in a day is a combination of time (how long one forages) and the amount of food available in the environment.

The amount of food an albatross can obtain depends in part on the total area of the ocean that is searched each day, which in turn depends on how fast the bird flies. Since the albatross soars on the wind most of the time, this means that everything depends on factors such as the speed and direction of the wind. The study we are looking at today combines all of these things in an elegant exposé of the link between climate and the difficult job of producing baby albatrosses.

The wandering albatross travel enormous distances from their breeding grounds, often going more than 1,000 miles before returning to the nest to relieve their mate from guard duty. Males forage more widely and more to the south than females, who prefer northern waters. During this time, the birds use the wind as their primary form of locomotion. The researchers have shown that the winds in this region have increased in strength by a measurable amount, owing to shifts related to global warming. The average wind speed has gone up by about 10 percent from the 1990s to the present day. This allows the birds to move from foraging area to foraging area more swiftly than otherwise possible.

The total amount of time it takes both male and female albatross to complete a full journey of a given distance has decreased by between 20 percent and 40 percent from the 1990s to the present, and the speed at which the birds are observed to fly has gone up about the same for females, though the observed speed increase for males is not statistically significant. This is direct evidence that the amount of time spent foraging is less under present conditions than it was in the recent past, and it can be inferred that this is caused by the correlated increases in wind speed.

During the same period of time, the birds have gotten bigger. In 1990 the average female was about 7,500 grams and by 2010 females were about 8,500 grams. Males increased by about the same percentage, going from the mid-9,000 range to about 10,500 grams. These differences in mass are not reflected in the overall dimensions of the bird, just their weight. This indicates that during periods when the birds are on average smaller, many are underfed.

Breeding success for albatross varies considerably. The chance of successfully launching a baby albatross from the nest for the 350 pairs studied ranges from about 50 percent to just over 80 percent depending on the year (I’m leaving out one really bad year when the success rate was only 25 percent). During the past 40 years, over which it is thought the wind patterns have changed as described above, the “moving average” of breeding success (taking a few years together into account to dampen natural variation) has changed from about 65 percent to about 75 percent. These birds indeed seem to be benefiting from changes in wind pattern caused by global warming.

Most changes in weather, patterns of wind and rain and other effects of global warming are negative, as any review of the literature on this topic over the past decade will show. The benefits being experienced by these birds is unusual. But it may also be temporary. The researchers who produced this result say that the shift of winds towards the poles that brought higher energy patterns to these islands is likely to continue. As wind speeds increase, the benefit the birds will receive will at first level off then start to decrease, as overly windy conditions are bad for the albatross. The shift of westerly winds to the south of the islands will probably decrease the viability of foraging over the next few decades because it will make it easier for the birds to get to places with lower quality forage and thus decrease the rate of obtaining food. So, if the current changes in wind patterns are a gravy train for the Crozet Island wandering albatross, the train may eventually leave the station without them.

Weimerskirch, H., Louzao, M., de Grissac, S., & Delord, K. (2012). Changes in Wind Pattern Alter Albatross Distribution and Life-History Traits Science, 335 (6065), 211-214 DOI: 10.1126/science.1210270

Get the latest Science stories in your inbox.

Greg Laden | | READ MORE

Greg Laden is a freelance science writer.