Albatross | Facts & Information

The traveling albatross or howler Albatross (Diomedea exulans, Thalassarche melanophris), is a flying seabird, similar to The Seagull, but much larger than it, white in color, with long, narrow and black wings at the tip.

The traveling albatross is the most widespread member of the Diomedeans, and is one of the best known and most studied bird species in the world.

Albatross Food

They feed on small, crusty fish and animal remains floating on the water, sometimes eating so much that they become unable to fly, resting unaided on the water. They have a habit of chasing ships for scrap. They have the ability to dive in water at shallow depths.

Albatross Features

They are group birds and have a variety of recognisable signs from screaming and whistling to grunts and beak beats. When courting they open their wings, move their heads and clap their beak while making noises.

The traveling albatross has the largest wingspan of all extant birds, the wingspan is 251-350 cm. The specimen with the largest wing span measured 3.7 m.

Due to the large opening of the wings, the bird is able to stay in the air for several hours without flapping its wings.

The body length is 107-135 cm, females are slightly smaller than males. Plumage differs with age, juveniles having a chocolate color.

The older they get, the whiter the color of the plumage becomes. Adults have a white body with wings of white and black hue. Males have whiter plumage than females.

The traveling albatross is the whitest of the traveling albatross species complex, the other species having more brown and blue nunata on the wings and body, resembling immature traveling albatrosses. The beak has a shade of pink, as do the legs.

They have a lifespan of about 23 years.

Albatross Breeding

The traveling albatross, during mating retreat to islands in the antarctic Ocean and lay a single white egg with spots and is about 10 cm long.

They lay these eggs between December 10 and January 5 in their nest, which consists of a hollow built of vegetation and peat that has a width of about 1 meter and a depth of about half a meter.

Incubation lasts 11 weeks and both parents are involved. They are monogamous species, usually for life.

Adolescents do not start mating until they are 11-15 years old.

About 30% of juveniles survive. The traveling albatross breeds in the Crozet Islands, Kergeulen Islands, Prince Edward islands and Macquarie Islands.