Snowy albatross, White-winged albatross, Goonie
Described as "The bird which made the breeze to blow" the wingspan of a Wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) is the longest of any bird. It lives up to its name when it takes fishing trips that last 10-20 days and can cover 10,000 km while using hardly more energy than when sitting on its nest. Despite its large size, this bird is wonderfully adapted for soaring flight and is able to glide for hours before needing to flap its wings in order to regain height. A Wandering albatross spends all its time at sea, aside from when it is breeding, far from even any islands. It sleeps on the water’s surface, during the day gliding and flying, searching for food, which is abundant.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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CarnivoreA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of a...
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PiscivoresA piscivore is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. Piscivorous is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophagous. Fish were the die...
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MolluscivoreA molluscivore is a carnivorous animal that specializes in feeding on molluscs such as gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods, and cephalopods. Known mo...
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SemiaquaticSemiaquatic animals are those that are primarily or partly terrestrial but that spend a large amount of time swimming or otherwise occupied in wate...
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SeabirdSeabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, b...
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Pelagic birdsPelagic birds live on open seas and oceans rather than inland or around more restricted waters such as rivers and lakes. They feed on planktonic cr...
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AltricialAltricial animals are those species whose newly hatched or born young are relatively immobile. They lack hair or down, are not able to obtain food ...
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NomadicNomadic animals regularly move to and from the same areas within a well-defined range. Most animals travel in groups in search of better territorie...
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TerritorialA territory is a sociographical area that which an animal consistently defends against the conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against anima...
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CongregatoryCongregatory animals tend to gather in large numbers in specific areas as breeding colonies, for feeding, or for resting.
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OviparousOviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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Soaring birdsSoaring birds can maintain flight without wing flapping, using rising air currents. Many gliding birds are able to "lock" their extended wings by m...
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SeabirdSeabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, b...
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MonogamyMonogamy is a form of relationship in which both the male and the female has only one partner. This pair may cohabitate in an area or territory for...
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FlockingFlocking birds are those that tend to gather to forage or travel collectively. Avian flocks are typically associated with migration. Flocking also ...
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ColonialColonial animals live in large aggregations composed of two or more conspecific individuals in close association with or connected to, one another....
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MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
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starts withThe plumage of Wandering albatrosses varies with age, with the juveniles starting chocolate brown. As they age they become whiter. The adults have white bodies with black and white wings. Males have whiter wings than females with just the tips and trailing edges of the wings black. The Wandering albatross is the whitest of the wandering albatross species complex, the other species having a great deal more brown and black on the wings and body as breeding adults, very closely resembling immature wandering albatrosses. The large bill is pink, as are the feet. They also have a salt gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies, due to the high amount of ocean water that they imbibe. They excrete a high saline solution from their nose, which is a probable cause for the pink-yellow stain seen on some animals' necks.
Wandering albatrosses fly over the southern oceans and breed on islands just to the north of the Antarctic Circle, in particular, the UK’s South Georgia Island, South Africa’s Marion and Prince Edward Islands, Crozet, and the Kerguelen Islands in the French Southern Territories, and Australia’s Macquarie Island. These islands have peat soils, tussock grass, mosses, sedges, and shrubs. The birds nest in sheltered areas in valleys, or on plateaus, ridges, or plains.
Wandering albatrosses spend most of their life in flight, landing only to breed and feed. While foraging at sea in the daytime, these birds travel in small groups. Sometimes there are large feeding frenzies around fishing boats. An individual may fly thousands of kilometers from its breeding grounds, sometimes crossing the equator. In the breeding season, a Wandering albatross is gregarious and performs a range of displays. Vocalizations and displays are common when mating or defending territory and include croaks, bill-touching, bill-clapping, pointing to the sky, trumpeting, head-shaking, the “gawky look” and the "ecstatic" gesture. Individuals sometimes vocalize when they are fighting over food. These birds usually disperse over the Southern Ocean once the breeding season ends, and most of them probably travel east, perhaps in a circumpolar movement.
Wandering albatrosses are carnivores (piscivores and molluscivores), they mainly eat fish, including toothfish, squid, and other cephalopods, and the occasional crustacean.
Wandering albatrosses are monogamous and pairs mate for life. Courtship displays are the same as other species, with bill-circling, sky-pointing, mutual preening, and spreading wings. Both males and females perform some dances while raising their spread wings and calling. The pair will only defend a small territory around their nest. Fights may occur, but these are usually over food. Breeding is from December until March. This species breeds in loose colonies, and typically the nests are in scattered groups. Nests are a mound of mud and grass on the ground of the slopes, among the sparse vegetation. A single creamy-white egg is laid, and both parents take turns incubating for periods of 2-3 weeks over 78 days. The downy white chick is brooded for 4-5 weeks, being fed by regurgitation, and remaining in the nest for around 9 months. Once it fledges, it flies out to sea, returning to the colony after 5-6 years. It will not start breeding until it is 11-15 years old.
Wandering albatrosses are relatively well protected, due to both their remote location and certain laws. However, its numbers are still slowly declining. The most likely cause is longline fishing, as they become hooked and will drown, as well as the ingestion of plastics, which kills both chicks and adults. Once hunted for their feathers to decorate women’s hats, this practice has disappeared due to changes in fashion. On Kerguelen Island, feral cats have killed entire broods of chicks.
According to IUCN’s Red List, the current estimates for Wandering albatrosses in specific areas are: on South Georgia (Georgias del Sur), 1,553 pairs; on Prince Edward Island, 1,800 pairs; on Marion Island, 2,056 pairs; on Iles Crozet, 340 pairs; on Iles Kerguelen, 354 pairs; and on Macquarie Island, 4 pairs, a total of 6,107 breeding pairs, equating to about 20,100 mature individuals. Overall, currently, Wandering albatrosses are classified as Vulnerable (VU) and their numbers today are decreasing.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...