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Black-footed Albatross
Phoebastria nigripes
There are 13 species of albatross in the world
of which three occur in the North Pacific, nine in the
Southern Oceans, and one in the subequatorial waters of
western South America (Harrison 1983). The three species found
in the North Pacific are the Black-footed Albatross, Laysans
Albatross, and Short-tailed Albatross. The Southern Oceans
ancestry of the albatross is reflected today in the southern
hemisphere (October to April) breeding season of North Pacific
albatrosses. All albatrosses mature slowly and begin to breed
after many years but they live for many decades. They mate
for life generally and some reproduce every second year. All
albatrosses lay single egg clutches. Food is converted into an
oily energy rich liquid that can be transported over great
distances without deterioration. Key field marks for the
albatrosses are large size and soaring flight on motionless
wings. Calm winds in the Tropical Pacific effectively restrict
the southern and northern albatrosses from entering their
respective hemispheres.
The Black-footed Albatross is a dark-plumaged
albatross that resides in the north Pacific Ocean. It is the
most frequently seen albatross off North America. It nests in
winter and spring on remote islands in the Hawaiian
Archipelago and ranges across North Pacific between the Bering
Sea south to California and Taiwan (Whittow 1993). It is the
only albatross seen regularly off the coast of North America.
Black-footed Albatrosses eat mainly squid and eggs of
flying-fish using its well developed olfactory abilities to
locate food. It makes remarkable flights between the breeding
grounds in Hawaii and the North American continent to feed its
chick (Hyrenbach
et al. 2006). Worldwide there is an estimated 100,000
pairs and there is great concern among conservation
organizations that many are killed in fishing nets. Oldest
banded bird on record is 28 years (Harrison
1990). Whittow (1993) summarized the biology of the
Black-footed Albatross up to 1993.
References
Ainley, D. G.
and G. A. Sanger. 1979. Trophic relations of seabirds in the
northwestern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. Pp. 95-122 in J. C.
Bartonek and D. Nettleship (eds.). Conservation of marine
birds of northern North America. US Fish and Wildlife Report
No. 11. Washington DC.
Harrison, P.
1983. Seabirds: an identification guide. Houghton Mifflin, New
York.
Harrison, C. S.
1990. Seabirds of Hawaii. Comstock/Cornell, Ithaca, NY.
Hyrenbach, K. D., C. Keiper, S. G. Allen, D. G.
Ainley, D. J. Anderson.
2006. Use of marine sanctuaries by far-ranging
predators: commuting flights to the California Current System
by breeding Hawaiian albatrosses Fisheries Oceanography 15:
95–103.
McDermond D. K. and K. H. Morgan. 1993. Status
and conservation of North pacific albatrosses. Pp. 70- in K.
Vermeer, K. T. Briggs, K. H. Morgan and D. Siegel-Causey
(eds.). The status, ecology and conservation of marine birds
of the North pacific. Canadian Wildlife Service Special
Publication, Ottawa.
Rice, D. W. and K. W. Kenyon.
1962. Breeding distribution, history and populations of North
Pacific albatrosses. Auk 79: 365–386.
Rice, D. W., K. W. Kenyon.
1962. Breeding cycles and behavior of Laysan and Black-footed
albatrosses. Auk 79: 517–567.
Sievert, P. R. and L. Sileo.
1993. The effects of ingested plastic on growth and survival
of albatross chicks. In Proceedings of the symposium on the
status, ecology and conservation of the marine birds of the
temperate North Pacific (K. Vermeer and D. Siegel-Causey,
Eds.). Can. Wildl. Serv. Publ. Ottawa.
Whittow, G.
Causey. 1993. Black-footed Albatross (Diomedea nigripes). In
The Birds of North America, No. 65 (A. Poole and F. Gill,
Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences;
Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
Black-footed Albatross Distribution Map
Snapshot
December
to February:
On breeding colonies or in central Pacific
March to
May:
Near Hawaiian Islands and central Tropical North Pacific, peak
abundance off California
June to
August:
Rare near Hawaii, abundant off northern California, peak
abundance off Oregon,
Washington,
British Columbia, and Alaska
September
to November:
Peak abundance in Gulf of Alaska, declining in British
Columbia, increasing in central Tropical North Pacific.
The
Black-footed Albatross breeds in the
Hawaiian Islands and in Japan on
Toroshima Island, Bonin
Island, and the Senkaku Islands (Whittow 1993).
About 50,000 nest on Laysan Island,
Pearl and Hermes Reef, Midway
Atoll, French Frigate Shoals, and Lisianski and Kure islands (McDermond
and Morgan 1993). Small colonies occur on Kaula, Necker and
Nihoa islands. The species was extirpated from Wake and Marcus
islands, Torishima, Johnston Atoll, Taongi Atoll, Muko Jima
and Iwo Jima (Bonin islands). Torishima and
Muo Jima have been reconolnized and a small colony has begun
on Ryukyu Islands. The Japanese population total was about
1500 pairs in the 1980s (reviewed by McDermond and Morgan
1993). Prior to breeding, the albatross has been seen at sea
from the Hawaiian Islands north to Alaska and British
Columbia. After breeding, the birds move north and east into
the Gulf of Alaska and the
Bering Sea
where it is common in summer. It occurs off the coast of
California year-round. In Japan, the species is most common in
summer (Rice and Kenyon 1962).
Black-footed Albatross Breeding Behaviour
The
Black-footed Albatross nests on sandy areas generally close to
a beach. Birds first return to the nesting islands when they
are three years old but they do not begin to breed until they
are at least five years old. Before they first breed, young
albatross dance, build nests, and spend time with prospective
mates. Once mated, the pair bond remains intact until the
death or disappearance of a partner. Dancing involves
ritualized display postures performed in sequences.
Black-footed often keeps its wings slightly fanned while
displaying (Whittow 1993).
Breeding birds
return to Hawaii about the middle of October with males and
females arriving at about the same time. Nests are simple
scrapes in the sand where the egg is laid between 18 and 21
days after arrival of the female. The single creamy white,
brown speckled egg hatches after 65 days of incubation by both
parents between mid January and early February. Eggs average
108 mm long and 70 mm in breadth and weigh 304 grams at
laying. Prolonged incubation is a feature of albatross
reproduction reflecting the long periods spent at sea. Both
sexes incubate the egg but the female sits on the egg briefly
after laying. The male incubates has the longest incubation
span averaging 18 days while the female is away at sea
feeding. The duration of incubation spans diminish after the
first lengthy period. The longest recorded incubation bout was
39 days.
The newly
hatched young are confined to the nest, fed by the parents and
requires brooding. The eyes are open and the body is covered
with gray white-tipped down. The hatchlings weigh about 210
grams. By 75 days of age the young weigh about 3,200 grams.
The Black-footed Albatross feeds mostly over the continental
shelf where it eats fish, squid, jellyfish, shrimp, amphipods,
polychaetes, carrion, and offal (Ainley and Sanger 1979). The
amount of plastic inadvertently fed to the chicks by the
parents increases in the proventriculus as they age but it
does not seem to affect their growth (Sievert and Sileo 1993).
Chicks are fed by regurgitation stimulated by the chicks
nibbling at their parent’s bill. For the first two weeks after
hatching chicks are fed about every day after which it
increases to about every second or third day. Chicks
strengthen their wings by flapping and making short flights.
At about 140 to 150 days of care, or mid June to by third week
in July, fledglings leave the breeding islands.
Black-footed Albatross Science
The Tagging of
Pacific Pelagic (TOPP) research project jointly run by
Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Lab, the University of California,
Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Laboratory, NOAA’s Pacific Fisheries
Ecosystems Lab, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and team
members from several countries is tracking the movements of
several marine animals including the Black-footed Albatross.
More…
Black-footed Albatross Conservation
The IUCN listed
this species as
Endangered on the basis of a “projected future decline of
more than 60% over the next three generations (56 years),
taking account of present rates of incidental mortality in
longline fisheries in the north Pacific Ocean”.
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