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Black-Browed Albatross

Black-Browed Albatross

Thalassarche melanophris

Identify the Black-Browed Albatross by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Black-browed Albatross is the most widespread and common albatross, ranging around the Southern Ocean. It has a white head and body, a dark eyebrow, black upperwings, a black-bordered white underwing and a bright orange bill. Many populations have declined because of bycatch in longline and trawl fisheries. It is the albatross most likely to stray into the North Atlantic.

Did you know?

  • Individuals can live for more than 70 years.
  • It is the albatross most often seen in the North Atlantic.

About the species

Identification

A large albatross with a white head and body, black upperwings and back, a dark smudge through the eye and a heavy orange-yellow bill with a reddish tip. The underwing is white with a broad black border. Young birds have a dark bill and grey neck.

Family

Diomedeidae

Size

Very large (swan)

Colours

white, black, grey, yellow

About the habitat

Breeds on subantarctic islands on steep, tussocky slopes and cliffs or flat coastal grassland; at sea over continental shelf and shelf-break waters of the Southern Ocean.

Diet

Fish, squid and crustaceans, as well as carrion and fishing discards; it sometimes steals food from other seabirds.

Behaviour

Breeds in large, noisy colonies where birds bray and fan their tails in courtship. Pairs lay a single egg a year and share incubation and chick-rearing; the young take months to fledge and several years to breed. At sea it glides effortlessly over the waves for months, often following ships.

Sources

Photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thalassarche melanophrys - SE Tasmania.jpg

Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-browed_albatross

See also