Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus)

Short-tailed Albatross Photo: Ben Saenz

By Peter Winch

One of the rarest visitors to the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary is the short-tailed albatross.  Nesting on islands south of Japan, they make an incredible 2,500 mile journey to our Sanctuary to feed on the bounty of marine life generated by upwelling.

Weighing 4.3 kg and having a wingspan of nearly 8 feet, the short-tailed albatross is the largest member of its family that nests in the northern hemisphere. The adult is distinguished from other North Pacific Albatross by its yellow stained head, dirty pink feet and a large pink bill.

Similar to other albatross, their diet is seafood found at the surface or top few feet of the ocean.  This includes squid, fish and fish waste discharged by fishing boats.

Natural History

Once the most numerous species of albatross in the northern hemisphere, with estimated numbers in the hundreds of thousands, the short-tailed albatross is now one of the worlds rarest birds, with a population of around 2,000.

During the Victorian era, bird feathers were prized in the world of fashion.  Many birds that lived on islands—where there were no land based predators—were unafraid of humans and hence easy to approach.  This was the undoing of the short-tailed albatross, and feather collectors reduced their numbers to a few hundred by the 1920’s.

Today, their main nesting colony is on the island of Izu Torishima, south of Japan.  Unfortunately, the island is an active volcano and has erupted several times in the last century disturbing the albatross colony.

Threats

One threat to the short-tailed albatross is longline fishing, the technique where long lines of bated hooks are cast by longlining ships.  The target species are often tuna or swordfish, but the bycatch includes sharks, cetaceans, pinnipeds and seabirds, including the short-tailed albatross.

The accumulation of plastic debris in the ocean is another major threat to the species.  Because most plastic floats on the ocean surface, albatross often mistake it for food and ingest it.  To make things worse, the plastic may then be fed to a chick.  Plastic can cause malnutrition, ruptured intestines, and the accumulated toxins can harm the bird.

The Mystic Bird

Short-tailed albatross sightings are uncommon in California.  Many ardent birdwatchers and marine biologists have never seen one.  There was a rare sighting in April of this year, about twelve and half miles west of the North Farallon Islands.  Biologists on a survey were lucky enough to spot a juvenile foraging for food.

Please join us on one of our whale watching trips this summer and fall.  You never know what you might see, animals you have never encountered before, and possibly a very rare sighting of one of the worlds most endangered birds…the short-tailed albatross.

 

For more information, look for an article by British seabird biologist Peter Harrison that appeared in The New Yorker in the 1980’s.  He describes an eventful trip to Torishima, lead by the Japanese Short-tailed albatross scientist Hiroshi Hasagawa.