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Altruism, Albatrosses, and Vicious Young Men

10,000 Birds

Ka’ena Point is also a breeding ground for the Federally protected Laysan albatross, where 45 nests were being carefully monitored by the non-profit Pacific Rim Conservation. The oldest Laysan albatross was last seen raising a chick on Midway Atoll in 2016, at age 66. They are docile and devoted parents who will not leave their nests.

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Identify My Albatross!

10,000 Birds

There was a time when albatross taxonomy was quite simple. Actually, I lie, albatross taxonomy has always been a mess, but there was a period of relative calm, from the sixties to the ninties, when there were about 12 species in two genera. This is unambiguously an albatross. Okay, so this is a wandering albatross of some kind.

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Antipodean Albatrosses

10,000 Birds

So here’s some Antipodean Albatrosses! The taxonomy of the bigger albatrosses, known as great albatrosses, is tricky. What were three species, Royal Albatross, Wandering Albatross and Amsterdam Albatross , are now seven. The mighty Antipodean Albatross. This is a true Wandering Albatross.

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Buller’s Albatrosses

10,000 Birds

It’s winter down here for sure now, and winter in Kaikoura , on the coast of South Island north of Christchurch, means one thing, albatrosses! I took a lot of photos but today I’ll just be sharing the ones of the Buller’s Albatross , Thalassarche bulleri , known here as the Buller’s Mollymawk.

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Laysan Albatrosses

10,000 Birds

While I often tease Corey about how many albatrosses we have down here in New Zealand, the fact is that the United States has three species of Albatross that breed within its boundaries, albeit one of them only very rarely, and visit the western shores of North America. Laysan Albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis Some young adults.

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Black-footed Albatrosses Rock!

10,000 Birds

The important thing is that I get to see albatrosses and he doesn’t. I mean, granted, he does live near the North Atlantic, the one ocean pretty much bereft of albatrosses (it wasn’t always that way, by the way). The Black-footed Albatross. Like all albatrosses Black-footed Albatrosses pair for life, unseen by Corey.

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Black-browed Albatrosses

10,000 Birds

This Sunday I will be off the coast of Kaikoura on South Island for the first time since 2008 checking out the amazing albatrosses they have there. While albatrosses are found year-round on the tours out of Kaikoura, the best season for them is winter and not all species are common year round. Kaikoura dawn at my last visit.

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