Profile
In flight
Albatrosses
Grey-headed Albatross
Thalassarche chrysostoma
- rare
- 127 km/h
- Endangered
Holds the record for fastest level flight ever measured in any bird species.
- Population
- ~250,000 mature individuals (~98,600 breeding pairs annually), decreasing
- Habitat
- Breeds on steep, tussock-grass-covered slopes and cliffs of subantarctic islands; forages over oceanic and neritic pelagic waters, largely within or south of the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone
- Fun fact
- Grey-headed Albatross chicks incubate for about 72 days and take roughly 141 days to fledge, then typically spend 6-7 years wandering the Southern Ocean before returning to their natal colony to breed.
- Range
- Circumpolar in the Southern Ocean; breeds on South Georgia (~half the global population), Diego Ramírez Islands (Chile), Prince Edward and Marion Islands (South Africa), Crozet and Kerguelen Islands (France), Campbell Island (New Zealand), and Macquarie Island (Australia); non-breeders range widely across subantarctic and Antarctic waters
- Diet
- Mainly cephalopods (squid) and fish, with crustaceans, carrion, and lampreys locally important; krill less significant than in some other albatrosses; scavenges bait/discards from longline fishing vessels
- Size
- 0.81 m
- Wingspan
- 2.2 m
- Lifespan
- 30 years
