Species: Phoebastria immutabilis

Laysan Albatross
Species
Birds

From Whittow (1993): A small albatross (79-81 cm long; wing span 195-203 cm; mean body mass = 2.4 kg, range 1.9-3.1). Legs and webbed feet flesh pink. Bill pink with gray hooked tip. Head, neck, and underparts white. Upper wings and back dark sooty brown. Narrow white U-shaped area between dark upper rump an tail. Dark tail band visible during flight. Underwings have thick black leading edges and wing tips, and large black patches near the base within the central white areas. Gray-black patch in front of the eye extending as a thin line behind the eye. Sexes and juveniles similar.

Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class

Aves

Order

Procellariiformes

Family

Diomedeidae

Genus

Phoebastria

Natureserve Explorer
Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101138
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Albatros de Laysan
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Procellariiformes - Diomedeidae - Phoebastria - (AOU 1998).

From Whittow (1993): A small albatross (79-81 cm long; wing span 195-203 cm; mean body mass = 2.4 kg, range 1.9-3.1). Legs and webbed feet flesh pink. Bill pink with gray hooked tip. Head, neck, and underparts white. Upper wings and back dark sooty brown. Narrow white U-shaped area between dark upper rump an tail. Dark tail band visible during flight. Underwings have thick black leading edges and wing tips, and large black patches near the base within the central white areas. Gray-black patch in front of the eye extending as a thin line behind the eye. Sexes and juveniles similar.

Migration
false - false - true - Arrives in nesting areas late October-early November, males preceding females. Immatures may not migrate back to their hatching area for several years (typically about 4 years on Midway) (Fisher 1975).
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Eats squid mostly at night when squid are at ocean surface (Palmer 1962).
Reproduction Comments
Egg are laid November-December. Clutch size is 1. Incubation lasts 62-68 days, by both sexes in turn (turn may last weeks). Nestling stage lasts about 165 days. Young are tended by both sexes, may be left alone for 1-4 days after 6 weeks. First breeds at 5-9 years.
Ecology Comments
Long-lived; low mortality arte (annual mortality rate of breeders on Midway 5-6%); breeding life expectancy 16-18 years. (Fisher 1975).
Length
81
Weight
3230
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G3
Global Status Last Reviewed
2004-04-30
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-20
Other Status

VU - Vulnerable

Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=__&US.AK=__&US.CA=__&US.HI=SNR&US.OR=__&US.WA=__" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
FG - 20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles) - FG - Breeds on most of northwestern Hawaiian Islands, from Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to Kauai in the main islands (Whittow 1993); attempts have been made to nest on Oahu, Molokai, Niihau, and Moku Manu in the main islands, but with little success owing in part to active human discouragement because of danger to aircraft; also nests on Ogasawara Islands, and at least formerly on Seven Islands of Izu, and on Marcus, Johnston, and Wake islands; recently (late 1980s and early 1990s) found nesting on Isla Guadalupe and on islas San Benedicto and Clarion of the Islas Revillagigedo, and at Alijos Rock (Whittow 1993), off western Mexico (Howell and Webb 1992, Pitman and Ballance 2002). Ranges at sea in Bering Sea, North Pacific from Alaska to coasts of Baja California, and Japan; recorded at sea between latitudes 8 degrees north and 59 degrees north, and longitudes 170 degrees east and 105 degrees west (Whittow 1993).
Global Range Code
FG
Global Range Description
20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles)
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101138