Albatrosses

Order: Procellariiformes

Family: Diomedeidae

13 species

HABITAT AND RANGE:

oceans worldwide, especially Sothern hemisphere;

DESCRIPTION:

70-140 cm body length; wing span up to nearly 4 m; bill stout, hooked, covered with plates; nostrils tubular, separated by culmen; wings very long, narrow; hallux absent or rudimentary; dynamic soarers; shallow surface divers

FOOD:

feed on oceanic animals;

BREEDING:

lay single white egg; have bi-parental care; nidicolous young; similar sexes; monogamous; nest colonially

SOUNDS:

MORE IMAGES:

RECENT LITERATURE:

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(Image taken from Heather, B. and Hugh Robertson. Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1997).