Contents | Seabirds | Colonies | Other Sea Life | Take a Trip | Trip Reports | Sources | TO O |
New England Seabirds
Trip Reports |
|
Laysan Albatross dance to establish a pair bond. These birds are unmated birds looking for a permanent partner either because they are young birds or experienced breeders who have lost their mate. |
Laysan Albatross |
Black-footed Albatross |
hort-tailed Albatross or Stellar's Albatross also called the Golden Gooney. |
Three Species of Albatross - To read more about each species click on the pictures above. Most Albatross species live and breed in the southern hemisphere. Only occassionally does a stray southern hemisphere Albatross venture north. There are three species of North Pacific Albatross. Two species breed on Midway Atoll. The most numerous is the Laysan Albatross. It breeds all over the island preferring open grassy or weedy areas. The Black-footed Albatross breeds on the perimeters of the island. The refuge is trying to encourage the endangered Short-tailed Albatross to breed on Midway. All visitors to Midway fall in love with the Albatross. They were
favorites with the cable company employees who protected them from the
plume hunters, with the wealthy, pampered passengers flying the China
Clipper ships, with the navy who found them a great nuisance, and now
with the tourists who come to the island. Albatross Taxonomy Of course with the science of DNA and the increased interest in Albatross breeding, some taxonomic changes are in the works. Traditionally 11 species were recognized. Recent publications have split the species into 23 species and perhaps 24. This involved some name changes whichincluded changing the genus name of the three northern Packific species found on Midway.. I have given both the old genus name of Diomedea and the newer suggested genus name Phoebastria. That should do until this is all sorted out. |
Short-tailed Albatross or Stellar's Albatros Diomedea albatrus or Phoebastria albatrus
|
|
The refuge allows a supervised tour of Eastern Island once a week.
Visitors are allowed to get close enough to this bird for a quick
photograph. As you can see our presence did not seem to bother the bird
much. The Short-tailed or Stellar's Albatross has a golden head as an adult which can be seen in this picture. It is sometimes called the Golden Gooney. |
Trip Reports | Midway Atoll | Calendar | Bird List | Albatross | Terns | Other Birds | Sea Turtles & Seal | WWII | Top of Page |