Laysan albatross

Laysan albatrosses live over the Pacific Ocean.

They come to small, flat islands to lay their eggs.

Laysan albatrosses spend most of their lives over the open North Pacific Ocean, usually far from land and over cold water. They come to land to nest on low, flat islands with sand or grass.

Almost all of them nest in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The biggest colonies are on Midway Atoll and Laysan Island. Small colonies also nest in Japan and on islands off the west coast of Mexico. Outside the nesting season, they travel as far as the waters off Alaska, Canada and California.

IUCN lists 16 breeding sites (nine with more than 100 pairs), mostly in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, with small colonies in Japan and Mexico; 99% of the population is found in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and Midway Atoll, Laysan Island and French Frigate Shoals hold 90% of the breeders. Colonies lie from sea level to 50 meters.

At sea the species forages far from land, beyond the continental shelf and mainly over cold waters (Audubon). Kaufman (1996) described birds leaving Hawaii in July, most apparently heading northwest toward Japan, then northeast toward the Aleutians; they were most numerous off Alaska in summer and off California in winter. Birds began nesting on islands off western Mexico in the 1980s (Audubon). IUCN also lists it in the waters of Canada, eastern Russia, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.

Laysan albatrosses eat squid and fish.

They grab food from the top of the sea.

Laysan albatrosses eat mostly squid, along with fish, fish eggs and crustaceans, the group of animals that includes shrimp and crabs. They land on the water and grab food near the surface while they swim.

They do a lot of their feeding at night, when squid come up closer to the surface. Their eyes are adapted to see in the dark.

Diet analysis shows mainly cephalopods (squid), with a variety of fish, crustaceans and other invertebrates (IUCN, citing Pittman et al. 2004 and Tickell 2000); Kaufman (1996) adds fish eggs, some carrion and refuse. Birds feed by seizing prey near the surface while swimming.

Much feeding happens at night, when squid rise toward the surface, and the eyes are adapted for night vision (Audubon). Breeding adults can make very long foraging trips: at Tern Island, birds switch from a local foraging strategy while brooding small chicks to longer trips later in the season (IUCN).

Young Laysan albatrosses dance to find a partner.

They bow, swing their heads and point their bills at the sky.

Laysan albatrosses are famous for their courtship dance. Young birds that have not bred before, or are breeding for the first time, dance with possible partners. They bow their heads, preen each other's feathers, swing their heads from side to side and point their bills straight up at the sky while calling.

The most famous Laysan albatross, Wisdom, keeps coming back to Midway Atoll to nest. In December 2023 she returned near the place of her last nest, at least 72 years old.

Kaufman (1996) described the elaborate courtship 'dance', performed only by first-time breeders and pre-breeders, as including head bowing, mutual preening, swinging the head from side to side and pointing the bill straight up while calling. The Commons file of this page's photo is titled for these breeding dances.

Birds return to their colonies to breed: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that Wisdom, the world's oldest known wild bird, had returned to Midway Atoll on 1 December 2023, near her last nest site, at an age of at least 72. IUCN notes a high rate of mate change (14%) in colonies on Oʻahu and Kauaʻi, previously unreported for the species.

Some albatrosses swallow plastic by mistake.

You can help by using less plastic and recycling.

The Laysan albatross is near threatened. Over 100 years ago, people collected huge numbers of its feathers and eggs. Later, many were caught in fishing nets and on fishing lines.

Today albatrosses often swallow floating plastic, mistaking it for food, and feed it to their chicks. Old lead paint on buildings at Midway Atoll can poison chicks. Because most of them nest on low islands, rising seas may flood their nesting places. Most of their big colonies are now protected, inside Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

BirdLife International assessed Phoebastria immutabilis as Near Threatened (nearly meeting criterion A4bd) for the IUCN Red List (assessed 7 August 2018, published 2018): about 800,000 breeding pairs, or 1.6 million mature individuals (Arata et al. 2009), with a stable trend after a fall in 1992-2002 and a rebound, but a precautionary projected decline over three generations (84 years).

Feather and egg collecting cut colonies in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and high-seas driftnets took many from 1978 to 1992. Current threats named by IUCN are bycatch on North Pacific longlines and illegal driftnets, plastic ingestion (chicks with much plastic fledge lighter), lead paint at Midway, invasive predators, storms and sea-level rise on low atolls. Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (2006) covers the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and was expanded to 1,508,870 square kilometers in 2016; the United States and Canada adopted seabird bycatch plans, and Canada made streamer lines mandatory in some longline fisheries in 2002.