Animal
Wandering albatross
The wandering albatross is a big white seabird with very long wings. It glides over the ocean for days, hardly flapping at all.
The wandering albatross has the largest known wingspan of any living bird, up to about 3.4 meters from tip to tip. It soars over the stormy Southern Ocean using the wind, catching squid and fish at the surface, and comes ashore only to breed on remote islands. A pair raises one chick at most every two years.
Diomedea exulans breeds on subantarctic islands and ranges across the Southern Ocean, using dynamic soaring to travel thousands of kilometers with little flapping. It is extremely slow to breed: one egg, a 10 to 12 month cycle and first breeding at 11 to 15 years. The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable (2018); at sea, birds are killed in fisheries, especially longline fisheries.
Photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the wandering albatross
The wandering albatross is a very big seabird.
It has a white body, a pink bill and very, very long wings. No living bird is known to have wider wings.
The wandering albatross is a huge seabird, about 1.2 meters long and 8 to 10 kilograms. Its wings are what make it famous: they can stretch up to about 3.4 meters from tip to tip. Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution say that is the largest wingspan known of any living bird.
Adults are mostly white with black on the wings and a big pinkish bill. Young birds start out chocolate brown with a white face and slowly turn whiter as they grow older.
Diomedea exulans is about 1.2 meters long and weighs 8 to 10 kilograms, according to New Zealand Birds Online. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution describes its wingspan of up to 11 feet (about 3.4 meters) as the largest known of any living bird.
Plumage passes through many graded stages, from chocolate-brown juveniles with white faces and underwings to mature males that are pure white apart from black wing tips and trailing edges; even white birds usually show fine dark wavy lines on the body. The IUCN uses the name snowy albatross for this species.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 1.2 m
- Wingspan
- 3 to 3.4 m
- Weight
- 8 to 10 kg
- Top speed
- up to 72 km/h
Where it lives
Wandering albatrosses live over the ocean far in the south.
They only come to land to lay an egg. They nest on cold, windy islands near Antarctica.
Wandering albatrosses spend most of their lives far out at sea, over the cold, windy waters of the Southern Ocean and the southern parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They fly from icy Antarctic waters to warmer seas farther north.
They come to land only to breed, on remote islands: South Georgia, the Crozet and Kerguelen Islands, the Prince Edward Islands, and Australia's Macquarie Island. Birds that are not breeding often visit the waters around New Zealand.
The IUCN's 2018 global assessment lists breeding in Australia (Macquarie Island), the French Southern Territories (Crozet and Kerguelen), South Africa's Prince Edward Islands and South Georgia. New Zealand Birds Online adds Heard Island and notes that the species ranges throughout the Southern Ocean from Antarctic to subtropical waters.
Outside the breeding season birds occur off Antarctica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, southern Africa, Madagascar, Australia and New Zealand. Non-breeding birds from the Crozet Islands spend long periods in the Tasman Sea and east of New Zealand. On land they nest on plateaus, ridges and valleys covered in tussock grass and other low plants.
Did you know?
Albatrosses can lock their wings open.
A lock in the albatross's shoulder holds its wings out straight, so it can glide for a long time without getting tired.
A shoulder lock mechanically holds the wings outstretched, so little energy is spent while soaring.
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
The open Southern Ocean and the southern Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, from Antarctic to subtropical waters. Breeds on South Georgia, the Crozet and Kerguelen Islands (France), the Prince Edward Islands (South Africa) and Macquarie Island (Australia); for those countries only their far-southern islands are meant, and South Georgia has no separate map shape.
Places: Southern Ocean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Fr. Southern Lands, South Africa and Australia.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Australia, Antarctica, South Africa, New Zealand, Fr. Southern Lands, Chile, Falkland Is., Argentina and 25 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
What it eats
Wandering albatrosses eat squid and fish.
They grab their food from the top of the sea. Sometimes they follow fishing boats.
Wandering albatrosses eat mostly squid, along with fish. They do not dive deep like penguins. Instead, they land on the water and grab their food at the surface, usually within a few meters of the top.
In fact, they are mostly scavengers, which means much of what they eat is already dead. They sometimes gather in flocks around fishing boats, which can be dangerous for them.
New Zealand Birds Online describes the wandering albatross as essentially a scavenger, feeding especially on squid and also on fish, mainly within a few meters of the surface; most prey is taken by surface seizing. Animal Diversity Web adds that it can plunge to about a meter.
Birds are usually solitary at sea but may feed in flocks around fishing vessels. Fisheries are also the main threat at sea: New Zealand Birds Online links population decreases to deaths in fisheries, particularly longline fisheries.
Did you know?
No living bird is known to have wider wings than the wandering albatross.
A wandering albatross's wings can reach about 3.4 meters across, the largest wingspan known of any living bird.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution describes its wingspan of up to 11 feet as the largest known of any living bird.
Wings made for the wind
Albatrosses hardly ever flap their wings.
They glide on the wind, swooping up and down over the waves. They can fly a very long way without getting tired.
A wandering albatross can fly for thousands of kilometers while hardly flapping. Its trick is called dynamic soaring. The wind blows faster a little way above the sea than right next to the waves, so the bird swoops up into the fast wind and down toward the water again and again, gaining speed each time.
A special lock in its shoulder holds the wings out straight, so the bird uses very little energy while it glides. Tracked albatrosses reached airspeeds of about 72 kilometers an hour.
Wandering albatrosses do not have the muscles to sustain flapping flight for long. Instead they use dynamic soaring, swooping between faster-moving air higher up and slower air near the sea surface to gain energy, supplemented by updrafts over waves; a shoulder lock holds the wings outstretched at little energy cost.
A GPS study of 46 birds from Bird Island, South Georgia, found airspeed rising with wind speed to a maximum of about 20 meters per second (72 km/h). The researchers suggest birds limit their speed by adjusting their turns, probably to keep forces on their wings within safe limits, and that in very light winds they use updrafts over waves.
One chick, every other year
Albatross mums and dads stay together for a long time.
They lay one big egg. They take turns keeping it warm. The chick waits on the nest for many months while they fetch food.
Wandering albatrosses pair up for the long term. Each pair lays a single large egg in December or early January, in a nest of grass, twigs and soil. Mom and dad take turns keeping it warm for about 11 weeks, and most chicks hatch in March.
Then comes a long wait. The chick stays on the nest for another 7 to 9 months while its parents fly far out to sea to bring back food. Because this takes almost a year, a pair breeds at most once every two years.
Pairs are monogamous with long-term bonds and breed no more than once every two years. The single egg, laid in December or early January, is incubated by both parents in alternating shifts for about 11 weeks; most chicks hatch in March and take a further 7 to 9 months to fledge.
Because the cycle lasts 10 to 12 months, adults then take a sabbatical year at sea to complete their molt. Young birds first return to the colonies at 6 to 10 years old and typically start breeding at 11 to 15 years.
Dances and calls
At sea, albatrosses are quiet.
On their islands, they dance! They point their bills to the sky, shake their heads and clap their bills.
Wandering albatrosses are mostly silent at sea, where they usually travel alone. But at their breeding islands they become noisy and show off.
Pairs and young birds perform displays: they point their bills at the sky, shake their heads, touch bills and clap them together, with high trumpeting calls, groans and rattles. These displays are part of courtship and of defending a nest site.
At sea the species is largely silent and solitary. At breeding grounds it gives a high-pitched trumpeting call, groans, rattles and 'puck' sounds, and pairs clap their bills at the nest.
Animal Diversity Web lists displays including croaks, bill-clapping, bill-touching, skypointing, trumpeting, head-shaking and the 'ecstatic' gesture, used in courtship and territory defense; group displays are common among non-breeding adults. Males return to the same breeding site each year and usually reuse their old nests.
Did you know?
Young albatrosses are brown.
Young wandering albatrosses are chocolate brown with white faces, and they get whiter and whiter as they grow older.
Plumage passes through many graded stages; only mature males become almost pure white apart from black wing tips.
Albatrosses and fishing hooks
Some albatrosses get caught on fishing hooks.
People are finding ways to fish without hurting them. That helps albatrosses stay safe.
The wandering albatross is listed as Vulnerable. The biggest danger is fishing: albatrosses are caught and killed in fisheries, especially longline fisheries, which use very long fishing lines with many hooks.
Wandering albatrosses also breed very slowly: a pair raises at most one chick every two years, and young birds do not breed until they are 11 to 15. Countries work together through an agreement called ACAP to reduce the threats to albatrosses.
The IUCN's 2018 global assessment lists the species as Vulnerable, with about 20,100 mature individuals and a decreasing trend; New Zealand Birds Online gives a global breeding population of about 8,050. Threats at the breeding islands are few, but at sea birds are killed in fisheries, especially longline fisheries, and population declines are linked to this mortality.
The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) coordinates international work on these threats. NZ Birds Online notes one surprise: stronger winds in southern latitudes over recent decades have reduced foraging effort for breeding birds, with positive effects on some populations.
IUCN Red List
How is the wandering albatross doing in the wild?
- Least Concern
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable (this animal)
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Vulnerable
At high risk of disappearing from the wild.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3
Amazing facts
-
No living bird is known to have wider wings than the wandering albatross.
A wandering albatross's wings can reach about 3.4 meters across, the largest wingspan known of any living bird.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution describes its wingspan of up to 11 feet as the largest known of any living bird.
-
An albatross chick waits on its nest for months.
A wandering albatross chick stays on its nest for 7 to 9 months after hatching, waiting for its parents to bring food.
Chicks take 7 to 9 months to fledge after an 11-week incubation, so a breeding attempt fills most of a year.
-
Albatrosses can lock their wings open.
A lock in the albatross's shoulder holds its wings out straight, so it can glide for a long time without getting tired.
A shoulder lock mechanically holds the wings outstretched, so little energy is spent while soaring.
-
Young albatrosses are brown.
Young wandering albatrosses are chocolate brown with white faces, and they get whiter and whiter as they grow older.
Plumage passes through many graded stages; only mature males become almost pure white apart from black wing tips.
Words to know
- wingspan
- the distance from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other
- soar
- to fly high on the wind without flapping
- dynamic soaring
- a way of gliding that gains energy by swooping between fast and slow layers of wind
- scavenger
- an animal that eats food that is already dead
- bycatch
- animals caught by accident when people are fishing for something else
- subantarctic
- the cold islands and seas just north of Antarctica
Discovery challenge
-
How does an albatross fly so far?
How does a wandering albatross fly long distances without getting tired?
Which flight technique lets wandering albatrosses travel far at low energy cost?
- It flaps very fast
- It glides on the wind
- It rides on boats
Show the answer
It glides on the wind
It glides on the wind and hardly flaps.
It uses dynamic soaring, swooping between fast and slow wind, and a shoulder lock holds its wings open.
Dynamic soaring exploits wind shear near the sea surface, plus updrafts over waves; a shoulder lock keeps the wings outstretched.
-
How many eggs does an albatross lay?
How many eggs does a wandering albatross pair lay in a breeding season?
What is the clutch size of the wandering albatross?
- One
- Three
- Ten
Show the answer
One
It lays just one egg.
A pair lays a single egg and breeds at most once every two years.
A single egg; breeding attempts are at most biennial because the cycle takes 10 to 12 months.
-
What does a wandering albatross eat?
Which food do wandering albatrosses eat most?
Which prey features most in the wandering albatross's diet?
- Squid
- Grass
- Nuts
Show the answer
Squid
It eats squid and fish from the sea.
It eats especially squid, plus fish, taken at the surface.
Squid especially, and fish, mostly seized at or near the surface, much of it scavenged.
-
What is the biggest danger to albatrosses?
What is the main threat to wandering albatrosses?
Which threat is most linked to wandering albatross declines?
- Fishing hooks
- Snakes
- Too much rain
Show the answer
Fishing hooks
Some get caught on fishing hooks, so people are making fishing safer.
Birds can be caught and killed in fisheries, especially longline fisheries.
Fisheries mortality, particularly in longline fisheries, is linked to population decreases.
Experiments to try
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe the wandering albatross's wingspan and how dynamic soaring works.
- Explain its slow breeding cycle and why that makes it vulnerable.
- Describe what it eats and how it feeds at the sea surface.
- Explain how fishing affects albatrosses and how countries cooperate to help.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might a bird that raises one chick every two years be hurt more by losing adults than a bird with many chicks a year?
- How could fishing boats catch fish without catching albatrosses?
- Why might gliding be a good way to travel over a windy ocean?
Try at home or in class
- Measure 3.4 meters on the floor with tape and lie down beside it with a friend to see an albatross's wingspan.
- Fold paper gliders with long, narrow wings and short, wide wings, and compare how far each glides.
Key vocabulary: wingspan, soar, dynamic soaring, scavenger, bycatch, subantarctic
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Diomedea exulans (Snowy Albatross), Red List global assessment 2018 , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Wandering albatross , New Zealand Birds Online (Te Papa)
- New Research Unlocks Clues About the Iconic Flight of the Wandering Albatross , Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Diomedea exulans (wandering albatross) , Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- 'Tacking like sailboats': Wandering Albatross flight in the Southern Ocean , Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.