The Wandering Albatross is one of the world’s largest flying birds, boasting a magnificent wingspan that can stretch up to 11 feet—the largest of any living avian species. This creature has long been a figure of myth and legend for sailors navigating the Southern Ocean. Its scientific name, Diomedea exulans, references the Greek hero Diomedes and the Latin word for “exile,” hinting at its solitary, far-reaching existence at sea.
Defining the Global Range
The non-breeding habitat of the albatross is the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean, which it traverses in a circumpolar pattern. The bird essentially circles the globe in the Southern Hemisphere, rarely approaching continental landmasses outside of its nesting period. It primarily ranges between 30°S and 60°S, an area characterized by persistent, strong westerly winds.
The scale of this pelagic home allows the albatross to travel thousands of miles during a single foraging trip. Non-breeding juveniles may remain at sea for five to ten years before returning to land. The bird’s distribution covers up to 77 million square kilometers, reflecting the sheer size of its aquatic territory.
Essential Sub-Antarctic Breeding Sites
Despite roaming the ocean, the albatross must return to specific, isolated land areas for reproduction. These sites are limited to a handful of sub-Antarctic island groups scattered across the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
Key breeding colonies are situated on islands in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, including:
- South Georgia
- The Prince Edward Islands
- The Crozet Islands
- The Kerguelen Islands
- Macquarie Island
These remote locations provide shelter and tussock grass for nesting, though the birds spend less than 10% of their lives on land. The breeding cycle is protracted, requiring over a year to raise a single chick, forcing adults to breed only once every two years. Colonies are often located in open, wind-swept areas, as the birds require a long, clear runway for takeoff.
The Mechanics of Wandering
The albatross covers immense distances using dynamic soaring, a highly specialized and energy-efficient flying technique. This involves the bird repeatedly rising into faster wind layers and descending into slower ones near the ocean surface, extracting energy from the vertical wind gradient. By harnessing the wind shear, the bird can fly for hours or days without flapping its wings, minimizing energy expenditure.
This technique allows the albatross to maintain high travel speeds, sometimes reaching up to 45 miles per hour. Tracking data shows an individual can cover up to 900 kilometers in a single day, or over 15,000 kilometers on a single foraging trip. The bird’s circumpolar foraging loop often sees it completing multiple global circuits in a year, made possible by its ability to lock its wing joints in an extended position, creating a rigid, efficient airfoil.
Foraging and Pelagic Survival
To sustain its massive energy requirements, the albatross relies on a diet of marine organisms found near the ocean surface. Its primary food sources include cephalopods, such as squid, as well as fish and crustaceans. The bird is a surface feeder, seizing prey from the water without diving deep, though it can plunge up to a meter.
The albatross possesses a highly developed sense of smell, which it uses to locate patchily distributed food across the vast ocean. This olfactory ability helps it find naturally occurring prey and scavenge discarded fish waste from commercial vessels. Since its diet is rich in salt, the bird has a specialized supraorbital salt gland located above the nasal passage. This gland allows it to excrete excess salt and maintain physiological balance while living entirely at sea.