Waved Albatross

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Thu 25 Apr 2013 20:27

Waved Albatross

 

 

 

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We followed the track, up the slope and there right in front of us was our first Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) also known as the Galapagos Albatross. In the air more and all around us were heads bobbing out of the grass, barely disguising this beautiful and very big bird. Up there in both of our top tens to meet, it was a joy to stand so close, the birds completely at ease in our presence.

 

 

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The boys come in first, (we saw huge numbers sitting together out at sea) and wait patiently for anything up to two weeks for the love of their life to come in, then the wonderful greeting.

When they forage, the birds follow straight paths to a single site off the coast of Peru, about six hundred and twenty miles distant to the east. During the non-breeding season, these birds reside primarily in the areas of the Ecuador and Peruvian coasts.

 

 

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Taxonomy: The Waved Albatross is the only member of the Diomedeidae family located in the tropics and come from the Procellariiformes order, along with shearwaters, fulmars, storm petrels and diving petrels. They share certain identifying features. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns, although the nostrils of the Albatross are on the sides of the bill. The bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into between seven and nine horny plates. Finally, they produce stomach oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides that is stored in the proventriculus (part of standard avian anatomy. It is generally a glandular part of the stomach that may store and/or commence digestion of food before it progresses to the gizzard). This is used against predators as well as an energy rich food source for chicks and for the adults during their long flights. They also have a salt gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies, due to the high amount of ocean water that they imbibe. It excretes a high saline solution from their nose.

 

 

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Etymology: The Waved Albatross derives its name from the wave-like pattern of its feathers on the adult birds.

 

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The amazing thing was getting so close to this handsome chap. I could have gone in closer but stuck to the two meter rule, he never blinked, looked uncomfortable or made the tiniest movement to get away from me, he just looked with patience in his eyes.

 

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You could see he was waiting – the waiting boys just stare with longing in their eyes. When their feet get tired they go for a stretching flight and mid air waggle their feet, in a picture this just shows as a blur, but many boys did it. The funny thing is the way they fold their wings, somehow making themselves look small. 

 

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Description: These are medium-sized albatrosses, measuring around thirty five inches long, weighing in at seven and a half pounds, and having a wingspan seven and a half feet They are distinctive for their yellowish-cream neck and head, which contrasts with their mostly brownish bodies. Even more distinctive is the very long, bright yellow bill, which looks disproportionately large in comparison to the relatively small head and long, slender neck. They also have chestnut brown upper parts and underparts, except for the breast, with fine barring, a little coarser on the rump. They have brown upper-wings, back, and tail, along with a whitish breast and underwings. Their axillaries are brown. Finally they have blue feet. Juveniles are similar to adults except for more white on their head. Chicks have brown fluffy feathers. The lifespan of this species may reach forty to forty five years.

 

 

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Range: The Waved Albatross breeds primarily on Española Island. During non-breeding season they will shift to the east and southeast to the continental shelf region off the coast of Peru and Ecuador. Sometimes Colombia.

 

 

Baby

 

Feeding: The primary food sources of the Waved Albatross are fish, squid and crustaceans. But they have also been observed to scavenge for other food sources, including the regurgitated food of other birds. When foraging the Waved Albatross finds points in the ocean where prey will be more surfaced; this is the most effective way for the albatross to get its food. The Waved Albatrosses will forage six to sixty miles away from the place where the chicks are nesting to get food for them.

 

 

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Breeding: The nests are built on areas of lava with boulders and sparse vegetation, or thick brush. The courtship of the Waved Albatross is a very elusive and spectacular sight to see. It includes: rapid bill circling and bowing, preening, beak clacking and an upraised bill to make a whoo hoo sound.

 

 

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We were privileged to watch a couple who had just reunited. He gently preens her face, she closes her eyes in pure pleasure – by now my left eye would be on the floor with Bear saying Ooops. The egg is laid between April and June and incubated for two months. Both parents roll the egg, it is thought that this helps with a successful hatching When the eggs hatch, the chicks stay together in small nurseries while the parents go out to the sea for hunting. When the parents return, they may feed the chicks up to four and a half pounds of oil. The young reach adult size by December and leave the colony by January. The partners remain mates until one of the partners dies. We saw some adolescent boys sitting together hoping a lady would come knocking, marrying for many, many years – there is always a chance that some ladies come in to find no husband, they get the chance to step in.

 

 

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Flight: Waved Albatross are spectacular flyers, perhaps even the most famous. They can fly for hours without stalling and they do this by dynamic soaring. The wind speed near the surface of the sea is much lower than about fifty in the air. The waved albatross uses this to its advantage by gliding at speed into the wind. As the Waved Albatross glides higher it loses most of its ground speed because it is gliding into a wind of a higher speed. However, its air speed does not fall, enabling it to glide continuously. However, Waved Albatrosses do have difficulty taking off and landing due to their huge wings and slender bodies. To make it easier they sometimes take off on cliffs that are more inland and not next to the coast. The problem is when they come in to land they have a high stalling speed, and when they take off it's hard to beat their massive wings.

 

 

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Conservation: Long-line fishing seems to be making a severe impact these birds, they were uplisted to Vulnerable from Near Threatened by the IUCN in 2000. Despite some 34,700 adult birds still occurring in 2001, their numbers have apparently started to decrease at an unknown rate more recently, probably due to long-line fishing which also upsets the sex ratio (males being killed more frequently). As the current situation makes the population highly vulnerable to a catastrophic collapse to extinction, it was uplisted to Critically Endangered status in the 2007 IUCN Red List.

 

 

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ALL IN ALL A VERY SPECIAL TIME WITH THESE MAJESTIC CREATURES

                     REALLY CUTE FOR SUCH BIG CHAPS