Laysan Albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis


Laysan Albatross
Laysan Albatrosses are regular but sparse off the central California coast, much less commonly seen than the Black-footed Albatross, not to mention the third Northern Hemisphere albatross, the extremely rare Short-tailed. Adult Laysans appear only during their non-breeding season in late fall and winter, when the birds are most numerous but there are few pelagic trips; immature birds have been seen in every month. Laysans nest mostly in the Hawaiian Islands, with small colonies off Mexico and Japan, and they wander the whole north Pacific during their non-breeding months. Among the smallest of the albatrosses, they are still impressively large seabirds, with an average wing-span of six and a half feet.


Laysan Albatrosses
Laysan Albatrosses pair for life, and can live to be sixty years old. On the pelagic trip during which these photos were taken, we saw three individuals, the two above at the same time, and from the way these two approached each other I wondered whether they might be a mated pair. I can't find any indication in the literature whether paired birds ever stay together during their non-breeding months, though there are suggestions that males and females may normally separate during this time and then reunite at the nesting grounds.


Laysan Albatross
A Laysan taking off; this requires a substantial run to gather speed, from which the bird launches into its "dynamic soar," seen below, the supremely efficient form of low gliding flight with wings locked in the full spread position by which albatrosses use water-surface winds to cross thousands of miles of ocean on very little energy.


Laysan Albatross


Laysan Albatross
Along with their characteristic low flight over the water, albatrosses can "slope soar," turning into wind deflected off the windward face of a wave to gain altitude, and then gliding downwind back near to the surface.