Does an albatross fly for years?

Soaring through the sky for hours without flapping their wings, albatrosses are the undisputed masters of flight! With the largest wingspan of any bird species in the world (up to 3.5 meters or 11.5 feet), the wandering albatross can fly around the world in just 46 days. GPS tracking of wandering albatrosses has revealed a flight path of 15,000 km (about 10,000 miles) over the ocean before returning to Earth. An Airbus A380, by comparison, can fly non-stop for about 14,800 km (9,200 miles) before refueling. You can find these magnificent birds around the oceans and islands of the Southern Hemisphere. During the breeding season, you can see them on land on sub-islands such as South Georgia, Prince Edward Island, Macquarie Island, and the Kerguelen and Crozet Islands.

Once the breeding season begins, the adults migrate to their safe breeding grounds on various sub-islands. Wandering albatrosses typically breed every other year during the Antarctic summer (November to July). This is also the time when expeditions to sub-Antarctic islands are possible and it is the best time to see Antarctic wildlife, including wandering albatrosses, as they are only terrestrial during the breeding season.

Wandering albatrosses are the most you can eat while walking on the open ocean. Hunting alone or in small groups, wandering albatrosses descend to the surface of the water and catch their prey with shallow dives. Everything from squid, octopus, fish to crustaceans lands in their large beaks. Because of their salty, seawater-filled diet, they have a supraorbital (salt) gland above their nose, which helps them excrete excess salt. You can see this secretion as a pinkish-yellow patch on the animal’s neck. Unlike many other seabirds, wandering albatrosses can also feed at night. On average, foraging trips last 50 days, with short feeding trips during the breeding season. And these birds are not picky when it comes to food. 

Wandering albatrosses move through the sky with almost effortless ease, using their large wingspan, aerial shear, and dynamic S-shaped hovering techniques. Not much flapping is required, but a lot of gliding is required to move through the air. By soaring and diving down through surface shear layers, the birds gain energy from these maneuvers, which allows them to remain airborne for longer periods and allows them to cover vast distances in flight. And wandering albatrosses are fast! They can reach speeds of around 70 km/h (45 mph), depending on wind speed. Once a wandering albatross lands, much of its graceful flight is lost and its clumsy alter ego emerges. Wandering albatrosses wander clumsily and often trip over their own feet. Although they can touch land and water, landing from land can often result in sudden landings in groups of other birds at their breeding colonies. Wandering albatrosses reach sexual maturity at around 11 years of age and mate for life. When breeding season arrives, males dance around females. Females take their time choosing a good mate (after all, they are stuck with them for life) and it can take several years for two birds to find each other. Pairs breed every other year on subantarctic islands, where they build a large, irregular nest of mud, sedge, and other vegetation. The adult female lays a single egg, about 10 cm long, between December and January. Both parents take turns incubating the egg, resting with each other every two to three weeks until the chick hatches after about 78 days. The albatross parents then feed their young, alternating between squid and fish. As the chick grows, the parents go hunting at the same time, leaving the chick unattended for extended periods. The chicks are fed in this way for about nine months, before they are able to fend for themselves.