Sooty Albatross

a.k.a. Sooty Mollymawk

Phoebetria fusca

Photo by Marc Guyt
Photo taken: near Nightingale Is., Tristan da Cunha.

Identification

Length: 84-89cm. Wingspan: 195-205cm.
One of the two Phoebetria species which are distinguished from Diomedea albatrosses by wholly sooty-brown plumage, very slender wings and pointed tail, and more graceful, bouyant wheeling flight but very difficult to tell apart.
Adult: sooty-brown slightly darker on head, particularly on sides and paler across nape, tail and primaries blackish with pale shaft-streaks. Iris brown, incomplete white eye-ring, bill black with yellow or orange stripe on lower mandible and legs greyish or mauve.
Immature: juvenile as adult but with paler nape sometimes forming half-collar and indistinct paler fringes to mantle. Bill blackish with grey, bluish or purple stripe on lower mandible and lacks white shaft-streaks on tail and primaries.

Similar Species

Light-mantled Albatross - has paler upperparts extending from hindneck to rump contrasting with wings and at close range by blue stripe on lower mandible. Immatures can be very difficult to separate as colour of bill-stripe can overlap but pale plumage above on Sooty does not extend to lower back and rump as in Light-mantled Albatross.

Distribution

South Atlantic and southern Indian Oceans. Breeds on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island in the Atlantic and in the Indian Ocean on Amsterdam, St Paul, Marion, Prince Edward, Crozet and Kerguelen Islands. Dispersing birds occur throughout the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans between about 300S and 600S.

Taxonomy

This species is monotypic.^[1]

Habitat

Colonial breeder on grassy clifftops on islands where present September to May, otherwise at sea. Often follows ships for long periods.

Behaviour

• Voice: Wild double-note to overhead birds from nest.
• Breeding: Breeds in southern summer. Nest is a large bowl made of mud and vegetable matter on steep hillside or in gully. Single egg, white marked with grey-brown speckles (101 x 66mm). Incubated by both parents for about 55-60 days and young fed by both parents. Fledges after 5 months.
• Diet: Squid and fish, sometimes refuse from ships.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Sooty Albatross. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Sooty_Albatross

External Links

Search for photos of Sooty Albatross in the gallery