Laysan Albatross

The Laysan Albatross is a medium-sized North Pacific albatross with a mostly white head, neck, and underparts, dark grey-brown upperwings, and a dusky smudge of feathers around the eye that gives it a slightly world-weary expression. Its bill is pale pinkish with a dark tip.

The species forms some of the largest seabird colonies on Earth, with hundreds of thousands of pairs nesting on low, sandy Pacific islands, most famously Midway Atoll, where elaborate courtship dances involving head-bobbing, bill-clacking, and synchronized movements are a well-known spectacle.

Laysan Albatrosses are exceptional long-distance fliers, capable of covering thousands of kilometers across the open North Pacific on a single foraging trip while raising a chick.

Key field marks

• White head and underparts with a dark smudge around the eye
• Dark grey-brown upperwings and back
• Pale pink bill with a dark tip
• Blackish legs and feet

Similar species

• Black-footed Albatross is almost entirely dark brown all over, lacking the white head and underparts of the Laysan Albatross, and often nests alongside it on the same islands.
• Short-tailed Albatross is larger with a bright yellow-tinged head and a large pink bill, and is far less numerous.

Laysan Albatrosses breed primarily on low, sandy islands and atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, especially Midway Atoll and Laysan Island, with smaller colonies elsewhere in the Pacific. Nests are simple scrapes on open, sandy or vegetated ground.

Outside the breeding season, adults range widely across the North Pacific, foraging over vast stretches of open ocean from the subtropics to the subarctic before returning to their natal islands to breed.

Voice

Courting Laysan Albatrosses perform an elaborate, ritualized dance involving bill-clacking, sky-pointing, and moaning or whistling calls, one of the most complex displays among seabirds.

Feeding

They feed mainly on squid and fish eggs taken near the ocean surface at night, and will also scavenge floating debris and offal, a habit that unfortunately also leads to ingestion of floating plastic.

Nesting and breeding

Pairs return to the same nest site each year, laying a single egg in a shallow scrape. Both parents share incubation and feeding duties over several months, with chicks fledging after roughly five to six months.