NORTH PACIFIC 
ALBATROSSES 
Only two kinds of albatross or 
gooney bird are commonly found in 
the North Pacific. The Black-foot- 
ed Albatross is almost entirely a 
dark chocolate brown with greyish- 
brown feet and bill. It has a 
white area below the eye and at the 
base of the bill, as shown in the 
illustration. The feathers of the 
belly are light grey to white, and 
some birds have a white patch just 
above the base of the tail. The 
Laysan Albatross is predominantly 
white with dark wings and back; its 
bill and feet are greyish. 
Both albatrosses formerly were 
found over much of the North Paci- 
fic, as well as in the Hawaiians, 
but the activities of feather hun- 
ters during the early part of this 
century have restricted their nes- 
ting to the remote islands of the 
Leeward Hawaiian Chain. However, 
they range far out to sea in search 
A Black-footed Albatross and its 
single egg. Official U.S. Navy 
photo, Midway Island. 
of food during nesting and in Au- 
gust through September when no 
breeding occurs. Flying in long 
looping arcs over the water, the 
albatross drops almost to the sur- 
face and lightly touches the water 
with its wing tip to swing about 
and soar off in a different direc- 
tion. Blackfeet seem to enjoy fol- 
lowing ships, but Laysans rarely do 
so. The Black- footed Albatross al- 
so ranges farther north in the Pa- 
cific than does the Laysan, and is 
frequently seen off the west coast 
of North America. 
Blackfeet prefer to nest on the 
exposed sandy beaches and dunes, 
scraping a shallow cup in the sand 
in which is deposited their single 
egg. Laying normally occurs from 
mid-November until early December, 
and the downy chick hatches in late 
January or early February. 
Parents share the responsibility 
of brooding the egg and feeding the 
young, normally taking turns at in- 
cubating and attending the chicks 
which are fed regurgitated food, 
mostly squid, until July, at which 
time most parent birds leave the 
island, to be followed by the young 
birds a few weeks later. 
The albatross has evolved a most 
interesting and amusing courtship 
behavior in the form of a court- 
ship dance which may be seen at all 
times of the breeding season. It 
probably serves to reacquaint the 
breeding pair when they return to 
the island in the fall and to main- 
tain their attentiveness toward 
each other and the mutual task of 
raising their youngster. Various 
antics of the dancers include pla- 
cing the head under one raised 
wing, wagging the head vigorously 
from side to side, clacking the 
bill loudly and rapidly, and final- 
ly stretching to full height on 
tiptoe with bill pointed to the 
sky, puffing the chest, and emit- 
ting a long nasal groan. 
