Gray-headed Albatross — Australian Bird Identification Guide

Bird guideGray-headed Albatross

The IUCN classifies this bird as endangered due to rapidly declining numbers in South Georgia which holds around half the world's population.

Spot this species Read on Wikipedia

⚠️Endangered

🍃Indigenous: Yellow-Nosed Albatross, Flat-Billed Mollymawk, Gould Albatross, Flat-Billed Albatross, Grey-Headed Mollymawk, Gould's Yellow-Nosed Mollymawk, Yellow-Nosed Mollymawk, Grey-Mantled Albatross

At a glance

FamilyAlbatrosses

SizeGiant

RarityCommon

HabitatReproduction A single egg is laid in a large nest, typically built on steep slopes or cliffs with tussock grass, and incubated for 72 days.

Best timeMost reliable in Tasmania from December.

Sounds

Sound sample

0:000:00

Recorded by Santiago Imberti

Range map

Occurrence window

55visible hotspots

205visible records

5states

Low confidenceMediumHigh confidence

Aggregated occurance data is sourced from 14 different actively-updating datasets including eBird Australia, iNaturalist Australia, BirdLife Australia, and multiple state-based bird surveys through Atlas of Living Australia.

Species notes

Overview

Adult has a gray head, thick black underwing margins like much commoner Black-browed Albatross. Immatures look similar to Black-browed overall, but told by black bill that soon develops yellow along top, and often with variable gray hood. Yellow bill edges narrower than the more lightly built Buller’s Albatross, which occurs to the north but is often mistaken for Gray-headed.

Behavior

A. (2004). "Diet of Grey-headed Albatrosses at Diego Ramirez Islands, Chile: ecological implications" (PDF). Hobart, Australia: Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) Cherel, Y.; Weimerskirch, H.; Trouve, C. (2002). "Dietary evidence for spatial foraging segregation in sympatric albatrosses (Diomedea spp.) rearing chicks at Iles Nuageuses, Kerguelen". G.; Upfold, L.; et al. (2003). "Populations of surface nesting seabirds at Marion Island, 1994/95-2002/03".

Gallery