Wandering Albatross

The Wandering Albatross holds the record for the greatest wingspan of any living bird, allowing it to glide for vast distances over the Southern Ocean with minimal effort. Its plumage changes dramatically over a long maturation period, with young birds mostly dark brown gradually becoming almost entirely white as fully mature adults.

• Adult body feathers are predominantly white, with the extent of white increasing with age; the oldest adults can appear almost entirely white apart from black wingtips
• Flight feathers are extremely long, narrow, and stiff, adapted for dynamic soaring over open ocean with minimal flapping
• The upperwing shows black along the trailing edge and wingtips even in the whitest adults, with the amount of black decreasing as birds age
• Juvenile and immature feathers are mostly chocolate-brown, with a white face and underwing, gradually acquiring white body feathers over successive molts
• Tail feathers are white in older adults, sometimes with limited dark markings in younger birds

• Juveniles are largely dark chocolate-brown with a white face mask and white underwing linings
• Plumage whitens progressively over roughly a decade or more of successive molts, passing through variably mottled brown-and-white intermediate stages
• Fully mature adults are almost entirely white with black wingtips and a variable black trailing edge to the wing
• Sexes are similar, though males tend to attain a whiter plumage than females at a given age
• Molt is slow and protracted, spread over long periods between the species' extended breeding cycle

Wandering Albatrosses breed on remote subantarctic islands, including South Georgia, the Crozet and Kerguelen Islands, and other far-southern outposts, nesting on open, tussock-covered ground. Outside of breeding they range enormously across the Southern Ocean, circling the globe on prevailing westerly winds and rarely coming near land except to breed.

This albatross forages by seizing squid, fish, and other prey from the ocean surface, often following ships and covering immense distances in search of food using dynamic soaring flight that exploits wind gradients over waves. It breeds biennially at most, laying a single egg and raising the chick over a very long fledging period reflecting the difficulty of provisioning over such a huge foraging range. Pairs perform elaborate mutual displays at the nest, and adults are largely silent at sea aside from bill-clattering and braying calls during courtship.