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Chatham Albatross | Thalassarche eremita
Chathamalbatros | Albatros de Chatham | Albatroz-de-chatham
The Chatham Albatross breeds only on a single rock island, The Pyramid, in the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand. After the breeding season a large part of the population crosses the Pacific to the Humboldt Current off Peru and Chile. Of the grey-headed Thalassarche albatrosses of the eastern Pacific it has the darkest head.
Voice
Usually silent at sea; croaking sounds when competing for food.
Recording: Cam Maclean/David Boyle — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
90 cm, a medium-sized to large albatross. The head and neck are uniformly dark slate grey, without a pale forehead. The back, upperwing and tail are dark greyish brown, the rump and underparts white. The bill is bright yellow, with a dark spot at the tip of the lower mandible. The underwing is white with narrow black margins and a small black thumb mark at the base of the leading edge. Juveniles have a grey head and a greyish bill with a dark tip, and then closely resemble young Salvin's Albatrosses.
Confusion species
Salvin's Albatross Thalassarche salvini has a paler, silvery-grey head with a pale forehead and a pale grey-green bill. Buller's Albatross Thalassarche bulleri is smaller, with a pale grey head, a white forehead and a black bill with yellow edges. Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris has a white head and broad dark underwing margins.
Habitat
Open ocean over the continental shelf and shelf edge, in cool, productive water. It eats fish, squid and crustaceans, and follows fishing vessels. Breeds on the bare, steep rock slopes of a single island; the nest is a cone of mud, guano and plant debris.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In the guide area a non-breeding visitor at sea off Peru, mainly in the austral winter; immatures also in other months. Rare north of Peru. Absent from Bolivia and not regular around Galápagos. Outside the guide area it breeds only on The Pyramid in the Chatham Islands (New Zealand); outside the breeding season also at sea off the coast of Chile.
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On pelagic trips from Callao or Pucusana, among Salvin's Albatrosses; look for the uniformly dark head and the yellow bill.
Conservation status
Vulnerable. Because the entire population breeds on one island, the species is sensitive to storms that damage the vegetation and nests; in addition birds die as bycatch in fisheries.
Scientific name
Thalassarche eremita | Murphy, 1930
Murphy described the species in 1930 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Thalassarche was introduced in 1853 by Reichenbach. The genus name comes from Greek thalassa, 'sea', and arkhē, 'rule', so 'ruler of the sea'. The species name comes from Latin eremita, 'hermit', for its isolated breeding site in the Chatham Islands. The specimen the first description was based on came from Pyramid Rock off Pitt Island, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.