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Black-footed Albatross | Phoebastria nigripes
Zwartvoetalbatros | Albatros patas negras
The Black-footed Albatross is a dark albatross of the North Pacific that breeds in the North-western Hawaiian Islands and outside the breeding season wanders as far as the west coast of North America. In the guide area it is a non-breeding visitor on the open sea off Baja California, mainly in spring and summer. It readily follows fishing vessels.
Voice
Usually silent at sea; at fishing vessels sometimes hoarse screeches and croaks when squabbling over food. At the colony a courtship dance with whistling and groaning calls and bill-clapping.
Recording: Elias Aristides Elias — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
68–74 cm. A large, dark seabird with long, narrow, straight wings and a heavy, hooked bill. The plumage is uniformly dark grey-brown, with a white band around the base of the bill and a white patch below and behind the eye. In older birds the uppertail coverts and often the undertail coverts are white, showing a white band at the base of the tail; juveniles are entirely dark. The bill is dark grey-brown, the legs black. Glides on stiff wings in low arcs over the waves and rarely flaps.
Confusion species
The Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis has a white head and underside and a pink bill. Juvenile Short-tailed Albatrosses Phoebastria albatrus, a very rare visitor, are also dark but larger, with a large pink bill and pale legs. Dark shearwaters such as the Sooty Shearwater Ardenna grisea are much smaller, with a thin bill and a faster flight with more wingbeats. Dark young gulls have broader wings and a shorter bill.
Habitat
Open sea, especially over the edge of the continental shelf and deep water; comes closer to shore than the Laysan Albatross. Feeds mainly on fish eggs, squid, fish and offal, and follows fishing vessels and other ships. Breeds on sandy, low-lying oceanic islands.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
At sea off the Pacific coast of Baja California and Baja California Sur, most numerous off northern Baja California; rare further south, with scattered records near the Revillagigedo Islands and off Sinaloa. Outside the guide area it breeds mainly in the North-western Hawaiian Islands and on a few islands off Japan, and ranges across the whole North Pacific, from the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea to off California.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Pelagic trips off northern Baja California, especially from spring to late summer, give the best chance. Birds are attracted to fishing vessels and to offal thrown overboard.
Conservation status
Near Threatened. The species suffered heavy losses from bycatch in driftnet and longline fisheries; since the driftnet ban and mitigation measures in longline fisheries, numbers have recovered and increased again. Ingestion of plastic, pollution and rising sea levels on the low breeding islands remain threats.
Scientific name
Phoebastria nigripes | (Audubon, 1839)
Audubon described the species in 1839 as Diomedea nigripes; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Phoebastria was introduced in 1853 by Reichenbach. Phoebastria is Greek, from phoibastria 'prophetess'. nigripes is Latin, from niger 'black' and pes 'foot', after the black feet. The specimen the first description was based on came from North Pacific Ocean (30°44′N, 146°W).