Wandering Albatross

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Wandering Albatross in the UK

Wandering Albatross has no accepted British record and is not on the British List in any category. It is a bird of the Southern Ocean, ranging between about 28 and 60 degrees south and breeding on South Georgia, the Crozet, Kerguelen and Prince Edward Islands and Macquarie Island. The warm, windless tropics are a barrier to albatrosses, which need steady wind to travel. Only two albatross species are on the British List: Black-browed and Atlantic Yellow-nosed. Globally the species is classed as Vulnerable, with longline fishing the main threat.

Where the Wandering Albatross lives

Not in the UK. To see one you need to be at sea in the Southern Ocean: on a cruise to South Georgia or across the Drake Passage, for example. In British waters, any albatross is most likely a Black-browed, which has summered in Gannet colonies including RSPB Bempton Cliffs in recent years. Report and photograph any albatross seen from a British ferry or headland.

Habitat, diet and field notes

Habitat: Southern Ocean (no British record).
Diet: Squid.
Field note: Massive wingspan.

How to identify a Wandering Albatross

Enormous. The wingspan averages about 3.1 metres, the largest of any living bird and well beyond the 1.8 metres of a Gannet. Old adults are white-bodied and white-backed with black wingtips and a black trailing edge, plus a large pink bill. Juveniles are chocolate brown with a white face and white underwings, and whiten over many years. The wings are long, narrow and held stiff. It glides for minutes without a flap, rising and falling over the swell.

Call and song

Silent at sea, apart from croaks and squeals when birds squabble over food behind a boat. The braying, bill-clapping display is given only at breeding colonies.

Confusion species

• Black-browed Albatross: Black-browed is much smaller, with a solid dark back joining the wings, a dark brow and a yellow-orange bill.
• Northern Gannet: Gannet is the big white seabird you will see in Britain: smaller, with a dagger bill, pointed tail and black only on the wingtips.

Related guide Rare birds in the UK.

Conservation status and Birdedex points

In the Birdedex the Wandering Albatross is a Legendary tier bird, worth +50 points when you log one. It is on our list as a European species. It is not on the British List.

Recent UK sightings

Similar birds

• Great Black HawkLegendary · Tropical wetlands (no British record)
• Northern FlickerLegendary · Open woodland (no British record)
• Red-necked NightjarLegendary · Scrub
• Golden EagleLegendary · Scottish Highlands

Wandering Albatross: quick answers

Has a Wandering Albatross ever been seen in the UK?

No. There is no accepted record for Britain. The albatrosses that have reached British waters are Black-browed, seen in a number of years, and Atlantic Yellow-nosed, a much rarer visitor.

What does a Wandering Albatross eat?

Mainly squid, with fish and crustaceans, taken from the sea surface. It also scavenges offal behind fishing boats. That habit draws birds to baited longline hooks, where many drown.

What habitat does Wandering Albatross live in?

Open ocean. It spends almost its whole life over deep water in the windy latitudes of the southern hemisphere and comes to land only to breed, on remote sub-Antarctic islands. Some authorities now call this species Snowy Albatross.

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