Phoebetria fusca -Naturhistorisches Museum Wien -4Feb2008

The sooty albatross (''Phoebetria fusca''), also known to sailors as the Quaker, is a species of marine bird belonging to the albatross family

Diomedeidae Albatrosses, of the biological family (biology), family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariidae, procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the So ...

. It is a medium-sized albatross that sports a sooty-brown or sooty-black color. It can be found in the

southern Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, the

southern Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it ...

, and the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

. This bird scavenges for

squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

, and

carrion Carrion (), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals. Overview Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...

. Like other albatrosses, these birds mate for life and return to the same breeding spots every season. A single pair will mate every other year on a variety of islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean and the southern Indian Ocean islands. This bird is an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

and conservation efforts are taking place.

Taxonomy

The sooty albatross belongs to the genus '' Phoebetria'' of which there are two species: '' P. palpebrata'' (Foster, 1785) and ''P. fusca'' (Hilsenberg, 1822). The two species were discovered separately but were not placed in the same genus until 1913, which was later confirmed by cytochrome-b gene sequencing.Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. 2010. ACAP Species assessments: Sooty Albatross Phoebetria fusca. Sooty albatrosses belong to the

family, which comprises albatrosses and mollymawks. Of the Diomedeidae, the sooty albatross belongs to the genus Phoebetria, one of the four genera in the family. Diomedeidae is a part of the order

Procellariiformes Procellariiformes is an order (biology), order of seabirds that comprises four family (biology), families: the albatrosses, the Procellariidae, petrels and shearwaters, and two families of storm petrels. Formerly called Tubinares and still call ...

which are tube-nosed seabirds including

shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season. Description These tube ...

fulmar The fulmars are tube-nosed seabirds in the family Procellariidae. The family includes two extant species, and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene. Fulmars superficially resemble gulls, but are readily distinguished by their flight on s ...

petrel Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes. Description Petrels are a monophyletic group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses". Petrels enco ...

s, and of course albatrosses.

Description

The sooty albatross is a medium-sized albatross, measuring about from head to tail, with a wingspan. Average adult body mass is about 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs), with males weighing more than females.

Plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

ranges from a sooty-brown to a sooty-black color depending on the individual, but the head and sometimes tail are typically darker than the rest of the body. Around almost the entire eye, excluding the inner corner, a white ring is present. On the lower jaw, a yellow to orange line is present on the beak, which is otherwise a uniform glossy black. Juvenile or immature sooty albatrosses look nearly identical after losing their

down feather The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and p ...

s.NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Threatened Species Information: Sooty Albatross (1999).

Distribution and habitat

The sooty albatross can be found in the

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, the

, and the

between Australia and South America, although they have not been recorded in the South Pacific Ocean between Australia and South America. Its northern and southern limits are approximately 20°S and 65°S, respectively, and an eastern and western limit of approximately 160°E and 75°W.BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: ''Phoebetria fusca''. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org. This albatross nests on islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean (

Gough Island Gough Island ( ), also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares, is a rugged volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan d ...

and the

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcano, volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is one of three constituent parts of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascensi ...

group) and the southern Indian Ocean (

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

Marion Island The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited subantarctic volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean that are administered by South Africa. They are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and P ...

, the

Crozet Islands The Crozet Islands (; or, officially, ''Archipel Crozet'') are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. History ...

, Amsterdam Island, and the

Kerguelen Islands The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the subantarctic, sub-Antarctic region. They are among the Extremes on Earth#Remoteness, most i ...

). In general, the sooty albatross can be found

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...

over deep ocean. Non-breeding adults do not often venture out of their native oceans but have a broader foraging range, while breeding adults forage closer to their breeding sites (within 600 km) and juvenile birds tend to be confined to subtropical waters.

Behavior and ecology

The sooty albatross is a marine bird that spends more of its non-breeding life over the ocean. When breeding, it will return to land and continue to breed there for life. Below is a closer look into the feeding and reproductive habits of the sooty albatross.

Feeding

The sooty albatross feeds almost exclusively by surface-seizing, a method that requires little to no submersion. Their diet consists of

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...

s (mainly

, other seabirds,

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s, and

. They are not known to deep dive, but instead scavenge at the surface of the ocean for already-deceased and floating prey, especially squid. Although cephalopods consistently make up the bulk of their diet, the proportion of each constituent varies with location of feeding, relative abundance of prey, and time of year.

Reproduction

The sooty albatross is a biennial breeder, meaning they breed every other year, with the exception of a mating pair unsuccessfully rearing a chick, in which case they will try again the following year.Carboneras, C., Jutglar, F., & Kirwan, G. M. (2020). Sooty albatross (Phoebetria fusca). ''Birds of the World''. This is because the mating season spans from June of one year to May of the next and, unlike other albatrosses, they do not participate in replacement laying. During mating season, sooty albatrosses are usually found in colonies of up to 50 mating pairs, though are occasionally found nesting as a single pair. These birds, like many other albatross species, build life-long partnerships and often return to the exact same location each mating season. A mating pair will use materials found around their nesting site (including grass, mud, and moss) to build a short nest with a central indent. The nest is typically built on cliffs or on steep sloped for easy arrival and departure. The pair is very protective of their nest, and will defend it with threat displays to assert their territory. Pairs typically arrive at their mating colony or location in mid July, where they will lay their egg between mid September to the end of October. From then until mid January of the next year, they will incubate their egg for approximately 70 days until hatching. Parents will brood their chicks for roughly three months, taking turns incubating and hunting, before departing. The chicks remain at the breeding site until the end of May when they are ready to

fledge Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between egg, hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnera ...

Conservation

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

ranks the sooty albatross as an

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

species, with the most recent count of mature species being between 22,724 and 27,968 individuals and declining. Over the past three generations (about 90 years), there has been an overall decrease in population size of 60%, although the rate has been slowing down recently. Threats to this population and conservation efforts are discussed below.

Threats

Threats to this species are driven by both natural and anthropogenic effects. Natural forces include the predation of chicks by

giant petrel Giant petrels form a genus, ''Macronectes'', from the family Procellariidae, which consists of two living and one extinct species. They are the largest birds in this family. Both extant species in the genus are native to the Southern Hemisphere. ...

s and mice on islands, infectious diseases such as avian cholera, and the disturbance of breeding grounds by introduced animals and fires. Anthropogenic forces threatening the sooty albatross includes pollution and long-line fisheries. Similar to almost all (if not all) seabirds and marine species, the sooty albatross is affected by pollution of plastics, oils, and chemicals. Long-line fishing is one of the biggest threats to albatrosses across the world, and the sooty albatross is not an exception. These fishing vessels include commercial and illegal initiatives, like the tuna and Patagonian tooth fish industries.Petrossian, G. A., Pires, S. F., Sosnowski, M., Venu, P., & Olah, G. (2022). Threats of longline fishing to global albatross diversity. ''Animals, 12''(7), 887.

Conservation efforts

Efforts are being made to reduce the decline of this species. One notable example is the use of fishing techniques that are specifically designed to decrease the amount of seabird-bycatch of long-line fishing vessels. Australia is also working to preserve breeding areas of this bird. Moreover, the sooty albatross is protected on Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island in a nature preserve and a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

, and Price Edward Island is also a nature reserve. Scientists propose that frequent population surveys are conducted at breeding sites, and that the correlation between foraging areas and long-line fisheries is further examined.

Footnotes

References

* Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. 2010. ACAP Species assessments: Sooty Albatross Phoebetria fusca. Downloaded from http://www.acap.aq. * * * * * * * * Klages, N. T. W. (1995). The diets and dietary segregation of sooty albatrosses (''phoebetria'' spp.) at subantarctic Marion Island. ''Antarctic Science'', ''7''(1), 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102095000046 * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1265896 sooty albatross Birds of islands of the Atlantic Ocean Birds of subantarctic islands Fauna of Gough Island Fauna of the Prince Edward Islands Fauna of the Crozet Islands sooty albatross sooty albatross

Taxonomy

Description

Distribution and habitat

Behavior and ecology

Feeding

Reproduction

Conservation

Threats

Conservation efforts

See also

Footnotes

References