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 EN    Sooty Albatross Id (Atlas): 092
    Phoebetria fusca Winter Resident

Description (10)
Image of Sooty Albatross
 

Family
Diomedeidae (Albatrosses)

Size
84 - 90 cm
Wingspan: 203 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Hilsenberg, 1822)

Derivation
Phoe-bë'-tri-a - Gk, phoibetria, prophetess: fus'-ca - L., fuscus, brown

Abundance (Guide)
UC

Rare but probably regular fall - winter visitor to northern and south-eastern Queensland and New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia.

Habitat
Marine, pelagic, mainly sub-tropical and sub-Antarctic waters during summer. In winter mainly in sub-tropical zone.

Range (Guide)
Argentina (NB), Atlantic (Antarctic) (NB), Australia (NB), Brazil (NB), Eastern Indian Ocean (NB), French Southern Territories (B), Heard Island and McDonald Islands (NB), Indian Ocean (Antarctic) (B) (NB), South Africa (B), Southeast Atlantic (B) (NB), Southwest Atlantic (NB), St Helena (B), Uruguay (NB), Western Indian Ocean (B) (NB).

Vagrant to Antarctica, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Mauritius, New Zealand, Réunion, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans, breeding from Tristan da Cunha and Gough I eastwards to Kerguelen Is and Amsterdam and St Paul Is.
 
Image of Range of Sooty Albatross
Breeds on various sub-Antarctic islands. Maybe a regular visitor to the seas off the southern coast of Australia, especially in the south-west and off Tasmania.
 
Rarity Status
View Rarity Status Information

Population
Estimated population is 42,000 (2010) and decreasing.

Status EN
Vulnerable.

See also EPBC Act List of Threatened Fauna.

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Food
Cuttle-fish and other marine life, as well as galley-refuse from ships.

Voice
A wild double-note 'pee-oo' to birds overhead, while nesting, maybe indicating occupied territory. Bill clapping in display.

Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds mostly on sub-Antarctic Islands (September - November).

J F M A M J J A S O N D
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Nest
A conical mound, composed of earth, mixed with vegatation, usually on cliffs. In loose colonies.

Eggs (Guide)
1; white with grey-brown speckles; ellipsoidal; about 101 x 66 mm. Incubation: about 70 days; by both sexes.

Young
Semi-altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 150 days.

Subspecies
Formerly regarded as conspecific with Light-mantled Sooty Albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata), but differences in courtship display and timing of breeding prevent interbreeding at sites of overlap.

No subspecies.

Similar Species
Immature Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans), which has a white face, and paler bill, and immature Giant Petrels, which have pale, heavy, tube-nose bills.


References
See References.

The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9

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Files:
JPG files for Sooty Albatross (Phoebetria fusca) - 10 files


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BirdLife International

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