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3

Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) Alternate name(s): "Black-browed Mollymawk" Size: 0.85-0.95 m; wing span 2.1-2.5 m Body mass: 3.0-5.0 kg Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.88-1.06

Australia: Family Group 3 Family Group 3 table Southern Fulmar Antarctic Petrel Cape Petrel Mottled Petrel Black-winged Petrel Providence Petrel Grey-faced Petrel Kermadec Petrel Soft-plumaged Petrel Tahiti Petrel Buller's Shearwater Wedge-tailed Shearwater Flesh-footed Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Short-tailed Shearwater Fluttering Shearwater Hutton's Shearwater Little Shearwater Antarctic Prion Slender-billed Prion Fairy Prion Blue Petrel Southern Giant-Petrel Northern Giant-Petrel Light-mantled Albatross Wandering Albatross Southern Royal Albatross Northern Royal Albatross Black-browed Albatross Campbell Albatross Buller's Albatross Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Shy Albatross Common Diving-Petrel Wilson's Storm-Petrel New Zealand Storm-Petrel White-faced Storm-Petrel Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Black-browed Albatrosses are very big seabirds with an almost all-white body plumage. Adult birds have a broad black fringe all around the underwings. The upperwings are all dark-grey. The bill is yellow-orange, with a pink tip, the black eyes are outlined by a grey-black eye stripe. Immature birds and different races have varying degrees of grey in their plumage, especially on the underwings. Immature Black-browed Albatrosses also have a brownish-black bill, or yellowish bill with a dark tip. Juveniles have a narrow light-grey collar.

Taxonomy, classification See Black-browed Albatross at Wikipedia . Click here for classification information The Black-browed Albatross is in some references considered to be conspecific with the Campbell Albatross.

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Black-browed Albatross is available HERE . There are two races of Black-browed Albatrosses, nominate race "melanophris" and race "impavida". The range of the Black-browed Albatross is circumpolar in the southern hemisphere, encompassing all southern oceans and coastal waters around the southern continents. They breed on islands in the southern oceans, with the largest population breeding on the Falkland Islands. The South Atlantic population is most likely to occasionally migrate/disperse northwards, into the northern Atlantic. Race "impavida" reaches coastal waters off the Australian continent only in the South-East, in a coastal range from about Port Macquarie, NSW, to Eyre peninsula, SA. Race "melanophris" is found over a much wider coastal range, all the way from Port Macquarie, NSW, in the East (and occasionally as far North as the tropic of Capricorn), around the South coast of Australia, to about Geraldton, WA. On Australian territory, Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean is the only known breeding ground of Black-browed Albatrosses. Black-browed Albatrosses are pelagic birds that, when not breeding, spend most of their time out on the open ocean and in coastal waters. They breed on offshore islands.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "melanophris" M. Mearns reports spotting Black-browed Albatrosses, race "melanophris", on the Southern Ocean, between Australia and Antarctica, in January 2005. B. Hensen reports spotting a Black-browed Albatross, race "melanophris", off Mistral Point, Maroubra, Sydney, NSW, in June 2013. We have seen Black-browed Albatrosses, race "melanophris", on a pelagic to the edge of the continental shelf, 22 nautical miles (40 km) from Terrigal, NSW, in July 2013. M. Eaton reports finding Black-browed Albatrosses, race "melanophris", on a pelagic off Eaglehawk Neck, TAS, in September 2021.

Photos

Race "melanophris"

ADULT

Frontal view of a Black-browed Albatross on the water; note the characteristic black eyebrow and dark eyes, as well as the red tip of the bill
[22 NM (40 km) ESE of Terrigal, NSW, July 2013]

Near-lateral view of a Black-browed Albatross on the water
[22 NM (40 km) ESE of Terrigal, NSW, July 2013]

Lateral view of a Black-browed Albatross
[22 NM (40 km) ESE of Terrigal, NSW, July 2013]

Near-dorsal view of a Black-browed Albatross (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Frontal comparison of a Black-browed Albatross, front right, with a Shy Albatross (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Lateral comparison of a Black-browed Albatross, front right, with a Shy Albatross (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Near-lateral/ventral view of the underwings of a Black-browed Albatross in flight (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Off Mistral Point, Maroubra, Sydney, NSW, June 2013]

Lateral view from above onto the upperwings of two Black-browed Albatrosses in flight (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Southern Ocean, January 2005]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Black-browed Albatross in flight
[22 NM (40 km) ESE of Terrigal, NSW, July 2013]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view of an immature Black-browed Albatross; note the dark tip of the bill (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Near-lateral/ventral view of the underwings of a juvenile Black-browed Albatross - note the mostly dark underwings and the yellowish bill with dark tip; the ID of this bird is not certain: it could also be a juvenile Campbell Albatross [which by some is considered a race of the Black-browed Albabtross] (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Off Mistral Point, Maroubra, Sydney, NSW, June 2013]

Lateral view of a banking juvenile Black-browed Albatross in flight (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Off Mistral Point, Maroubra, Sydney, NSW, June 2013]

Food, Diet

Near-lateral view of a Black-browed Albatross picking up food scraps; in the process it is spreading its wings
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Lateral view of a Black-browed Albatross picking up food scraps (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Black-browed Albatross competing with a Shy Albatross for food scraps (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.