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Buller's Albatrosses are very big seabirds with an almost all black-and-white plumage. Adult birds have a medium black leading edge and a narrow black trailing edge on the underwings that also have black tips. The upperwings are all dark-grey. The bill is black, with broad yellow outer lining on both mandibles, including the tip; the eyes are black. The cap is silver-grey, while the rest of the head and the neck are grey. The underparts are white, except for the grey head and the grey tip to and otherwise white tail. The rump is white, while the tip of the uppertail is black. Immature Buller's Albatrosses have a darker head and neck than adults and a brown bill with black tip.

Twitcher's tip

The Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross has yellow lining only on the upper mandible of the bill, while Buller's Albatross has yellow lining on both mandibles.

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 Buller's Albatross is available HERE .

At sea the range of Buller's Albatrosses extends from southern Australia via New Zealand into the southern Pacific Ocean. They are regularly found along the West coast of South America, from the equator to Tierra del Fuego. Buller's Albatrosses breed only on islands around New Zealand.

Buller's Albatross reaches the coastline of Australia only in the South-east of the continent, from northern NSW in the North to about Eyre Peninsula, SA, in the South. They are routinely sighted around the seaward coastlines of Tasmania and to a lesser extent along Bass Strait. They are only occasionally found close to the coast, but more frequently out near the edge of the continental shelf.

Buller's Albatrosses are pelagic birds that spend most of their time out on the open ocean and in coastal waters. They breed on offshore islands.

M. Roderick reports spotting Buller's Albatrosses repeatedly on pelagics from the South-east coast of Australia (both from Port Stephens and from Swansea), e.g. in March 2012, July 2013, July 2016 and June 2017.

M. Eaton reports finding Buller's Albatrosses on a pelagic off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, in September 2021.