Galapagos Islands birdlife - waved albatross

The Waved Albatross is the largest bird in the Galapagos Islands. It is found around the East Pacific. With a wingspan of 11 feet (3.5 m.) an albatross can follow wind currents for days. Their only home in Galapagos is Española (Hood) Island where spectacular courtship-displays amaze any visitor.

Albatrosses depart their lovely grounds by early January and return by early April. They follow the cold waters back to the coast of South America. When the southeast trade winds come back, they not only bring cool nutrient-rich waters, but the albatrosses as well.

Among the many interesting features of the waved albatross is the feeding mechanism of their young: fish oil! What an adaptation for long-feeding trips in the ocean. The Albatross also the ability to drink salt water and filter out the salt in a gland by their eyes. The salt is then excreted by nostril tubes through the bill.

Albatrosses spend most of their time out at sea, eating squid, fish and invertebrates. They breed almost exclusively on Espanola in colonies. They mate for life, following a courtship dance. Females lay one egg, which both parents nurture for about seven months. After that, the young flies out to sea, and returns, after five to seven years, as a mature bird ready to mate.

Waved albatrosses, like other albatrosses, engage in a very lengthy, noisy, and complex courtship ritual. The dance involves bill-fencing, in which the partners bend, face each other, and rapidly slap their bills back and forth. In another step each faces the other in an upright posture, sometimes poising with bill wide open. The bills are then shut with a loud clap. Sometimes the birds will clatter their bills rapidly. The dance also involves bowing, and parading around one another with the head swaying side to side in an exagerated sway, accompanied by a nasal "anh-a-annhh" sound. These steps are interspersed frequently with bouts of bill fencing. The dance is longer and more involved in new pairs, or in pairs that failed to breed in the previous season. For visitors lucky enough to see it,the courtship dance of the waved albatross is a highlight of any Galapagos Islands cruise trip.