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Short-tailed Albatross

Short-tailed Albatross

Phoebastria albatrus

Range & Recent Observations

Short-tailed Albatrossis a year-round resident and doesn't follow a migration flyway. See the Range tab for where it lives.

Last Spotted Near You

View on eBirdWikipedia

About the Short-tailed Albatross

The short-tailed albatross or Steller's albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) is a large rare seabird from the North Pacific. Although related to the other North Pacific albatrosses, it also exhibits behavioural and morphological links to the albatrosses of the Southern Ocean. It was described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas from skins collected by Georg Wilhelm Steller (after whom its other common name is derived). Once common, it was brought to the edge of extinction by the trade in feathers, but with protection efforts underway since the 1950s, the species is in the process of recovering with an increasing population trend.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name
Phoebastria albatrus
Family
Albatrosses
Order
Procellariiformes

Similar species

Other members of the albatrosses family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

  • Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis
  • Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos
  • Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris
  • Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes
  • Chatham Albatross Thalassarche eremita
  • Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis
  • Light-mantled Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata
  • Salvin's Albatross Thalassarche salvini
  • Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata
  • White-capped Albatross Thalassarche cauta

Know when the Short-tailed Albatross turns up near you

Add it to your watchlist and draw an alert zone around the places you actually bird. Birdr checks eBird reports and tells you when one is seen inside it.

How rare bird alerts work →

Gear for spotting Short-tailed Albatross

Optics

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Spotting Scopes for Distance Birding

Essential for shorebirds, raptors, and anything too far for binoculars. Our tested picks.

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