Black-browed Albatross

Black-browed Albatross
hunting for krill (photo Uwe Kils)
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Procellariiformes Family: Diomedeidae Genus: Diomedea
Species
Thalassarche melanophris

Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris is a large seabird of the albatross family, Diomedeidae. It is the most widespread and common albatross.

The subspecies T. m. melanophris breeds in the Cape Horn area, the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. T. m. impavida breeds on Campbell Island[?].

It can be distinguished from the Wandering Albatross by the dark eyestripe which gives it its name and a broad black edging to the white underside of its wings.

Adults have a orange-tipped yellow bill, but in young birds the bill is grey. Immatures also have a grey collar.

Black-browed is circumpolar in the southern oceans. It is the most likely albatross to be found in the North Atlantic due to a northerly migratory tendency.

Although this is a rare occurrence, on several occasions a black-browed albatross has summered in Scottish Gannet colonies for a number of years.