About Thalassarche melanophris (Temminck, 1828)
The black-browed albatross, with the scientific name Thalassarche melanophris (Temminck, 1828), is a medium-sized albatross. It measures 80 to 95 cm (31–37 in) in length, has a wingspan of 200 to 240 cm (79–94 in), and an average weight of 2.9 to 4.7 kg (6.4–10.4 lb). Its natural lifespan can exceed 70 years. It has a dark grey saddle and upperwings that contrast with its white rump and underparts. Its underwing is mostly white, with broad, irregular black margins. It has a dark eyebrow, and a yellow-orange bill with a darker reddish-orange tip. Juveniles have dark horn-colored bills with dark tips, a grey head and grey collar, and dark underwings. Features that distinguish it from other mollymawks, except the closely related Campbell albatross, include the dark eyestripe that gives the species its common name, a broad black edge along the white underside of its wings, a white head, and an orange bill tipped with darker orange. Campbell albatrosses are very similar but have a pale eye. Immature black-browed albatrosses resemble grey-headed albatrosses, but grey-headed albatrosses have entirely dark bills and more extensive dark head markings. The black-browed albatross has a circumpolar range across the southern oceans, and breeds on 12 islands within this range. In the Atlantic Ocean, it breeds on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, and the Cape Horn Islands. In the Pacific Ocean, it breeds on Islas Ildefonso, Diego de Almagro, Islas Evangelistas, Campbell Island, Antipodes Islands, Snares Islands, and Macquarie Island. In the Indian Ocean, it breeds on the Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands, Heard Island, and McDonald Island. A 2005 population count estimated there are 1,220,000 living black-browed albatrosses, totaling 600,853 breeding pairs. Of these breeding pairs, 402,571 breed in the Falklands, 72,102 breed on South Georgia Island, and 120,171 breed on the Chilean islands of Islas Ildefonso, Diego de Almagro, Islas Evangelistas, and Islas Diego RamÃrez. 600 breeding pairs are found on Heard Island, and the remaining 5,409 pairs breed on the other breeding islands. This albatross species prefers to forage over shelf and shelf-break areas. Black-browed albatrosses from the Falkland Islands winter near the Patagonian Shelf, while birds from South Georgia forage in South African waters using the Benguela Current. Chilean birds forage over the Patagonian Shelf and the Chilean Shelf, and may travel as far as New Zealand. Due to a northerly migratory tendency, this species is the albatross most likely to be found in the North Atlantic. There have been 20 possible sightings of the black-browed albatross in the Continental United States. For reproduction, this species normally nests on steep slopes covered with tussock grass, and sometimes on cliffs; however, on the Falklands it nests on flat coastal grassland. It is an annual breeder, and lays one egg between 20 September and 1 November. Breeders from the Falklands, Crozet, and Kerguelen lay their eggs approximately three weeks earlier. Both sexes share incubation duties, which last 68 to 71 days. After hatching, chicks take 120 to 130 days to fledge. Juveniles return to the colony after two to three years, but only to practice courtship rituals, as they do not start breeding until around their 10th year.
