
Buller's albatross (''Thalassarche bulleri'') or Buller's mollymawk, is a small
mollymawk in the
albatross
Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North P ...
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
.
It breeds on islands around
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
, and feeds in the seas off
Australia and the South
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
.
Taxonomy
Mollymawks are a type of albatross that belong to the family
Diomedeidae
Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pac ...
of the order
Procellariiformes
Procellariiformes is an order of seabirds that comprises four families: the albatrosses, the petrels and shearwaters, and two families of storm petrels. Formerly called Tubinares and still called tubenoses in English, procellariiforms are of ...
, along with
shearwater
Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season.
Description
These t ...
s,
fulmar
The fulmars are tubenosed seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene.
Fulmars superficially resemble gulls, but are readily distinguished by their flight o ...
s,
storm petrels, and
diving petrels. They share certain identifying features. First, they have nasal passages called
naricorns that attach to the upper bill, although the nostrils on the albatross are on the sides of the bill. The bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into seven to nine horny plates. Finally, they produce a
stomach oil
Stomach oil is the light oil composed of neutral dietary lipids found in the proventriculus (fore-gut) of birds in the order Procellariiformes. All albatrosses, procellarids (gadfly petrels and shearwaters) and northern and austral storm petre ...
made up of
wax ester
A wax ester (WE) is an ester of a fatty acid and a fatty alcohol. Wax esters comprise the main components of three commercially important waxes: carnauba wax, candelilla wax, and beeswax..
Wax esters are formed by combining one fatty acid with ...
s and
triglycerides
A triglyceride (TG, triacylglycerol, TAG, or triacylglyceride) is an ester derived from glycerol and three fatty acids (from ''tri-'' and '' glyceride'').
Triglycerides are the main constituents of body fat in humans and other vertebrates, as ...
that is stored in the
proventriculus The proventriculus is part of the digestive system of birds.Encarta World English Dictionary orth American Edition(2007). ''Proventriculus''. Source: (accessed: December 18, 2007) An analogous organ exists in invertebrates and insects.
Birds
Th ...
. This is used against predators as well as an energy rich food source for chicks and for the adults during their long flights. They also have a
salt gland
The salt gland is an organ for excreting excess salts. It is found in the cartilaginous fishes subclass elasmobranchii (sharks, rays, and skates), seabirds, and some reptiles. Salt glands can be found in the rectum of sharks. Birds and reptil ...
that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies, due to the large amount of ocean water that they imbibe. It excretes a highly saline solution from their nose.
In 1998, C.J.R. Robertson and G. B. Nunn split this species into two, ''Thalassarche (bulleri) bulleri'', and ''Thalassarche (bulleri) platei'', although the majority of authorities including
ITIS
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American partnership of federal agencies designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagenc ...
,
[ITIS] James Clements,
[Clements, J. (2007)] BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
,
[BirdLife International (2008)] and Michael Brooke
[Brooke, M. (2004)] have not yet accepted this split
Etymology
It was named for the New Zealand
ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
Walter Buller
Sir Walter Lawry Buller (9 October 1838 – 19 July 1906) was a New Zealand lawyer and naturalist who was a dominant figure in New Zealand ornithology. His book, ''A History of the Birds of New Zealand'', first published in 1873, was publish ...
.
Description
Buller's albatross averages . It has a silver-grey forehead, a grey head and throat. It has a black patch around the eyes with a white crescent behind and below the eye. Its back, upperwing, and tail are dark grey, and its rump and underparts are white. Its underwing is white with a black tip, with a broad sharply demarcated dark band at the leading edge. Its bill is large and black with yellow on the upper
mandible
In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bon ...
, and the tip. The juvenile has a darker head and a brown bill.
Behaviour
Reproduction
The Buller's albatross is
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 a ...
, nesting generally on cliffs, steep coastal terraces, grassy meadows, and tussock covered hills.
[Marchant, S. & Higgins, P. J. (1990)] Birds in the
Snares Islands
The Snares Islands / Tini Heke, known colloquially as The Snares, is a group of uninhabited islands lying about 200 km south of New Zealand's South Island and to the south-southwest of Stewart Island / Rakiura. The Snares consist of the ...
also nest under trees inland.
The nest is mound of soil, grass and roots and is set into depressions in the breeding area. Breeding begins in December. Eggs on the Snares are laid in late January (around the 21-23 of January).
incubation lasts around 60 days, with both parents sharing the responsibility. The average incubation shift is around 10 days. After hatching it takes 170 days to
fledge
Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight.
This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnera ...
the chick. They breed annually.
Feeding
Buller's albatross feeds on
squid
True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting ...
, fish,
tunicates
A tunicate is a marine invertebrate animal, a member of the subphylum Tunicata (). It is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords (including vertebrates). The subphylum was at one time ...
,
octopus
An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefis ...
, and
crustacea
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...
.
[James, J. D. & Stahl, J. C. (2000)][West, J. A. & Imber, M. G. (1986)]
Range and habitat
Buller's albatross is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
. They breed on
Snares Islands
The Snares Islands / Tini Heke, known colloquially as The Snares, is a group of uninhabited islands lying about 200 km south of New Zealand's South Island and to the south-southwest of Stewart Island / Rakiura. The Snares consist of the ...
,
Solander Island,
Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands ( ) ( Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about t ...
(
Big and Little Sister and
Forty-fours Island), and
Three Kings Islands
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 190 ...
(
Rosemary Rock
Rosemary Rock is a rugged islet, 170 m long by 40 m across at sea level, rising to about 50 m. It is the smallest of the Princes Chain of the Three Kings Islands, Three Kings archipelago lying 57 km off the north-western tip of ...
). Adults forage between 40°S and 50°S from
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
to the
Chatham Rise.
[Stahl, J. C. & Sagar, P. M. (2000)(a)][Stahl, J. C., et al. (1998)][Sagar, P. M. & Stahl, J. C. (2005)] Juveniles and adults that aren't breeding disperse across the South Pacific with a number feeding every year in the
Humboldt Current off
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
and
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
.
[Stahl, J. C. & Sagar, P. M. (2000)(b)][Spear, L. B., et al. (2003)][Taylor, G. A. (2000)]
Conservation

It was formerly classified as a
vulnerable species
A vulnerable species is a species which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve.
Vulne ...
by the
IUCN.
[Lee, James (6 Oct 2008)] But new research has shown it to be not as rare as it was believed. Consequently, it was downlisted to
near threatened
A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...
status in 2008.
It has an occurrence range of and a breeding range of . According to a 1999 estimate, there are 64,000 birds and there are 31,939 breeding adults. These are located as follows: 8,877 pairs on the
Snares Islands
The Snares Islands / Tini Heke, known colloquially as The Snares, is a group of uninhabited islands lying about 200 km south of New Zealand's South Island and to the south-southwest of Stewart Island / Rakiura. The Snares consist of the ...
, 4,912 pairs on
Solander Island,
[Sagar, P. M., et al. (1999)] 16,000 pairs on
Forty-fours Island, 2,130 pairs on
Big and Little Sister, 20 pairs on Rosemary Rock in the Three Kings group.
[Croxall, J. P. & Gales, R. (1998)]
The Snares Islands population has been increasing, but lately not as much as in the 1970s,
whereas the
Solander Island population which was stable from 1985 to 1996 has now shown about an 18% increase.
The survival rate of adults on the Snares Islands increased to 95.5%
[Sagar, P. M., et al. (2000)] and brooding success rate was 70.8%,
[Sagar, P. M., et al. (2002)] whereas on
Big and Little Sister, adult survival rate is 93.5% and the brooding success rate is between 57-60%.
Buller's albatross is the most common
bycatch
Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juven ...
from
longline fisheries out of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
,
[Bartle, J. A. (1990)][Murray, T. E., et al. (1993)] and, even though net-sonde cables were banned in 1992, squid trawlers still catch them.
Finally,
weka
The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen (''Gallirallus australis'') is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. It is the only extant member of the genus '' Gallirallus''. Four subspecies are recog ...
''Gallirallus australis'' was introduced to
Big Sister and may take eggs and chicks.
Most islands are legally protected, except for the
Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands ( ) ( Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about t ...
colonies which are on private land.
Footnotes
References
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External links
Species factsheet- BirdLife International
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1004361
Buller's albatross
Birds of New Zealand
Birds of Tasmania
Birds of the Chatham Islands
Snares Islands / Tini Heke
Buller's albatross