Details
Diomedea exulans
A giant seabird with one of the longest wingspans of any bird. Spanning over 3.6 m, it rides the winds of the Southern Ocean for thousands of kilometres with barely a wingbeat.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It lives over the open Southern Ocean, ranging circumpolar across the cold seas of the far south. To breed it gathers on the coasts of remote subantarctic islands such as South Georgia, the Crozet Islands and Kerguelen.
The wingspan reaches roughly 250 to 350 cm and the body weighs 6 to 12 kg. The bill and feet are pink; juveniles are chocolate brown, and the body whitens with each passing year until old birds are almost pure white.
It breeds only every other year and keeps the same mate for life. Using dynamic soaring to exploit the wind, it glides vast distances with almost no flapping, and some individuals circle the entire Southern Ocean several times in a single year.
A carnivore, it takes squid, fish and crustaceans from the sea surface. It also follows fishing vessels, scavenging discarded bait and offal.
First breeding comes late, at 11 to 15 years, when a single egg is laid on an island nest. Both parents share incubation over about 75 to 85 days, and rearing the chick to fledging takes a remarkable nine months to a year.
Birds live around 30 years on average and up to 50. Many drown as bycatch on tuna longlines and plastic ingestion adds further pressure, and the population is in decline.
