Return of Bird of the Week: Light-mantled Sooty Albatross
A smaller member of the albatross family, the Light-manted Sooty Albatross (sometimes called the Light-mantled Albatross) is another circumpolar species. The species is “small” only in relation to other albatrosses. With a wingspan of six to seven feet and a weight of as much as eight pounds, the bird is larger than Golden Eagle and much, much more aerobatic. There are only about 58,000 birds remaining, and the species is in decline. Another victim of long-line fishing, their situation is worsened by their very slow reproductive rates. On average, birds only begin breeding when they are 8 to 15 years old,after…
Bird of the Week – Light-mantled Sooty Albatross
If there is a family of birds that, to WC, epitomizes the ocean, it’s the Albatrosses. Coming ashore only to breed, this is a family of birds that lives on the wind and waves. And surely the most handsome of the albatrosses is the Light-mantled Sooty. It’s one of the smaller albatross species, but it isn’t a small bird. An adult is about three feet long and has a wingspan of more than seven feet. For a big bird, it is elegant and grateful in flight, its wingtips just fractions of an inch above the waves. Like far too many…