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The small colony of Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi at Taiaroa Head at the end of the Otago Peninsula on the South Island of New Zealand is perhaps the World's best-known albatross breeding site.  It is certainly one of the very few that can be viewed by the general public, along with Kilauea Point on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i, where Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis may be seen breeding.

This year the Royals of Taiaroa have achieved a 100% hatching success rate with all 17 eggs laid producing chicks (click here).  This is the first time all the eggs laid in a single season have hatched successfully in 16 years of observations.  A female-female pair has also managed to hatch an egg, presumably fertilized by an extra-pair male.

Taiaroa Head was also the home of "Grandma", a Royal Albatross that lived for over 60 years (click here).

Read more about the albatrosses of Taiaroa at http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/about-doc/concessions-and-permits/conservation-revealed/toroa-royal-albatross-lowres.pdf. 

Information on how to visit Taiaroa Head may be found at the Royal Albatross Centre's web site.


 

The ACAP Species Assessment for the Northern Royal Albatross may be found at http://www.acap.aq/acap-species.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 March 2010