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There are few places where members of the public are able to view breeding albatrosses without partaking in an expensive sea cruise.  One such place is Taiaroa Head at the end of the Otago Peninsula near Dunedin, New Zealand.  Here a small population of Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi may be viewed from an observation facility at the Royal Albatross Centre.

This year (the 2009/2010 breeding season) all 17 eggs that were laid hatched, a record for the colony.  By August 16 of these chicks had survived, with fledging expected by late September.

On 7 September the first bird, a 26-year old male, returned to initiate the 2010/11 breeding season.

News of the colony may be followed at http://www.albatross.org.nz/news.html.

Click here to access the ACAP Species Assessment for the Northern Royal Albatross.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 September 2010