Short-tailed Albatross

Phoebastria albatrus (Pallas, 1769)

Short-tailed Albatross, Phoebastria albatrus, breeds on islands in the Pacific and ranges across the North Pacific when not breeding, from the Bering Sea to the Tropic of Cancer. It nests on Minami-Kojima in the Senkaku Islands, on Tori-shima in the southern Izu Islands, with a few on Yome-jima in the Ogasawara Islands, and at Midway Atoll in the north-western Hawaiian Islands. A member of the albatross family and the order Procellariiformes, it is a seabird of the North Pacific. It was first described by Pallas in 1769.

Order

Procellariiformes

Family

Diomedeidae — Albatrosses

Breeding range

Pacific Ocean: Minami-Kojima (Senkaku Is., sw of Okinawa), Tori-shima (s Izu Is.), a few on Yome-jima (Ogasawara=Bonin Is.; se of Japan) and Midway Atoll (Northwestern Hawaiian Is.)

Nonbreeding range

North Pacific from Bering Sea to Tropic of Cancer