Male and female individuals perform complex displays before mating. The male begins when it sees a female approach, trying to attract the female by dancing on the spot. If the female is interested it will approach the male with its head slightly lowered. The female then taps the side of the male’s bill and may nibble on the breast feathers. The two birds then enter a dance routine consisting of a series of discrete movements. These movements can be combinations of sounds and body motions or even staring at each other or throwing bits of dirt. A bird will go though there whole dance routine even if their partner stops. Sometimes, the birds will gradually synchronize their dance routines. (Meseth 242) If they conclude the dance and mate or begin preening each other the pair bond is thought to have formed. Juveniles and very occasionally chicks will do limited dance routines (Meseth 246)

The famous Midway atoll has a large colony of nesting Laysan albatross and also a large number of abandoned structures. Lead paint is chipping off the abandoned World War Two era buildings. Fledglings often ingest the chips, which leads to lead poisoning and a condition called “droop-wing syndrome”. Because of nerve damage from lead poisoning, the fledgling cannot hold its wings against its body. Instead, they droop and scrape against the ground. The fledgling cannot fly and will eventually starve. Fledgling mortality is abnormally high on the islands and droop-wing seems to be more prevalent near abandoned buildings with peeling paint. (Sileo 433)

A nesting colony exists on Clarion Island which hosts a military base. The nesting birds are routinely predated by invasive mammals which are being continually introduced. Military personnel and general activity on the base also disturbs the birds. As of 1988, the date of the last count, this population was down to 30 nesting pairs. The largest population in the east pacific is on Guadalupe Island which also hosts a military base. This colony may also be threatened. (Pitman 160)

A single egg is laid per season. The egg is ovate or elliptical. It is colored white and sometimes has reddish blood spots from ruptured capillaries in the parent. It is typically 108 mm in length and 67.1 mm in diameter, about the median for albatross species. It typically weighs 278 grams. The male may or may not be present during egg laying. If it is, it tends to make a soft "moo" sound when the egg is deposited. (Fisher 109)

The species is monogamous and breeding pairs tend to stay together for years. Females start developing the eggs before they reach shore and find their partner. First time breeders lay eggs with much less frequency and later in the season than returning breeders. However, young females paired with older males tend to match the laying cycles of older females. (Fisher 106) The environment affects breeding patterns heavily. When severely disturbed, up to 72% of the population may fail to breed or choose not to. (Stahl 328)

The mother often lays the egg directly on the ground before even beginning a nest. (Fisher 108) The nest once built consists of a dirt mound with a deep depression in the center. Once a mother has established a nest location it returns to it year after year, and usually only moves locations of it finds a new mate.

During brooding, the albatross makes short foraging trips to sites close to the shore. In Hawaii these sites tend to be warmer and deeper than its usual foraging grounds and are much less productive. Once the chick has hatched and can be left unattended the parent travels much farther distances to more productive sites. (Awkerman 290)

99.9% of Laysan albatrosses nest in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The rest live on other Pacific islands and in Mexico. Laysan populations seem to be spreading, with entirely new nesting colonies forming in some places. New colonies have sprung up on islets off Guadalupe Island, Mexico. This is probably due to the fact that invasive mammals that predate the colonies have not reached these islets. (Pitman 160)

The diet of the Laysan Albatross is believed to consist primarily of squid. A study of Albatross pellets from Guadalupe Island found that 99.7% of their diet consists of cephalopods, the rest fish. This is hard to know for certain, since other prey such as fish may not show up in the pellets collected by researchers. Squid have a hard beak that resists the digestive process. (Pitman 162) Instead of catching live squid, the Laysan albatross may scavenge dead squid floating on the ocean surface. This is supported by the fact that they eat primarily squid species that live in deep water but the females die after mating. The albatrosses have also been found to mostly forage during the day when squid do not surface and land in order to sleep at night. This further supports the theory that they scavenge their food. (Pitman 164) Unlike many albatross species they do not tend to follow ships in order to scavenge food. (Meseth 218)

Laysan albatrosses breed on the Hawaiian islands, some of Japan’s Bonin Islands, Guadalupe Island, and other islands off the coast of western Mexico. These albatrosses mainly breed in the Hawaiian archipelago; more than half of the population breeds on Midway Island. Their name comes from the breeding colony on Laysan, in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. When Laysan albatrosses are not breeding, they occur throughout the Pacific Ocean. Birds spend nearly half the year (July through November) at sea and don’t land until breeding season. Non-breeding albatrosses are found mostly near the Aleutians and the Bering Sea. Laysan albatrosses take off from breeding grounds in July and head northwest towards Japan, northeast in August, and then south again to breeding islands in November. Their range is limited by central Pacific winds because albatrosses depend on wind currents for sustained flight.

Biogeographic Regions: oceanic islands (Native ); pacific ocean (Native )

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Transient

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Breeding

Global Range: (20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles)) Breeds on most of northwestern Hawaiian Islands, from Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to Kauai in the main islands (Whittow 1993); attempts have been made to nest on Oahu, Molokai, Niihau, and Moku Manu in the main islands, but with little success owing in part to active human discouragement because of danger to aircraft; also nests on Ogasawara Islands, and at least formerly on Seven Islands of Izu, and on Marcus, Johnston, and Wake islands; recently (late 1980s and early 1990s) found nesting on Isla Guadalupe and on islas San Benedicto and Clarion of the Islas Revillagigedo, and at Alijos Rock (Whittow 1993), off western Mexico (Howell and Webb 1992, Pitman and Ballance 2002). Ranges at sea in Bering Sea, North Pacific from Alaska to coasts of Baja California, and Japan; recorded at sea between latitudes 8 degrees north and 59 degrees north, and longitudes 170 degrees east and 105 degrees west (Whittow 1993).

Laysan albatrosses have blackish-brown backs and upper wings. The primary feathers have a flash of white. The under wing is also white, with black margins. There is a dark tail band that is visible during flight. Similar species are black-footed albatrosses (Phoebastria nigripes). They are distinguished because black-footed albatrosses are dark all over, including the under wings. The other similar North American albatross species, short-tailed albatrosses (Phoebastria albatrus), have a yellow wash on the head and neck.

Range mass: 1.9 to 3.1 kg.

Average mass: 2.4 kg.

Range length: 79 to 81 cm.

Range wingspan: 195 to 203 cm.

Average basal metabolic rate: 0.53 cm^3 oxygen/hour.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry

Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike

Average basal metabolic rate: 7.462 W.

Length: 81 cm

Weight: 3230 grams

• Terrestrial
• Marine

When they land in the breeding season, Laysan albatrosses prefer to be in sandy, grassy areas on low atolls. They prefer to be next to sand dunes and shrubs such as Scaevola. The rest of the time, Laysan albatrosses are found at soaring above the sea and only land on the water to feed or sleep. Their distribution may be related to food abundance, such as squid. On land, they are not frequently found above 500 m, usually at sea level.

Range elevation: 0 to 500 m.

Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; saltwater or marine

Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune

Aquatic Biomes: pelagic

Comments: Nonbreeding: pelagic. Does not often follow ships. Nests on ground in sheltered areas and open grassy areas (e.g., lawns) on oceanic islands (especially Laysan and Midway). Usually returns to nest site used in previous year (Fisher 1975).

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Arrives in nesting areas late October-early November, males preceding females. Immatures may not migrate back to their hatching area for several years (typically about 4 years on Midway) (Fisher 1975).

Laysan albatrosses eat mainly squid but also eat fish, fish-eggs, and crustaceans. They eat small sunfish (Ranzania laevis), flying fish and their eggs (Exocoetidae), wind-sailers (Velella velella), and crustaceans such as Eurythenes gryllus. These seabirds feed mainly at night when squid are plentiful in surface waters. They are surface feeders; they feed by sitting on the water and scooping up prey from just under the surface. They can rip apart larger prey with their beaks.

Animal Foods: fish; eggs; mollusks; aquatic crustaceans

Primary Diet: carnivore (Molluscivore )

Comments: Eats squid mostly at night when squid are at ocean surface (Palmer 1962).

Laysan albatrosses, aside from preying on squid and fish and being preyed upon by tiger sharks and rats, are also hosts for occasional parasitic species. Ectoparasites can cause parasite dermatitis. A new species of chigger was found on a Laysan albatross nestling.

Commensal/Parasitic Species:

• chiggers (Apoloniinae)

Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) prey on fledglings as they swim near breeding islands, eating about 1 in 10 fledglings. Tiger sharks can also attack adults. Polynesian rats (Rattus exulans) have also been reported to attack incubating adults and nestlings. Adults will protect their nests using their bills. In the main Hawaiian islands, introduced predators such as dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) have killed Laysan albatrosses and, on Oahu, mongooses (Herpestidae) may be a threat.

Known Predators:

• tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier)
• Polynesian rats (Rattus exulans)
• domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)
• mongooses (Herpestidae)

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 6 - 80

>1,000,000 individuals

Comments: In 1996, 387,854 breeding pairs (71% of the world's population) nested on Midway Atoll (USFWS 2000).

Long-lived; low mortality arte (annual mortality rate of breeders on Midway 5-6%); breeding life expectancy 16-18 years. (Fisher 1975).

Laysan albatrosses have an elaborate courtship display that uses visual, tactile, and audio stimuli. During the courtship display, these albatrosses respond in unison to their potential mate, including a mutual bill-clicking display. When incubating eggs they make soft “eh-eh” sounds to the egg and to their partner. When males return to the breeding colony at the start of the season they make sky calls, in which males rise on their toes, point their bills at the sky and emit a long, single note.

Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic

Laysan albatrosses have a lifespan of 12to 51 years. Birds that start breeding early in life tend to die younger. Mortality rates are highest during the 3rd to 6th breeding years. The major cause of mortality in nestlings is dehydration. Many adult birds have been killed due to military and aircraft activities.

Range lifespan

Status: wild: 12 to 51 years.

Typical lifespan

Status: wild: 10 to 19 years.

Laysan albatrosses are monogamous and known for their elaborate courtship displays. This courtship display is complicated and consists of 25 different postures, from clicking beaks together to tucking them under wings, to pointing them at the sky simultaneously. Only first time breeders and non-breeding birds perform this dance. Laysan albatrosses mate for life. Males and females start breeding around 8 to 9 years of age. Pair bonds are formed over several years – albatrosses may form the pair bond in their third year but not start breeding until they are 8 or 9. Laysan albatrosses do not change mates unless one dies, but changing mates decreases breeding frequency.

Mating System: monogamous

Laysan albatrosses breed once a year and lay one egg each time they breed. If the egg is lost, it is not replaced. The incubation period lasts for about 65 days, both parents take turns incubating the egg. The nestling fledges around 165 days after hatching and leaves the nest at about the same time because the parents stop feeding it. The nestling probably leaves out of hunger and must learn how to swim, fly, and feed out of necessity.  Males and females copulate about 24 hours after arriving at the breeding colony. Within a couple of hours after copulation, both birds depart for sea and return after about 8 days. Upon her return, the female builds the nest for a day or so and then lays her egg. Nest construction continues during incubation, mostly by the female but the male contributes as well. Laysan albatrosses are colonial nesters. Nests are a depression in the sand or soil with a rim made of twigs, leaves, or sand.

Breeding interval: Laysan albatrosses breed once a year.

Breeding season: Laysan albatrosses breed from November to July.

Average eggs per season: 1.

Range time to hatching: 63.8 to 65.6 days.

Average time to hatching: 64.4 days.

Average fledging age: 165 days.

Average time to independence: 165 days.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 8.9 years.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 8.4 years.

Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)

Both sexes play an equal role in incubating the egg, maintaining the nest, and raising the young. The female on average incubates a few days less than the male does (29 vs. 36 days). Birds exchange incubation shifts, usually about 5 times, during the total period of incubation. Exchange occurs during the day, preceded by mutual preening. The relieved bird usually departs to find food within an hour. Both sexes develop an incubation patch that re-feathers after the egg is hatched. If the egg is displaced from the nest, the parent will not retrieve it. After the bird hatches, both parents play equal roles in feeding the chick regurgitated food, which usually consists of squid oil and flying fish eggs. The parent will only feed the chick at the nest site to ensure that it is feeding its own chick. The chick is brooded by the parent for the first few days and later guarded. Both parents take an equal role in guarding the chick.

Parental Investment: precocial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female)

Egg are laid November-December. Clutch size is 1. Incubation lasts 62-68 days, by both sexes in turn (turn may last weeks). Nestling stage lasts about 165 days. Young are tended by both sexes, may be left alone for 1-4 days after 6 weeks. First breeds at 5-9 years.

Laysan albatrosses are listed as vulnerable to extinction in the IUCN Red List and protected under the U.S. Migratory Bird Act. Laysan albatrosses were hunted by the Japanese for their feathers. Laysan albatrosses were also killed by collisions with antennae towers and aircraft strikes and many were intentionally killed as well to reduce collisions. On the Hawaiian islands, eggs and birds are still removed from airfields to discourage nesting. On land, introduced predators and lead poisoning kill albatrosses as well. At sea, they are killed by oil pollution, floating plastics, nets, and fishhooks. Preventive measures adopted have been alternative long-line fishing techniques such as weighing lines down to scare away birds. Topsoil and grass has been imported to islands to stabilize sand dunes and increase available habitat. Protection in wildlife refuges on other Hawaiian islands help establish breeding colonies.

US Migratory Bird Act: protected

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: appendix i

State of Michigan List: no special status

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: near threatened

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N2B - Imperiled

Rounded Global Status Rank: G3 - Vulnerable

Reasons: Modest number of nesting colonies on Pacific Ocean islands; over 70 per cent of total population nests on Midway Island; threats include mortality in commercial fisheries, predation by exotic mammals, and, on Midway Island, lead poisoning.

Intrinsic Vulnerability: Moderately vulnerable

Global Short Term Trend: Relatively stable (=10% change)

Comments: Local increases have been noted, but overall the population in northwestern Hawaii apparently is stable (Harrison et al. 1984). Apparently expanding range, based on new breeding records for islands on Pacific coast of Mexico; populations there are still extremely small, however (Pitman and Ballance 2002).

Degree of Threat: B : Moderately threatened throughout its range, communities provide natural resources that when exploited alter the composition and structure of the community over the long-term, but are apparently recoverable

Comments: Threatened by mortality from long-line fisheries. In each of the years 1996-1998 an estimated 2,000 were killed in the waters around Hawaii (Ornithological Council 1999). Loss of up to one percent of the population annually due to capture in driftnets has been reported (Whittow 1993).

"Unusually large numbers of adults died on Midway in 1995 from acute anemia of unknown origin. Lead poisoning from paint chips and necrotizing enteritis are major causes of mortality in chicks on Midway Atoll. In 1997, lead mitigation efforts on Midway were evaluated and management guidelines provided to the US Fish and Wildlife Service" (Work and Rameyer 1998).

Other threats include predation by polynesian rats, dogs, and mongoose on the main Hawaiian Islands, and collisions with objects (resulting from disorientation caused by artificial lighting). Avian pox is common.

Laysan albatrosses (Phoebastria immutabilis), which forage throughout the North Pacific, are well known for their tendency to ingest plastic. Their flexible foraging strategy has potentially led to a decrease in their foraging efficiency as they ingest large amounts of plastic, which is in turn fed to their chicks. It is unclear just how often Laysan albatrosses encounter or ingest plastic and whether plastic is mistaken for prey, has natural food attached to it, or is consumed to assist in digestion as is sometimes done with pumice. Unfortunately, plastic ingestion leads to mechanical blockage of the digestive tract, reduced food consumption, inappropriate satiation of hunger, and potential exposure to toxic compounds. While there have been documented detrimental effects on the growth rates and fledging masses of chicks, it is still unclear what levels of mortality are caused by plastic ingestion. What is clear, however, is the source of the plastic: there is now so much floating marine debris accumulated in the North Pacific gyre that is it known as the "great garbage patch". This patch consists of high densities of floating plastic debris, particularly between 20° and 40° N, within a few hundred kilometres of the coast and in the gyre centres, between the tropical and subarctic waters. This area of concentrated debris consists of two accumulations: the "Western Garbage Patch" that occurs off Japan and the"‘Eastern Garbage Patch" located between Hawaii and California. These accumulations correspond to the locations of two sub-gyres within the North Pacific Gyre connected by a narrower band of marine debris north of the Hawaiian Archipelago (where 99% of Laysan Albatrosses breed). (Young et al. 2009 and references therein)

Young et al. (2009) investigated the questions of whether Laysan albatrosses nesting on widely separated islands (Kure Atoll and Oahu Island, separated by 2,150 km) exploit resources closer to their breeding colonies during the breeding season, how their foraging locations change throughout the reproductive cycle, and whether this leads to differences in plastic ingestion as represented in their boluses (regurgitated undigestable material). Determining how and where marine organisms come into contact with marine debris could have implications for the design of management strategies that mitigate its environmental impact. To track foraging behavior and plastic ingestion, Young et al. combined the use of electronic data logging devices to determine the at-sea distributions of adults with the collection of chick boluses to evaluate differences in plastic ingestion. The authors found that chicks from Kure Atoll were fed almost ten times the amount of plastic relative to chicks from Oahu despite boluses from both colonies having similar amounts of natural food. Foraging adults from Kure had a greater overlap with the putative range of the Western Garbage Patch, possibly explaining the higher plastic loads at this colony. Furthermore, every bolus examined from Kure Atoll contained multiple pieces of fishing paraphernalia, while only two boluses on Oahu contained any evidence of fishing line or tools (despite recreational fishing adjacent to the breeding colony on Oahu), suggesting that the threat from fisheries not only comes from bycatch for this species, but also from the consumption of fishing gear. It is unclear whether the Western Garbage Patch contains more trash than the Eastern Garbage Patch or if the size and composition of the pieces are easier for the birds to ingest compared to those found in the Eastern Garbage Patch.

Management Requirements: See Podolsky (1990) for information on use of models and recordings of vocalizations to attract albatrosses to new potential nesting sites.

In the past, Laysan albatrosses have collided with aircrafts and occasionally with antennae towers. Because of these collisions, they may still face persecution on the main Hawaiian Islands.

Little is known about Laysan albatrosses and their economic importance for humans. Previously, Japanese feather hunters hunted albatrosses for their feathers. Currently, in the Hawaiian Islands, Laysan albatrosses are a tourist attraction and birders visit their breeding colonies.

Positive Impacts: body parts are source of valuable material; ecotourism

Comments: Formerly in genus Diomedea; tranferred to Phoebastria by AOU (1997). Occasionally hybridizes with P. nigripes (AOU 1998).