WatchList Species Account for Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus)

Qualifies for the list as a Hawaii and Continental Red List Species

Photo: USFWS

Once thought extinct, the Short-tailed Albatross has only two breeding sites, on Tori-shima and the Senkaku Islands, Japan. At one time abundant and widespread in the northern Pacific, It historically also bred on other Japanese islands in addition to islands off Taiwan. It was nearly brought to extinction by Japanese plume hunters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; it was reduced to about ten pairs by 1953 but has increased slowly. The current population is estimated at 1,200 individuals, of which over 1,000 breed on Tori-shima, a volcanic island. Its preferred habitat is open, level areas near tall clumps of grass. It feeds largely on squid. Outside the breeding season it ranges along the coasts of eastern Russia, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands and rarely off the Pacific Coast of North America.

The bird is quite vulnerable because the majority of its numbers breed at a single site, and any natural disaster there or introduction of rats or other predators would have a devastating effect on its populations. Key threats include mortality associated with fisheries, particularly long-lines.