Hawaiian name: Makalena
Scientific name: Phoebastria albatrus
- Life Span: > 40 years
- Wingspan: 213-229 cm (6.9-7.5 ft)
- Breeding ecology:
- Monogamous, philopatric (on Torishima and Senkaku Islands, Japan)
- 1 egg/clutch, 1 egg/year
- Chicks hatch December through January, fledge 5-6 months post-hatch.
- Thought to be extinct in 1949; short-tailed albatross is listed as Endangered. Current world population is about 3,400 individuals.
- Chicks were translocated from Japan’s Torishima to Bonin Islands (Mokujima) from 2008-2012 to expand breeding colony range.
- On average, one pair breed on Midway Atoll each year. Decoys have been in place on Eastern Island and FOMA funded acoustic attraction devices are on an elevated area of Sand Island to entice more makalena to nest there. A FOMA funded wildlife camera has been documenting the behaviors of a breeding makalena couple since 2021 on Sand Island as well as the return of two sibling juveniles, one that hatched in 2019 and 2020. To date this couple has raised 5 chicks!
- Key threats: active volcano at primary nesting colony (Torishima) and longline fisheries.