A Black-browed Albatross doing what it does best--flying effortlessly over the southern ocean between southern Argentina and Antarctica. Photo by C Neill.
By Chris Neill
Sometimes common doesn’t necessarily mean safe.
Black-browed albatrosses were the most common seabird we observed on the voyage to Palmer Station from Punta Arenas, Chile.
These majestic flyers played tag with the L. M. Gould for most of the four-day crossing—one was rarely out of sight of the ship.
But their abundance is deceptive.
Black-browed albatrosses are listed as endangered in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Like many large seabirds, fishing poses the largest threat.
There are about 680,000 pairs of black-browed albatrosses across their circumglobal southern ocean range. More than 70 percent of those nest in the Faulkland Islands off Argentina. The population there is declining just under 1 percent per year.
Carl Safina poignantly describes the plight of seabirds in his book, Eye of the Albatross.
