Northern Royal Albatross
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[Photo] flying Northern Royal Albatross. Picture from December 2004 at Otagao Penninsula, NZ by Lomvi.

The Northern Royal Albatross (Diomedea sanfordi) is a large seabird from the albatross family. It was split from the closely related Southern Royal Albatross as recently as 1998, though not all scientists support that conclusion and consider both of them to be subspecies of the Royal Albatross. The Northern Royal Albatross can be distinguished from the Southern at sea by its upper wings, the plumage of which are all dark compared to the large areas of white on the Southern. The two species also differ in behaviour.

Northern Royal Albatrosses nest on the Chatham Islands, Enderby Island in the Auckland Islands as well as on the Otago Peninsula, on the South Island of New Zealand. Their colonies are denser than those of any other great albatross. A single egg is laid in a nest which takes both parents around 80 days to incubate. The chick is brooded for a month, and is ready to fledge after around 240 days. At sea Northern Royal Albatrosses have a circumpolar range, frequently feeding off the Patagonian shelf. They predominantly feed on squid, which provides 85% of their diet by weight, but they also eat some fish.

Northern Royal Albatrosses are listed as an endangered species. Their main breeding grounds on the Chatham Islands have been badly damaged by a series of intense storms and the resulting lack of nesting material has lowered their breeding success. Chicks and eggs of birds breeding on the South Island have also been preyed upon by introduced species.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Royal_Albatross

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