Critically Endangered
Waved Albatross
Phoebastria irrorata
Waved Albatross is a tubenose seabird in the family Diomedeidae (order Procellariiformes) — Phoebastria irrorata, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
Even more distinctive is the very long, bright yellow bill, that looks disproportionately large in comparison to the relatively small head and long, slender neck. Juveniles are similar to adults except for more white on their head. Chicks have brown fluffy feathers.
Range and habitat
The waved albatross breeds primarily on Española Island in the Galápagos archipelago. Even so, there have been sightings of non-breeders and therefore possible small numbers, around 10 to 20, of breeders on Genovesa Island and Isla de la Plata. In January 2026, a waved albatross was spotted off the coast of California near Piedras Blancas Light Station, approximately 3,300 miles from its normal range. The waved albatross, also known as Galapagos albatross, is one of three species of the family Diomedeidae that occur in the tropics.
The population of waved albatrosses on the Galápagos is protected by national park personnel, and the island is also categorized as a World Heritage Site.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
When foraging, the waved albatross finds places in the ocean where prey will be near this surface. This is the most effective way for the albatross to get its food. The waved albatrosses will forage 10 to 100 km (6.2–62.1 mi) away from the place where the chicks are nesting to get food for them.
There is no "nest" created, even so, eggs are simply laid in a depression on bare ground. The courtship of the waved albatross is a very elusive and spectacular sight.
In crisis
But limited range, bycatch by longline fishing, disturbance via tourism, disease, and the effects of illegal fishing in the nearby waters place them in considerable jeopardy. Longline fishing in particular seems to be having a severe impact on the species, the conservation status of that was upgraded from near threatened to vulnerable by the IUCN in 2000. Despite there still being some 34,700 adult birds in 2001, their numbers have apparently started to decrease at an unknown rate more recently, probably due to longline fishing that also upsets the sex ratio (males being killed more frequently).
As the current situation makes the population highly vulnerable to a catastrophic collapse to extinction, it was uplisted to critically endangered status in the 2007 IUCN Red List. The population of 34,700 adult birds was based on a 2001 estimate. However in 1970 and 1971 there were an estimated 24,000, and 1994 saw between 31,200 and 36,400.
Waved Albatross is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Waved Albatross, Wikidata item Q735296. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
