05 Jun 2016

'Grand Slam' of North Pacific Albatrosses

There were storm warnings out, but nothing of the magnitude that we experienced.  At Onekotan Island, the winds were predicted to be 25-30 knots but all aboard were somewhat shocked when the winds began gusting up to 90 knots.  Fortunately we were able to shelter in the lee of the Island until the worst of it was over.  

Of course, every storm has a silver, or in this case golden, lining as everyone who was on the Bridge that evening was ecstatic when a sub-adult Short-tailed Albatross flew by filling a much-wanted gap on many birding life lists.

This was, however, the precursor to a truly extraordinary 48 hours as over the next two days, at least fourteen more of these extremely rare birds were seen. With a world population of only 2,000 or so individuals, it was very much apparent that the storm had brought a significant number of birds north.

A lone Black-footed Albatross was also seen not far from Matua Island (in the Central Kurils) giving us a “grand slam” of North Pacific albatrosses on one day.

Photo credit (from file): ©ARRuss