The Wandering Tattler

See entries posted April 14 - 26 for an explanatory narrative. Click on each thumbnail to see a larger image. These images show two species of wandering albatross (Antipodean and Auckland or Gibson's) which differ most conspicously in the degree of pigmentation. Wandering albatrosses are variously reported as having the longest or second longest wingspans of all extant bird species. Ten foot wingspans are common, and some authorities list ten and a half feet as "credible." The Guinness Book of World Records cites a wandering albatross whose wing span was measured in 1965 as 11 feet 11 inches. The average wingspan of the royal albatross (a heavier species which also nests in NZ) may be greater than that of the wandering albatross. These female wandering albatrosses foraging off the Kaikoura coast will return to feed their hatchlings on islands 500 to 700 miles to the south or southeast after a round trip of one thousand miles or more!