Phoebastria nigripes

The black-footed albatross is dark brown on the upper body, white on some tails, grey on the lower body, and gradually lightening towards the middle abdomen. The undertail coverts are also partially white. White around the base of the mouth, gray on the forehead, and white stripes under and through the eyes. The anterior buccal area and chin are white, the posterior buccal area, throat and ear area are gray, and the anterior neck is grayish brown. The flight feathers, wing coverts and tail feathers are dark brown, slightly darker than the upper body. The body feathers are thick and dense and close to the body. The tip of the wing is long. There are 11 primary feathers, the first degenerated, the second longest and the eleventh shortest. Secondary feathers 37, very short. The shoulder feathers are very long, the tail is short and slightly rounded, and the tail feathers are 12. The mouth is strong and flat, medium in length, almost as long as the head. The feet are strong and short, the

The black-footed albatross is widely distributed in the northern Pacific Ocean, especially in the coastal waters of the northeast and North America, and occasionally in the Southern hemisphere. The black-footed albatross breeds in the Izu Islands off Japan and the Pacific islands of Midway, Hawaii, Ogasawara, the Sulfur Islands, Marcus Island, Johnston Island, the Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands and Wake Island in Oceania. During the non-breeding period, it roamed north to the Bering Sea, Anadell Bay, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Sea of Okhotsk, Japan, the west coast of North America, and south to the Baja California and Revia Hijdo Islands in Mexico and the Fujian and Taiwan Strait in China.
Native distribution: Canada, China, Guam, Japan, Korea, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Taiwan, United States, Hawaii.
Distribution: New Zealand.
Undetermined distribution: Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Philippines.
It is found throughout the year in the Taiwa

The Black-footed Albatross (footed Albatross) is a large seabird of the family Albatross of the order Petrel, footed.

The black-footed albatross is very similar to the short-tailed albatross subadult, but the short-tailed albatross subadult beak and feet are not black, there are obvious white spots on the body, and the closer to the adult bird the white spots are larger; In addition, the short tailed albatross individual is also larger, and can be significantly different from it; Short-tailed albatross adult bird body feathers are basically white, pink beak, individual large, easy to distinguish.

Black-footed albatrosses live alone, in pairs, or in small groups. Rest on the sea and drift with the currents. Likes to be close to ships sailing in the ocean and accompanying the flight, but does not move near the coast. In addition to daytime activities and foraging, they are often active at night. Good at flying and swimming, difficult and clumsy on land.

Black-footed albatrosses feed mainly on Marine invertebrates such as cephalopods, mollusks and fish, as well as on discarded food and garbage from boats. It does not hunt food in the air, nor does it dive into the water to feed, mainly on the surface of the sea. Usually alone, but also in areas where food is abundant, small groups of several individuals are often gathered, and they are active and foraging during the day and night.

The black-footed albatross is a resident bird. It lives in the North Pacific all year round, but it often roams and drifts around during the non-breeding season.

Black-footed albatross breeding period from October to December, one female and one male system, often in groups together to camp group nest. Courtship shows begin upon arrival at the breeding ground and continue throughout the breeding period. During courtship, male and female birds stand on the ground face to face with each other, lower their heads, raise their chest feathers, touch their beaks, and then separate from each other. After repeated for many times, a bird half-extends its wings, tilts its head back, extends its beak vertically, and makes a low call. At this time, its mate immediately taps its beak, sometimes both sexes tilt their heads back and call.

Black-footed albatrosses nest on the sandy beach. When a pit is dug without any padding, the eggs are laid in the pit on the sand floor, and each clutch lays 1 egg. The eggs are oval, dirty white, with a size of 98.1-120.7 mm × 56-86 mm, with an average of 108.8 mm × 70.3 mm. Incubation takes place between male and female birds, and the incubation period lasts about 6 weeks. If the eggs are lost for some reason, they will not reproduce again until the following year. Young birds will live in the nest for a long time, usually six months, and they will emerge from the nest at 2-3 months of age.

In November 2013, the black-footed albatross was listed as near threatened (one level below vulnerable) from vulnerable in 2012, and its population is no longer in rapid decline, but slightly stable or increasing. However, the population is still threatened by longline fishing fleets, and due to rising sea levels and storm surges at breeding grounds, the population is still likely to decline rapidly over the next three generations (about 56 years), so the black-footed albatross is classified as near threatened rather than not threatened (one level below vulnerable). Black-footed albatrosses were once seen in the Taiwan Strait at any time of the year, but became rare by the end of the 20th century. In November 1978, May 1980 and August 1983, they were spotted and captured in Fengbin, Taitung, Hualien, Taiwan, and Lanyang Estuary, Yilan, China respectively. They are scarce and need to be protected.

Since the vast majority of black-footed albatross nests are built less than 10 meters above sea level, storms and rising sea levels pose a threat, especially on several islands in the breeding area.

Other threats include pollution (such as organochlorine and heavy metal pollution), introduced predators (such as Polynesian rats), ingestion of plastic (although not likely to affect the growth rate of young birds), and volcanic eruptions, for which oil pollution is no longer considered a threat.

It was included in the List of Land Wild Animals under State Protection that are beneficial or have important economic and scientific research value (Item 6) issued by the State Forestry Administration of China on August 1, 2000.

Included in the Red List of Species of China (2004), evaluation grade - not suitable for evaluation (NA, marginal distribution in China).

Listing in Appendix 2 of the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species (also known as CMS or Bonn Convention) (2008)

Listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) ver 3.1:2013-2020 - Near Threatened Species (NT).

Listed in China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021).

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