Short-tailed Albatross Breeding: A Phoenix Rising from Feather-Hunters' Ashes

The white wings span seven feet. The massive pink bill, faintly blue-tipped on older birds, points into the Pacific wind. Each November, short-tailed albatrosses (Phoebastria albatrus) return to Torishima, a volcanic island 600 kilometers south of Tokyo where 300 workers once beat hundreds of thousands of their ancestors to death for feathers. The population is now around 7,300 individuals and growing . The largest breeding colony on Tori-shima Island has experienced a 3-year running average growth rate greater than 6% for the last decade . You cannot go there. Torishima is sealed to the public, a National Natural Treasure where only authorized researchers land. But the story of what happens there each breeding season, December through March, is one of the most striking conservation reversals in seabird history.

The Science Behind Short-tailed Albatross Breeding

Phoebastria albatrus is the largest seabird in the North Pacific. The species usually first breeds at 10 years of age . Adults pair for life, reuniting each year at the same steep volcanic slopes where they were hatched. The short-tailed albatross lays a clutch of one egg that is dirty white, with red spots, mainly at the blunt end, usually measuring 116 by 74 millimeters .

The main breeding colony is situated at Tsubame-zaki, a steeply-sloping area in the southeast of the island. A total of 450 pairs bred at this site in 2013 . The colony site is located on a sparsely vegetated, fluvial outwash that is prone to erosion . In February 2010, a landslide at Tsubamezaki buried up to 10 chicks .

To reduce this risk, researchers applied social-attraction techniques starting in 1993. Researchers hoped to draw the short-tailed albatrosses to breed at another locality using model albatrosses and a sound system in "Operation Decoy" . It worked. A new colony is in a locality known as Hatsune-zaki, a gently-sloping area on the western side of the island. A total of 148 pairs bred in this area in 2013 .

The species is divided into two major clades, one of which exclusively breeds on Tori-shima, and the other breeds primarily on the Senkaku Islands with a small number on Tori-shima. These two populations are genetically, morphologically, and behaviourally distinct . Some researchers argue they should be classified as separate cryptic species.

Both parents incubate the egg in shifts lasting days, then feed the chick through late spring. Migration takes the birds away from the island in late April to early May; they return to breed in early October . Young birds that have matured enough to leave the nest do not return until the third year after their departure. Except for breeding season, the birds spend all of their lives over the seas .

When and Where to See Short-tailed Albatross

Torishima is off-limits. It is designated as a natural treasure as a whole, and one cannot land on the island without authorization . Torishima is located in the southern tip of the Izu Island chain in the western Pacific, approximately 600 km to the south of Tokyo. It is a volcanic island approximately 2.5 km across with a total area of 4.79 km2. The last volcanic activity was in 2002 .

Your only option is pelagic birding trips from Hachijojima, the southernmost inhabited island in the Izu chain, roughly 300 kilometers north of Torishima. Late winter and early spring are good for albatrosses, including short-tailed albatross . The albatrosses are winter breeders further south on Torishima and in the Ogasawara archipelago, and birds around the Izu Islands are either feeding birds or birds dispersing after the breeding season. Off Oshima numbers appear to be consistently high .

The Tokyo-to-Hachijojima ferry runs overnight year-round. Departing Tokyo around 10 PM, it arrives at Hachijojima's Sokodo port around 8:30 AM. The return trip leaves around 10 AM. Birders can take the ferry all the way to Hachijo-jima, spend about 40 minutes on the island while cargo is offloaded, then re-board for the return to Tokyo. This route maximizes seawatching opportunities, especially during late winter and early spring for albatrosses .

A second colony exists on Mukojima in the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands, established through a translocation project between 2008 and 2012. Chicks were transported 350 kilometers from Torishima to Mukojima and artificially raised to form a new breeding population . In the current breeding season, a pair made up of a female hand-reared on Mukojima in 2009 and a naturally-reared male from Torishima was identified. The pair failed to breed but it was confirmed they were the parents of last year's chick . Like Torishima, Mukojima is inaccessible to the public.

Recently, there has been limited, yet successful, breeding of short-tailed albatross on Midway Atoll in Hawaii . A pair nicknamed George and Geraldine has fledged five chicks since 2018. But your chances of seeing them are astronomically low. Midway is a National Wildlife Refuge with tightly controlled access.

Your Witnessing Guide

Book the Tokyo-Hachijojima ferry through Tokai Kisen (tokaiferry.co.jp). Reserve at least two weeks ahead for winter weekends. The trip costs roughly 13,000 yen one way for second-class tatami mat seating. Spring for a cabin if you need sleep, but serious pelagic birders stay on deck scanning through the night, especially in the predawn hours when feeding activity peaks.

Bring a spotting scope. Binoculars work at close range, but albatrosses often cruise 200-500 meters from the ferry. A 20-60x spotting scope on a monopod lets you study plumage details and age the birds. Juveniles are chocolate brown and whiten over 10 to 20 years. Adults show the golden-stained crown, black flight feathers, and that unmistakable pink bill.

Seasickness medication is non-negotiable. The waters south of the Izu chain can be rough, especially in winter storms. Take medication an hour before departure. Ginger candies help. Stay on deck in fresh air if you feel queasy. Looking at the horizon steadies your inner ear.

Waterproof layers matter more than warmth. February nights at sea are cold, but sea spray soaks through wool faster than you expect. Pack a waterproof shell over fleece, waterproof pants, and gloves that let you adjust binoculars. A wool hat you can pull over your ears. The wind off Torishima comes straight from Siberia.

Camera settings for albatrosses in flight: start at 1/2000 second shutter speed, f/5.6, ISO 800 in overcast conditions. Push ISO to 1600 if the bird is backlit against cloud. A 400mm or 600mm telephoto lens gives you frame-filling shots when the bird banks close. Continuous autofocus, high-speed burst mode. Albatrosses glide in long arcs, so anticipate the flight path and pre-focus ahead of the bird.

For identification, focus on bill color and size. The short-tailed albatross can be distinguished from the Laysan albatross and the black-footed albatross by its larger size and its pink bill with a bluish tip, as well as details of its plumage . Black-footed albatrosses are all dark. Laysan albatrosses have white bodies but dark bills. The short-tailed is the only North Pacific albatross with that gaudy pink bill and yellow-washed head.

Field guides: bring "Seabirds of the World" by Onley and Scofield, or the Japan-specific "A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan" by the Wild Bird Society of Japan. Both include range maps and seasonal occurrence data.

Why It Matters

The short-tailed albatross came perilously close to extinction. They were hunted on an industrial scale for their feathers in the later half of the 19th century, with some estimates claiming upward of 10 million birds destroyed. By the 1930s, the only population left was on Torishima . Businessman Han-emon Tamaoki landed on Torishima in 1886 and carried out systematic feather harvesting. He had 300 people living on this small island by 1900 and had built schools and light railway. One worker culled about 100 to 200 short-tailed albatrosses a day. At least 5 million were culled by 1902 .

Hunting continued until 1933, when the Japanese government declared a ban to save the species, but by this time the last albatrosses on the island had been killed. The species was assumed to be extinct. In 1949, an American researcher arriving on this island declared the species extinct, but an estimated 50 individuals, most likely juveniles, had survived at sea .

They came back. In 1951, meteorological station workers reported short-tailed albatrosses breeding on the island. Torishima was designated a National Wildlife Protection Area in 1954, a National Natural Monument in 1958, and a National Natural Treasure in 1965. Japan also designated the short-tailed albatross itself as a National Natural Treasure in 1958 and as a Special Natural Treasure in 1962 .

The population is recovering, but current population size is less than 1% of historical numbers . About 85% of nesting pairs are concentrated on a single unstable volcanic island . A major eruption could erase decades of conservation work. That is why the translocation to Mukojima and the breeding attempts on Midway matter so much. Each new colony spreads the risk.

The birds face other threats. When they follow fishing vessels, they are sometimes hooked or entangled in longline fishing gear and drowned. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been working with the commercial fishing industry to minimize take of this endangered seabird . Albatross chicks and adults eat trash and plastics found in the Pacific Ocean. Albatross chicks often choke and die from eating plastics .

Torishima is one of the few places on Earth where a species has clawed its way back from functional extinction through sheer biological persistence and decades of human protection. The albatrosses that glide over the ferry to Hachijojima in February descend from those 50 juveniles that survived at sea in the 1940s. Every bird you see is a referendum on whether extinction is reversible. So far, the answer is yes.

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