Wandering Albatross

About the Wandering Albatross

The snowy albatross (Diomedea exulans), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae; they have a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean. It is the largest species of albatross and was long considered to be the same species as the Tristan albatross and the Antipodean albatross. Together with the Amsterdam albatross, it forms the wandering albatross species complex, which some began referring to more recently as "snowy".

The snowy albatross is one of the two largest members of the genus Diomedea (the great albatrosses), being similar in size to the southern royal albatross. It has the greatest known wingspan of any living bird and is also one of the most far-ranging birds. Some individual snowy albatrosses are known to circumnavigate the Southern Ocean three times in one year, covering more than 120,000 km (75,000 mi).

The taxonomic history of this species is long and complicated. The species was first described as Diomedea exulans by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, based on a specimen from the Cape of Good Hope. Diomedea refers to Diomedes from Greek mythology whose companions turned to birds, and exulans... Wikipedia →