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Thalassarche bulleri (Buller's
albatross)
Witkroonalbatros, Witkroonmalmok [Afrikaans]; Bullers
albatros [Dutch]; Albatros de Buller [French]; Buller-albatross [German];
Albatroz de Buller [Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) > Order: Ciconiiformes >
Family: Diomedeidae
Distribution and habitat
Breeds on islands off New Zealand, rapidly migrating in the
non-breeding season across the South Pacific Ocean to the west coast of South
America. It is a rare vagrant to southern Africa, with two records between 1995
and 2003 off the coast of the Cape Peninsula, Western Cape.
Food
Eats squid, fish, crustaceans,
tunicates and carrion, often foraging behind shipping vessels and
cetaceans.
The New Zealand study by James and Stahl (2000) showed that Buller's albatross
in that region eats the following food (percentage occurrence followed by
percentage weight are given in brackets):
- Fish discards from boats (70%, 60%)
- Fish (naturally caught) (?, 5%)
- Pelagic tunicates (Thaliacea)
- Cephalopods (53%, 7%) mainly:
- Histioteuthis atlantica (20%, < 0.5%)
- Nototodarus spp. (arrow squid) (34%, 1%)
- Pinnoctopus cordiformis (20%, 4%)
- Crustacea (37%, 2%)
- Other (?, 2%)
Threats
Vulnerable, largely due to longline mortalities and
storm damage at its Chatham Island breeding colony (linked to global warming).
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
-
James GD, Stahl J-C. 2000. Diet of southern Buller's
albatross (Diomedea bulleri bulleri) and the importance of fishery
discards during chick rearing, New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater
Research, 34(3): 435-454. doi:
10.1080/00288330.2000.9516946
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