Short-tailed Albatross
Photo: Jlfutari at English Wikipedia · CC BY 2.5

Albatrosses

Short-tailed Albatross

Phoebastria albatrus

VUVulnerable
Family
Albatrosses (Diomedeidae)
Order
Procellariiformes

Overview

The short-tailed albatross or Steller's albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) is a large rare seabird from the North Pacific. Although related to the other North Pacific albatrosses, it also exhibits behavioural and morphological links to the albatrosses of the Southern Ocean. It was described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas from skins collected by Georg Wilhelm Steller (after whom its other common name is derived). Once common, it was brought to the edge of extinction by the trade in feathers, but with protection efforts underway since the 1950s, the species is in the process of recovering with an increasing population trend.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Breeds Torishima (Izu Islands) and Senkaku Islands; ranges through North Pacific.

Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.