Light-mantled Albatross

 

Right up there on my 'most wanted' bird list, was Light-mantled Albatross, and one of the birds I was very keen on seeing at South Georgia. Formerly known as Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, it forms a species pair with Sooty Albatross which is kind of like the basic model, without the funky pale grey saddle and underparts, being a sooty grey all over. LMA is up there as one of the best looking of seabirds, with fighter jet lines, and a sleek paint job, combined with living in the spectacular scenery of remote islands in the Southern Ocean. We had a few glimpses as we passed down the east coast of South Georgia, an appetite-whetting taster for the main event; a breeding colony at Hercules Bay. 

 Here, pairs of these superb birds arced around the cliffs in formation, twisting in sinuous curves whilst maintaining perfect symmetry, before landing, big pale grey feet splayed on to grassy knolls on the cliff face. The sleek ash and soot plumage was bizarrely reminiscent of dark phase Arctic Skua when the bird was perched! Whilst most passengers spent a couple of hours watching the Macaroni Penguins on the rocks in the Bay, my eyes kept skyward for most of the time, savouring every moment with these gorgeous little albatrosses. Several thousand pairs breed at South Georgia, a significant part of the world population which is about 58,000 pairs.

Light-mantled Albatrosses mate for life, and as with most seabirds, that can be a long time, with the oldest known bird being 42. It seemed that most birds at Hercules Bay were either failed or non-breeders because by late January, chicks should have been big enough to be visible on the cliffs. 

As with all the albatrosses, the biggest threat to this species is from non-native mammals such as cats and mice which predate eggs and young at breeding colonies. Attempts to eradicate these mammals on South Georgia and elsewhere is really helping. Other threats include the long-line fishing industry where these albatrosses and others are caught as by catch and killed and the impact of plastic ingestion which causes starvation through filling the stomach. The species is classed as near-threatened as a consequence of these various man-made threats. Hopefully, at least here, the threats are being removed, so hopefully this most-beautiful of albatrosses will grace South Georgian skies for many years to come.