Names for an albatross?

Albatross chicks take a long time to fledge. In the case of the great albatrosses, it can take up to 280 days; even for the smaller albatrosses, it takes anywhere between 140 and 170 days. 36 Like many seabirds, albatross chicks will gain enough weight to be heavier than their parents, and prior to fledging they use these reserves to build up body condition (particularly growing all their flight feathers), usually fledging at the same weight as their parents.

Between 15% and 65% of those fledged survive to breed. 28 Albatross chicks fledge on their own and receive no further help from their parents, who return to the nest after fledging, unaware their chick has left. Studies of juveniles dispersing at sea have suggested an innate migration behaviour, a genetically coded navigation route, which helps young birds when they are first out at sea.

The name albatross is derived from the Arabic al-câdous or al-? A? S (a pelican; literally, "the diver"), which travelled to English via the Portuguese form alcatraz ("gannet"), which is also the origin of the name of the former prison, Alcatraz.

The OED notes that the word alcatraz was originally applied to the frigatebird; the modification to albatross was perhaps influenced by Latin albus, meaning "white", in contrast to frigatebirds which are black. 14 In modern Portuguese, the word used for the bird, albatroz, is in turn derived from English albatross. They were once commonly known as Goonie birds or Gooney birds, particularly those of the North Pacific.

In the southern hemisphere, the name mollymawk is still well established in some areas, which is a corrupted form of malle-mugge, an old Dutch name for the Northern Fulmar. The name Diomedea, assigned to the albatrosses by Linnaeus, references the mythical metamorphosis of the companions of the Greek warrior Diomedes into birds. Finally, the name for the order, Procellariiformes, comes from the Latin word procella meaning a violent wind or a storm.

Albatrosses have been described as "the most legendary of all birds". 36 An albatross is a central emblem in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge; a captive albatross is also a metaphor for the poète maudit in a poem of Charles Baudelaire. It is from the Coleridge poem that the usage of albatross as a metaphor is derived; someone with a burden or obstacle is said to have 'an albatross around their neck', the punishment given in the poem to the mariner who killed the albatross.

In part due to the poem, there is a widespread myth that (all) sailors believe it disastrous to shoot or harm an albatross; in truth, sailors regularly killed and ate them,22 e.g. , as reported by James Cook in 1772. On the other hand, it has been reported that sailors caught the birds, but supposedly let them free again;39 the possible reason is that albatrosses were often regarded as the souls of lost sailors,40 so that killing them was supposedly viewed as bringing bad luck. 39 The head of an albatross being caught with a hook is used as the emblem of the Cape Horners, i.e.

Sailors who have rounded Cape Horn on freighters under sail; captains of such ships even received themselves the title "albatrosses" in the Cape Horners' organization. The Maori used the wing bones of the albatross to carve flutes. Albatrosses are popular birds for birdwatchers and their colonies popular destinations for ecotourists.

Regular birdwatching trips are taken out of many coastal towns and cities, like Monterey, Kaikoura, Wollongong, Sydney, Port Fairy, Hobart and Cape Town, to see pelagic seabirds, and albatrosses are easily attracted to these sightseeing boats by the deployment of fish oil and burley into the sea. Visits to colonies can be very popular; the Northern Royal Albatross colony at Taiaroa Head in New Zealand attracts 40,000 visitors a year,3 and more isolated colonies are regular attractions on cruises to sub-Antarctic islands. In spite of often being accorded legendary status, albatrosses have not escaped either indirect or direct pressure from humans.

Early encounters with albatrosses by Polynesians and Aleut Indians resulted in hunting and in some cases extirpation from some islands (such as Easter Island). As Europeans began sailing the world, they too began to hunt albatross, "fishing" for them from boats to serve at the table or blasting them for sport. 42 This sport reached its peak on emigration lines bound for Australia, and only died down when ships became too fast to fish from, and regulations stopped the discharge of weapons for safety reasons.

In the 19th century, albatross colonies, particularly those in the North Pacific, were harvested for the feather trade, leading to the near extinction of the Short-tailed Albatross. Of the 21 albatross species recognised by IUCN on their Red List, 19 are threatened, and the other two are "near threatened". 43 Three species (as recognised by the IUCN) are considered critically endangered: the Amsterdam Albatross, Tristan Albatross and the Waved Albatross.

One of the main threats is commercial long-line fishing, as the albatrosses and other seabirds—which will readily feed on offal—are attracted to the set bait, become hooked on the lines and drown. An estimated 100,000 albatross per year are killed in this fashion. Unregulated pirate fisheries exacerbate the problem.

On Midway Atoll, collisions between Laysan Albatross and aircraft have resulted in human and bird deaths as well as severe disruptions in military flight operations. Studies were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s that examined the results of control methods such as the killing of birds, the leveling and clearing of land to eliminate updrafts and the destruction of annual nesting sites. 45 Tall structures such as traffic control and radio towers killed 3000 birds in flight collisions during 1964–1965 before the towers were taken down.