The classroom activity package Winged Ambassadors – Ocean Literacy through the Eyes of Albatross is available free online courtesy of NOAA, Oikonos, and other partners. Albatrosses, charismatic and threatened seabirds, are ambassadors for a clean ocean because they traverse vast oceanic regions searching for floating food. Along their journeys, they ingest plastic trash and feed it to their chicks. These five lessons […]

Here is a very special piece made by Peter Winch who has been an Education Specialist at the Greater Farallones Association for the past 15 years. Before then Peter worked as a biological technician studying seabirds. He spent 5 months on French Frigate Shoals in 1996, and 3 months on Laysan Island in 1996/97.Peter also works as a naturalist for Oceanic Society where […]

The A Perfect Day for an Albatross Educator’s Guide features eight pages of activities that target national science, math, writing, and art education standards for grades 1-3. Here is the link to this 8 pages PDF activity book.https://www.pacificbeachcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NEW-Albatross-Educational-Guide-v2.pdf

Taxonomy The species are divided into 4 genera: Diomedea (Great albatrosses), Thalassarche (Mollymawks), Phoebastria (North Pacific albatrosses), and Phoebetria (Sooty albatrosses). The earliest albatross fossils date back to 32 million years ago. They are known as “nomads of the oceans”. The IUCN Red List gives the total population size of the Short-tailed albatross as 2,200-2,500 individuals, equating roughly to 1,500-1,700 mature birds. […]