Wildlife

Seabirds of Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

Shearwaters (Puffinus spp.)and Albatrosses(Phoebastria spp.)

SUMMER TRAVELERS

These relatives of fulmars and petrels do not breed in North America, but they migrate to Alaska waters during the northern summer. They are a major elements in the food web that includes the seabirds that do nest on the Alaska Maritime Refuge.

BREED DOWN UNDER

Short-tailed (Puffinus tenuirostris) and sooty (P. griseus) shearwaters breed in the southern hemisphere.

FOOD

They spend their winter (our summer) here feeding on squid, fish (especially capelin) and zooplankton at or near the ocean surface.

RANGE IN ALASKA

Many sooty shearwaters remain south of the Aleutian Islands. Short-tailed shearwaters spend late summer in the Bering Sea where they are more numerous than any of the birds that breed there.

ALBATROSSES

Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis), black-footed (P. nigripes), and short-tailed (P. albatrus) albatrosses breed in Hawaii and Japan and feed in the north Pacific during the summer. Sometimes they can be seen in the passes between refuge islands. The short-tailed albatross is endangered. Its only known breeding site is a small island off Japan.

Learn More

Endangered Short-tailed Albatross FACT SHEET (2-page pdf)

Last updated:September 8, 2008