White-capped Albatross

White-capped toroa is the largest mollymawk and a familiar follower of fishing boats from Hawke’s Bay south. Most New Zealand birds breed in the Auckland Islands, especially Disappointment Island. Adults have a white head and neck, black upperwings, white rump and a blue-grey bill with a yellowish tip and base. Salvin’s albatross has a much greyer hood and a grey-green bill with a conspicuous dark lower-tip spot.

The New Zealand subspecies breeds on Disappointment, Auckland and Adams islands in the Auckland Islands group. Birds range through coastal New Zealand and across the Tasman Sea. They take fish, squid, krill, salps and fisheries offal from the surface and rarely dive. Pairs lay one egg on a pedestal nest and share incubation.

White-capped albatross is At Risk — Declining (NZ Threat Classification). Longline and trawl bycatch is the major direct threat at sea. Cook Strait, Kaikōura and Otago pelagic trips regularly encounter this species, particularly during the November–June breeding season.