• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Brooke, M. de L. 2004. Albatrosses and Petrels Across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
Robertson, C. J. R.; Nunn, G. B. 1998. Towards a new taxonomy for albatrosses. In: Robertson, G.; Gales, R. (ed.), Albatross biology and conservation, pp. 13-19. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, Australia.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	A4bd; B2ab(v)	A4bd; B2ab(v)

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Endangered	A4bd; B2ab(v)
2016	Endangered	A4bd; B2ab(v)
2012	Endangered	A4bd;B2ab(v)
2010	Endangered	A4b,d; B2a+b(v)
2008	Endangered	A4b,d; B2a+b(v)
2007	Endangered
2005	Endangered
2004	Endangered
2003	Endangered
2000	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	29,100,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	16,800,000 km2	medium
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	80 km2	medium
Number of locations	4	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	35000-73500 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	decreasing	medium	estimated	1983-2055
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	50-79%	-	-	-
Generation length	23.7 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification:

On Gough Island, the population was estimated at c.5,300 breeding pairs in 2000-2001 (Cuthbert and Sommer 2004). In 2015, the number of breeding pairs in the Tristan da Cunha group was estimated to be 15,250 on Tristan da Cunha Island, 4000 on Nightingale Island in 2007, 40 on Middle Island in 2010, 210 on Stoltenhoff Island in 2009 (Fraser et al. 1988, Ryan and Ronconi 2011, RSPB unpubl. data) equating to 52,000 mature individuals (range: 35,000-73,500). 

Trend justification: On Inaccessible Island, a partial count in 1999-2000 suggests that the population may have decreased since the late 1980s (Ryan and Moloney 2000). On Nightingale, the population has declined from 3,000 pairs in 1972-1974 to 1,000 pairs in 1999 (P. G. Ryan in litt. 2000), and counts at 4 sites indicate an annual decrease of 3-4% between 2005-2015 (RSPB, Tristan Government unpublished data). Counts of the Gough Island study colony indicate that numbers within this small area underwent a period of decline (from 1982 to 1994) followed by an increase (1994 to 2008), with numbers now at similar levels to the early 1980s. Population counts from 11 representative areas of Gough Island (c. 5% of breeding habitat) indicate a decline of 2-3% per year, similar to population modelling with 20 years of demographic data (1982-2001) predicts annual rates of decrease of between 1.5-2.8% on Gough Island and 5.5% on Tristan da Cunha (Cuthbert et al. 2003; though one small study area is stable, perhaps because of immigration), and overall declines are estimated to exceed 70% over 72 years (three generations), placed here in the band 50-79% because of the level of uncertainty involved.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Angola	extant	native			yes
Argentina	extant	native			yes
Australia	extant	vagrant
Brazil	extant	native			yes
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	extant	vagrant
High Seas	extant	native			yes
Mozambique	extant	native			yes
Namibia	extant	native			yes
New Zealand	extant	vagrant			yes
South Africa	extant	native			yes
St Helena (to UK)	extant	native		yes
Uruguay	extant	native			yes
USA	extant	vagrant

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Brazil	Trindade e Martim Vaz
St Helena (to UK)	Gough Island
St Helena (to UK)	Inaccessible Island
St Helena (to UK)	Nightingale Island group
St Helena (to UK)	Tristan Island

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Tundra	major	breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Mus musculus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Sus scrofa	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/atlantic-yellow-nosed-albatross-thalassarche-chlororhynchos on 26/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/12/2024.