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

Taxonomic source(s)
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.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Near Threatened	A4bd
2016	Near Threatened	A4bd
2012	Near Threatened	A4bd
2010	Near Threatened	A4b,d
2008	Near Threatened	A4b,d
2005	Near Threatened
2004	Near Threatened
2003	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

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)	100,000,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	65,000,000 km2	medium
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	58000 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2012
Population trend	decreasing	poor	suspected	1997-2097
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Generation length	44 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	6	-	-	-

Population justification:

Information on population status and trend is most well known on Macquarie Island and Possession Island (Crozet Islands). There are 1,850-2,450 pairs on Macquarie Island, c.1,949 pairs in the Crozet group, 5,000 pairs on South Georgia, 3,000-5,000 pairs on Kerguelen, c.5,000 pairs on the Auckland Islands, at least 1,600 pairs on Campbell Island, 170 pairs on the Antipodes Islands (Croxall and Gales 1998, Taylor 2000), 350 pairs on Marion Island, 129 pairs on Prince Edward Island (ACAP 2012) and 200-500 pairs reported at 1954 on Heard Island (Downes et al. 1959). The total annual breeding population is estimated at 19,000-24,000 pairs, roughly equivalent to 58,000 mature individuals (and 87,000 individuals in total) in this biennially breeding species - Croxall and Gales (1998) estimated c. 21,600 pairs.

Trend justification: Population trends are poorly known. On Possession Island (Crozet), there has been a decline of 13% in 15 years (Weimerskirch and Jouventin 1998), though the population is now increasing (Delord et al. 2008). The small population on Marion Island appears to now be stable, following a decrease between 1997-2002 (Ryan et al. 2003), and may even be increasing (200 pairs in 1989, 350 pairs in 2007) (ACAP 2012). The small population on Prince Edward Island has seen a small increase from 2002-2009 (92-129 pairs) (ACAP 2012). The Macquarie Island population seems to have been slightly increasing over the last 22 years. Overall trends are uncertain as the majority of colonies have not been studied, but the species may be declining owing to bycatch on longline fisheries, plus perhaps the impacts of introduced predators at some sites; a moderately rapid population decline is precautionarily suspected to be taking place over 100 years.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Antarctica	extant	native			yes
Argentina	extant	native			yes
Australia	extant	native		yes
Bouvet Island (to Norway)	extant	uncertain
Brazil	extant	vagrant			yes
Chile	extant	native			yes
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	extant	native			yes
French Polynesia	extant	vagrant
French Southern Territories	extant	native		yes
Heard Island and McDonald Islands (to Australia)	extant	native		yes
High Seas	extant	native			yes
Mauritius	extant	vagrant
New Zealand	extant	native		yes
South Africa	extant	native		yes
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands	extant	native		yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Antarctica	Antarctica - Clarence Island Marine
Australia	Macquarie Island
French Southern Territories	Île de l'Est
French Southern Territories	Île de la Possession
Heard Island and McDonald Islands (to Australia)	Heard and McDonald Islands
New Zealand	Antipodes (offshore)
New Zealand	Antipodes Islands
New Zealand	Auckland Islands 1 (offshore)
New Zealand	Campbell Islands
New Zealand	Main Auckland Island
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands	South Georgia - mainland, islands, islets and stacks

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	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
Geological events	Volcanoes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 3
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
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 - Rattus norvegicus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Sus domesticus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Light-mantled Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/light-mantled-albatross-phoebetria-palpebrata on 22/12/2024.
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 22/12/2024.