Far from home. A Black-browed Albatross is spotted off Iceland

The recent Iceland sighting of a Black-browed Albatross, photograph by Tom Collier

An adult Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris was photographed at sea off Húsavík, northern Iceland on 09 June 2024 from a whale-watching vessel.  According to comments posted to Facebook there have been at least three previous records of Black-browed Albatrosses sighted off Iceland.

Single Black-browed Albatrosses have been recorded in the Northern Hemisphere on numerous occasions, as has been reported in ACAP Latest News from time to time.  It seems likely that more than one at-sea sighting is of the same individual.  Birds have been seen ashore in Northern Gannet Morus  bassanus colonies in the United Kingdom, most recently at Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire (click here).  It has been suggested that the latest Iceland record could be of the Bempton Cliffs bird.

25 June 2024