---
title: "Kure’s Short-tailed Albatross female-female pair returns to the atoll and lays two eggs for a fifth consecutive season"
---

# Kure’s Short-tailed Albatross female-female pair returns to the atoll and lays two eggs for a fifth consecutive season

Both the final-phase and intermediate-phase plumaged Short-tailed Albatrosses *Phoebastria albatrus* that make up a female-female pair have been sighted at their nest site near the west end of Green Island, [Kure Atoll](http://www.acap.aq/en/news/latest-news/1801-acap-breeding-site-no-73-kure-world-s-most-northerly-coral-atoll-supports-black-footed-and-laysan-albatrosses) in the North Pacific this season.  They were first reported with two eggs in their nest, but one was later displaced.

 The banded female-female pair has laid two eggs on Kure each year since 2010 ([click here](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1553-short-tailed-albatrosses-return-once-more-to-midway-atoll-national-wildlife-refuge)), although none has ever hatched, so the eggs are presumed to be unfertilized.

 Other Short-tailed Albatrosses are occasionally seen on Kure ([click here](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/news-archive/57-2012-news-archive/1130-now-we-just-need-a-male-two-female-short-tailed-albatrosses-lay-eggs-in-the-same-nest-on-kure-atoll-for-the-third-year-in-a-row)).  Decoys have now been placed near the nest site with the hope of attracting more birds to the atoll.

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Short_tailed/Short-tail Kure.jpg)

 The intermediate-plumaged of the pair with an overlooking decoy

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Short_tailed/Short-tail Kure 2.jpg)

 Five decoys in a displaying position, with the female-female pair in the background

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Short_tailed/Short-tail Kure 1.jpg)

 The adult-plumaged bird looks at a decoy, with five more in the background, along with Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses

 Photographs by the [Kure Atoll Conservancy](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kure-Atoll-Conservancy/138668706143905)

 With thanks to the [Kure Atoll Conservancy](http://kureatollconservancy.org/).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 November 2014*