---
title: "Northern Royal Albatrosses return to breed at Taiaroa Head, New Zealand"
---

# Northern Royal Albatrosses return to breed at Taiaroa Head, New Zealand

[Taiaroa Head](http://www.acap.aq/en/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1307-acap-breeding-sites-no-6-taiaroa-head-pukekura-new-zealand-an-albatross-colony-on-the-mainland) on the Otago Peninsula of New Zealand’s South Island is one of the very few places in the World where breeding albatrosses can be viewed by the general public without a sea voyage to an oceanic island.  The locality supports a small population of [Endangered](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=30005) Northern Royal Albatrosses *Diomedea sanfordi*.  News is in that a total of 108 birds has returned for the new breeding season with 32 nests established so far ([click here](http://albatross.org.nz/)).

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/N/NorthernRoyalAlbatrosspair.jpg) 

 A pair of Northern Royal Albatrosses display, photograph courtesy of the Royal Albatross Centre 

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/N/Northern_Royal_Albatross_500th_chick_by_Lyndon_Perriman.jpg)

 Northern Royal Albatross and chick at Taiaroa Head, photograph by Lyndon Perriman

 In recent years about 30-35 pairs have attempted to breed annually at the locality.

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 November 2015*