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title: "What’s in a name – Short-tailed or Steller’s Albatross?"
---

# What’s in a name – Short-tailed or Steller’s Albatross?

![Steller Georg Wilhelm](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/People/Steller_Georg_Wilhelm.jpg)*Georg Steller, 18th Century German botanist, zoologist, physician and explorer.* * Artwork courtesy of the Center of Russian-German Cooperation of Georg Wilhelm Steller, University of Tyumen*

 The [Vulnerable](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/short-tailed-albatross-phoebastria-albatrus) Short-tailed or Steller's Albatross *Phoebastria albatrus* is one of the two albatrosses (along with Buller’s Albatross *Thalassarche bulleri*) chosen to be featured for this year’s World Albatross Day ([WAD2024](https://acap.aq/world-albatross-day/wad2024-marine-protected-areas)) to be marked on 19 June.  The species was first described by the German naturalist [Peter Simon Pallas FRS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Simon_Pallas) from skins obtained by [Georg Wilhelm Steller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Steller).

 Georg Steller (10 March 1709 – 14 November 1746) was a German-born naturalist and physician who accompanied the [Great Northern Expedition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Expedition) of 1733 to 1743 to the waters between Siberia and North America.  The expedition, conceived and authorised by Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, was led to [Vitus Jonassen Bering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitus_Bering) (a Dane), after whom the Bering Sea is named.

 *![STAL subad 10yo Midway 1811114 plissner](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Short_tailed/STAL_subad-10yo_Midway_1811114_plissner.JPG)  
A 10-year-old sub-adult Short-tailed Albatross on Sand Island, Midway Atoll, photograph by Jonathan Plissner, USFWS*

 Steller’s Albatross is now a little-used common name, “Short-tailed” being much preferred.  Of relatively recent handbooks and field guides its seems only the late [Lance Tickell](https://acap.aq/latest-news/obituary-william-lancelot-noyes-tickell-pioneer-albatross-researcher-1930-2014?highlight=WyJ0aWNrZWxsIiwidGlja2VsbCdzIl0=), in his 2000 book *Albatrosses*, used the eponymous name.  He argued that the other three*Phoebastria* albatrosses of the Pacific also had short tails, so it was not a good descriptor.

 As well as “his” albatross, Georg Steller has Steller's Sea Eagle *Haliaeetus pelagicus*, Steller's Eider *Polysticta stelleri*, Steller’s Jay *Cyanocitta stelleri* and the then soon to be extinct [Steller’s Sea Cow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steller%27s_sea_cow) *Hydrodamalis gigas*, as well as the Steller (or Northern) Sea Lion *Eumetopias jubatus*, all named after him.  However, the three birds could be renamed by the American Ornithological Society, which is suggesting doing away with all eponymous names ([click here](https://acap.aq/latest-news/the-acap-monthly-missive-who-was-walter-buller-and-should-bullers-albatross-still-be-named-after-him-the-tricky-issue-of-birds-with-eponymous-names)).

 **Reference:**

 Steller, G.W. 1988.  [*Journal of a Voyage with Bering, 1741-1742*](https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=3113)*.*  Stanford University Press.  260 pp.

 Tickell, W.L.N. 2000.  *[Albatrosses](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/polar-record/article/albatrosses-wln-tickell-2000-mountfield-east-sussex-pica-press-448-p-illustrated-hardcover-isbn-1-873403941-4000/7192D42D3572C017F85015383BD37346)*.  Mountfield: Pica Press.  448 pp.

 *John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 20 February 2024*