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  1. Species
  2. ›
  3. Diomedeidae
  4. ›
  5. Phoebetria
  6. ›
  7. Light-mantled Albatross
Light-mantled Albatross
Photo · (c) Flavien Saboureau, some rights reserved (CC BY)

BirdUp · Species

Light-mantled Albatross

Phoebetria palpebrata(Forster, JR, 1785)

Updated 21 March 2026

Origin: Native
Order
PROCELLARIIFORMES
Family
Diomedeidae
Genus
Phoebetria

At a glance

The Light-mantled Albatross is a very large bird, about 80–90 cm long, native to Australia. It can be seen year-round.

Size
80–90 cm
Origin
Native
Best seen
Year-round
Commonness
Very common
  • Identification
  • Where
  • When
  • Behaviour

01 · Identification

How to tell it apart

What does a Light-mantled Albatross look like?

The Light-mantled Albatross is a very large bird, about 80–90 cm long.

The light-mantled albatross, also known as the grey-mantled albatross or the light-mantled sooty albatross, is a small albatross in the genus Phoebetria, which it shares with the sooty albatross. The light-mantled albatross was first described as Phoebetria palpebrata by Johann Reinhold Forster, in 1785, based on a specimen from south of the Cape of Good Hope.

Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Field specs

Length
80–90 cm

Measurements · avonet · CC BY 4.0

03 · When

When to look

When can you see a Light-mantled Albatross?

The Light-mantled Albatross is present across its Australian range year-round, so it can be seen in any month.

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

05 · Behaviour

Habits and haunts

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02 · Where

Where to find it

Where does the Light-mantled Albatross live in Australia?

The Light-mantled Albatross is native to Australia, recorded across 13 of Australia’s bioregions.

BreedingSubantarctic is. from South Georgia to Macquarie I. (far south-east of Australia), Antipodes (south-east of Stewart I.) and Campbell Is. (south of South I.; New Zealand)

Non-breedingWidespread all subantarctic oceans from Subtropical Convergence to Antarctica

Distribution from BirdUp Australia community data

Legend

  • Non-breeding
  • Breeding
  • Vagrant

6 regions recorded