Rare Albatross Coasts Above California Waters Far From Home [View all]

The bird came out of the blue shortly after noon, wheeling low over the Pacific as a research vessel pressed on and as dolphins and humpback whales breached the water.

Tammy Russell, a marine ornithologist on board the research vessel Reuben Lasker was standing on the boat’s deck on Jan. 23 when something crossed her field of vision, no more than 30 feet away, that did not belong there.

“I yelled, ‘waved albatross’ and got out my phone to take a video, which turned out horribly because I was tripping over everything in utter shock at what I had just seen,” said Dr. Russell, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California in San Diego and a contract scientist at the Farallon Institute in Petaluma, Calif., which advances the study and preservation of marine ecosystems.

This bird’s yellow bill and dark eyes were unmistakable. Its wings were long and its flight unhurried.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/us/galapagos-albatross-california.html