Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes. They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. They are absent from the North Atlantic, although fossil remains show they once occurred there and occasional vagrants are found. Albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, and species of the genus Diomedea have the longest wingspans of any extant birds, reaching up to 3.7 m (12 ft). The albatrosses are usually regarded as falling into four genera, but disagreement exists over the number of species.
Albatross
Skeleton of a black-browed albatross on display at the Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
A southern royal albatross: Note the large, hooked beak and nasal tubes.
Taking off is the most energetically demanding part of an albatross's journey, requiring the use of flapping flight to provide thrust as well as lift.
Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene.
The sooty tern is highly aerial and marine and spends months flying at sea, returning to land only for breeding.
The Cretaceous seabird Hesperornis
Cormorants, like this double-crested cormorant, have plumage that is partly wettable. This functional adaptation balances the competing requirement for thermoregulation against that of the need to reduce buoyancy.
Wilson's storm petrels pattering on the water's surface