
Short-tailed albatross nest on sub-tropical islands south of Japan. Laysan and black-footed albatrosses nest in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Where They Are Found North Pacific Albatrosses But these two types of birds are often compared because they are among the world’s largest birds. These birds are very different in appearance, ranges, habits, etc. What are the Differences Between an Albatross and a Condor? Condors are part of the family Cathartidae.

What is a Condor?Ĭondors are two species of New World vultures: the Andean condor, Vultur gryphus, which lives in the Andes mountains, and the Californian condor, Gymnogyps californianus, which lives in the western coastal mountains of the United States and Mexico and the northern desert mountains of Arizona. One, the waved albatross, breeds in the Galápagos Islands and feeds off the coast of South America. The exceptions to this are the four North Pacific albatrosses, of which three (the Laysan albatross, black-footed albatross, and waved albatross) occur exclusively in the North Pacific, from Hawaii to Japan, California, and Alaska. Most albatrosses range in the Southern Hemisphere from Antarctica to Australia, South Africa, and South America. These species are often divided into four genera: great albatrosses, mollymawks, North Pacific albatrosses, and sooty albatrosses. Of these, twenty-one are listed as at some level of concern two are critically endangered, seven are endangered, six are near threatened, and six are vulnerable. The IUCN recognizes twenty-two species of albatrosses. Though they are now absent from the North Atlantic except for occasional vagrants, they are believed once to have thrived there. They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. What is an Albatross?Īlbatross is the name given to birds within the Diomedeidae family of large seabirds. But which species of these birds can be seen in the US? What are the differences between them? And how do they compare? Read on to find out more.

Albatrosses and condors are amazing birds, and both species are among the largest birds in the world.
