If you ever find yourself pacing through the Atlantic Ocean, just look up and you will almost surely find yourself gazing at the underside of the star of our show today, the wandering albatross!
Known for being one of the best gliders on the animal planet, these birds have an impressively long list of attributes that have been the primary subject for scientists all over.
Doubly curious and fascinating, they also stand out with their incredible size and more prominently, their insane wingspan.
And so today we are going to take an in-depth look at everything you need to know about this fascinating Wandering Albatross Size!
Without further ado, let us dive right in!
Wandering Albatross Length
One crucial and fascinating aspect of their size is their stocky build and stature, which their considerable heights add to.
Females are generally slightly smaller than males, and males stand about an average of 4 feet.
Females, on the other hand, stand just a few inches short of their male counterparts, at about an average of 3.75 inches.
This impressive stature combined with their white and gray plumage gives them a stark but elegant look and also helps them camouflage well with their white surroundings.
| Bird | Length in feet | Length in cm |
| Wandering Albatross Male | 3ft 6” to 4ft 5” | 107 to 135 cm |
| Wandering Albatross Female | 3ft 5” to 4ft | 104 to 130 cm |
Wandering Albatross Weight
An obvious thing to look at when measuring their size is their weight.
Albatrosses are known to be pretty hefty as is, as they need quite a lot of fat deposits to make it through the harsh conditions they are often under.
Did you also know that albatrosses can go for years without touching land in between? That’s right! And so they need all the energy they can get through their food.
Adult males usually weigh in at an average of 22 pounds while females weigh in slightly below that at an average of 19 pounds.
When averages were taken across its far-reaching range, most species from Crozet and Macquarie Islands averaged similar numbers at about 20 pounds.
| Bird Species | Weight in lbs | Weight in kg |
| Wandering Albatross Male | 14.0 to 26.3 lbs | 6.35 to 11.91 kg |
| Wandering Albatross Female | 13 to 24 lbs | 5.9 to 12.7 kg |
Wandering Albatross Wingspan
Onto the most impressive of features, their insane wingspans!
Most adult Wandering Albatross average an insane length of about 9 feet 5 inches with their wingspans, with extraordinary numbers going up to 14 feet also being reported in many cases, though these remain unverified.
The largest wingspan to date is reported at 12 feet 2 inches, which is more than twice the length of an average human being!
This incredible wingspan also enables them to stay afloat for long periods of time with seemingly no difficulty. They trust their wingspans so much, in fact, that they even sleep while airborne.
| Wandering Albatross | Wingspan in inches | Wingspan in meters |
| Male and Female | 8 ft 3” to 11 ft 6 in | 2.51 to 3.5 m |
How Big Are Wandering Albatross Babies?
Wandering albatross babies are generally called “chicks”, and have no specific word to call them.
Chicks are usually born covered in down feathers from the neck down and weigh just about a few punches and measure in at about 12 inches.
These babies then gradually develop the characteristic juvenile plumage that is slightly darker.
Chicks remain completely dependent on their parents for the first 6 months of their life, after which they slowly get on their own feet.
Wandering Albatross Size Compared To Humans?
Of course, we must also talk of perspectives when we talk of size, so it is only just that we start this comparison off with our own species, however obvious the answer may be. The average wandering albatross is only about 4.5 feet in length and weighs about 19 pounds.
Here the average adult human being stands tall with their 5 feet 9 inches stance. But lay the albatross on its side and look at its wingspan though, we quickly become dwarfed by the 11 feet distance, almost double our length!
Wandering Albatross Size Compared To Andean Condors
The Andean Condor is a similarly large bird, belonging to the genus Vultur.
Endemic to the Pacific coasts of western South America, they are particularly scary birds because of their pointed faces, and the ruffle of feathers at the crown of their heads.
They are also similar in both length and weight, with the condor averaging 3ft 9 inches as their length, and about 25 lbs mean weight. The wandering albatross stands only slightly taller but weighs pretty much the same.
| Bird | Length | Weight | Wingspan |
| Wandering Albatross | 3 ft 6” to 4 ft 5” | 14.0 to 26.3 lbs | 8 ft 3” to 11 ft 6 in |
| Andean Condor | 3 ft 3” – 4 ft 3” | 25 lb | 10 ft 5 inches |
Wandering Albatross Size Compared To Eagles
Moving on to yet another bird of prey, a most famous one known for its mighty soaring and incredible wingspan, we have the eagle!
As mighty and majestic as these birds might be though, they don’t hold a candle to the immense size of the wandering albatross.
The wandering albatross stands a few good feet above them in stature and weigh about double their average weight.
And as impressive and mystifying as eagle wingspans might be, the albatross takes the medal here as well, with its 10 feet wingspan!
| Bird | Length | Weight | Wingspan |
| Wandering Albatross | 3 ft 6” to 4 ft 5 in | 14.0 to 26.3 lbs | 8 ft 3” to 11 ft 6 in |
| Eagles | 28 – 40 inches | 6.6 – 9.9 lbs | 7 ft |
Wandering Albatross Size Compared To Seagulls
Changing paces a little bit, let us now look at a similarly coast-dwelling bird, and the most infamous of them all, the seagull.
Mostly known for their imperious pecking and their squawk calls, these birds are a staple on any family vacation and surprisingly familiar sight.
Yet again though, when looking at sizes, the wandering albatross takes the cake. The seagull goes up to only lengths of about 30 inches on average, weighing in at a meager 3 lbs.
They also have a limited wingspan of about 49-66 inches which obviously sits nowhere near the immense 10 feet wing size of the wandering albatross!
| Bird | Length | Weight | Wingspan |
| Wandering Albatross | 3 ft 6” to 4 ft 5 in | 14.0 to 26.3 lbs | 8 ft 3” to 11 ft 6 in |
| Seagulls | 30 in | 3lb 14oz | 49-66 inches |
In Conclusion
And that was all you needed to know about wandering albatrosses and their sizes. Though they are widely researched and are a constant source of information for scientists, we hardly think of them when we think of birds of Antarctica.
We hope you had a fun time venturing into this vast and wonderful world with us, and that you learned something new today!
Thank you for reading!
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