Polar Week Photo Competition Spring 2016

Albatrosses usually lay one egg. Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses have been recorded having 2 egg clutches in as many as 1% of nests. This is a result of either an inexperienced female laying in a nest which is later taken over by a more experienced pair which incubate both eggs, or a philandering male who has mated with more than one female. This photo was taken in December 2014 on Gough Island, and is the first know record (for this species) of both chicks hatching from a two egg clutch and surviving for several weeks after hatching. These chicks unfortunately did not survive to fledge.