41 thousand nests. The albatrosses of Kure Atoll get counted for the 2025/26 breeding season

A Black-footed Albatross pair on Kure Atoll, November 2025

The annual albatross nest count on Kure Atoll (Hōlanikū) in the Northwestern Pacific Islands for the 2025/26 breeding season has been completed, yielding a total of over 41 thousand occupied nests.  Species totals were 38 153 nests for the Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis and 3042 for the Black-footed Albatross P. nigripes.

A Laysan Albatross pair on Kure Atoll, November 2025

“Each nest represents new life and continued hope for these iconic seabirds!  Mahalo to everyone who helps protect Hōlanikū and the wildlife that call it home.”

Two Short-tailed Albatrosses seen on Kure Atoll, November-December 2025

At least three Short-tailed Albatrosses P. albatrus were spotted on Kure Atoll during November 2025.  All the posted photographs are of birds in non-adult plumage, although birds in adult plumage have been previously seen on the atoll.  From at least 2010 to 2018 a female-female pair (both banded as chicks on Torishima and of known age) laid infertile eggs on Kure Atoll.  Short-tailed Albatross decoys have been deployed on Kure in the hope of encouraging breeding.

Metal-banded hybrid Black-footed-Laysan Albatross, Kure Atoll, December 2025

Information and photographs from weekly reports from the field team on the Facebook page of the Kure Atoll Conservancy.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 31 December 2025