BACK TO LIST
GLOSSARY
Short-tailed albatross (ahodori)
There are three species of Japanese albatross, of which the ahodori is the largest. In fact, it is the largest sea bird in the north Pacific having a wingspan of up to 3m and more than 30 primaries. The body is white except for black tail feathers; the primaries and the tips of the secondaries are slate-coloured. The large bill is a clear pink.Traditionally the ahodori had two breeding grounds in Japan: Torishima in the Izu islands and the Ogasawara Islands. At the end of the 19th century the colonies were millions strong. By 1964, only 52 adult birds and 11 chicks were counted on Torishima and none in the Ogasawara Islands. The female lays a single egg in or around November and after the breeding season is over in May, the ahodori haunts the open sea. In 1962, it was strictly protected as a special natural monument of Japan and it also receives international protection. The name ahodori derives from the bird's inability to take flight directly from the ground (due to the length of its wings): ahodori means "stupid bird.'