days, with both parents sharing the responsibility. The average incubation shift is around 10 days. After hatching it takes 170 days to fledge the chick. They breed annually. Feeding Buller's albatross feeds on squid, fish, tunicates, octopus, and crustacea. Range and habitat Buller's albatross is endemic to New Zealand. They breed on Snares Islands, Solander Island, Chatham Islands (Big and Little Sister and Forty-fours Island), and Three Kings Islands (Rosemary Rock). Adults forage between 40°S and 50°S from Tasmania to the Chatham Rise. Juveniles and adults that aren't breeding disperse across the South Pacific with a number feeding every year in the Humboldt Current off Chile and Peru. Conservation It was formerly classified as a vulnerable species by the IUCN. But new research has shown it to be not as rare as it was believed. Consequently, it was downlisted to near threatened status in 2008. It has an occurrence range of and a breeding range of . According to a 1999 estimate, there are 64,000 birds and there are 31,939 breeding adults. These are located as follows: 8,877 pairs on the Snares Islands, 4,912 pairs on Solander Island, 16,000 pairs on Forty-fours Island, 2,130 pairs on Big and Little Sister, 20 pairs on Rosemary Rock in the Three Kings group. The Snares Islands population has been increasing, but lately not as much as in the 1970s, whereas the Solander Island population which was stable from 1985 to 1996 has now shown about an 18% increase. The survival rate of adults on the Snares Islands increased to 95.5% and brooding success rate was 70.8%, whereas on Big and Little Sister, adult survival rate is 93.5% and the brooding success rate is between 57-60%. Buller's albatross is the most common bycatch from longline fisheries out of New Zealand, and, even though net-sonde cables were banned in 1992, squid trawlers still catch them. Finally, weka Gallirallus australis was introduced to Big Sister and may take eggs and chicks. Most islands are legally protected, except for the Chatham Islands colonies which are on private land. Footnotes References External links Species factsheet - BirdLife International Buller's albatross Birds of New Zealand Birds of Tasmania Birds of the Chatham Islands Snares Islands / Tini Heke Buller's albatross