One egg is laid and incubation lasts about 65 days. Incubation starts with the female who usually stays for a short two day span. The male then takes over for as long as three weeks. If the egg is infertile or breaks during incubation, re-laying will not occur that year. Chicks hatch during late January to mid-February.
Chicks live off a diet of flying fish eggs and squid oil, a product that is rich in fat.
Both parents will feed the chick by regurgitation and will often leave them for several days while they obtain food out at sea. The rich squid and stomach oil is filled with fatty acids and nutrients that can sustain a chick for the number of days between feedings. Parents will often leave before the chicks have reached their full juvenile plumage. Elaborate courtship dances take place throughout the colony while these young birds search for a mate. Mating and first nesting usually occurs by age 6-8.