page_title: Waved albatross
section_title: Flight
hierarchical_section_title: Waved albatross / Behavior / Flight
caption_attribution_description: English: Waved-albatross en:Phoebastria irrorata Espanola Island Galapagos
context_page_description: The waved albatross, also known as Galapagos albatross, is the only member of the family Diomedeidae located in the tropics. When they forage, they follow a straight path to a single site off the coast of Peru, about 1,000 km to the east. During the non-breeding season, these birds reside primarily on the Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts.
context_section_description: Waved albatross are spectacular flyers, perhaps even the most famous. They can fly for hours without stalling and they do this by dynamic soaring. The wind speed near the surface of the sea is much lower than about 50 ft (15 m) in the air. The waved albatross uses this to its advantage by gliding at speed into the wind. As the waved albatross glides higher it loses most of its ground speed because it is gliding into a wind of a higher speed. However, its air speed does not fall, enabling it to glide continuously. However, waved albatrosses do have difficulty in landing due to their high stalling speed, and in taking off due to the challenge of beating their massive wings. To make it easier they sometimes take off from cliffs that are somewhat inland rather than beside the coast.
caption: Flying
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