This beautiful Indian Yellow Nose Albatross was a curious onlooker as our boat bobbed about 40km off the South African shore.
Generally, a pelagic species, which spends most of its life out at sea or in flight, the albatross is naturally curious about humans and boats and doesn’t seem to fear human interference. They spend a lot of time following trawlers in the hope of picking up scraps and we obviously seemed to be an easy meal provider.
These birds rest on the water when they are tired and have even been observed to “sleep” in flight, shutting down alternative sides of their brains while cruising in an almost autopilot mode. It was fantastic to see this bird up close.