Albatross named Toroa with adult coloured bands
Image: DOC

We need you to record the band colours of any royal albatross you see. Sightings of breeding birds helps us keep track of the chicks well-being as it takes two parents to raise a chick.

Any sightings will help – whether they are on the ground or flying low with the bands visible.

About the bands

Northern royal albatross banded at Taiaroa Head have a stainless steel band on the right leg and 1–3 coloured bands on the left leg.

There are exceptions to this, eg the opposite is the case for birds that are from the Chatham Islands. 

The colours we use are: black, blue, green, lime, yellow, orange, red, white and pink. New darvic bands also include a letter and 2 numbers. If possible also include these, for example, Yellow A60.

We read the colour bands from the top down, for example, green on top and orange below would read as GO. For more examples meet the Royal Family.

Except for black, record the colour by its first letter, for example, red = R. Black should be recorded as K to avoid confusion with B for blue.