Even without the Ancient Mariner's help, the Waved Albatross is among the world's most vulnerable bird species. With a population of about 24,000, it's not the rarest - quite a few of its immediate neighbours in the Galapagos Islands are a lot more precarious, in simple numerical terms. The trouble is that that entire population returns to one tiny island (Hood/Espanola) to breed. When they are on the ground, albatrosses look as if the committee that reputedly gave us the camel must have been responsible for the albatross next. They have comical courtship displays and those huge wings and very stubby legs require long run-ups to get the birds airborne. They always look as if they are going to run out of island, before they achieve lift-off. Once aloft, though, they are magnificent, their flight fast and seemingly devoid of any effort. Overland, vultures and storks harness thermals to stay airborne, but there are no thermals over the oceans, so, presumably, albatrosses exploit the wind. Waved Albatross (no idea what the peculiar name refers to) - Diomedea irrorata.