Y18 comes back! An albatross's journey

Short-tailed Albatross with radio transmitter photographed at Half Moon Bay, California on 11 October 2009 by Kris Olson. See more photos from this trip on Kris's Flickr site. Click for larger view.

Last week I reported on a juvenile radio-tagged Short-tailed Albatross that journeyed past Oregon's shores from 25-29 September.

When we last left Y18, our young hero that fledged in May off Japan had just spent some days off the mouth of the Columbia River. It then flew down the Oregon coast and dissapeared into California waters.

On 11 October 2009 a pelagic trip from Half Moon Bay, California photographed one of 7 radio-tagged Short-tailed Albatrosses from Japan. Was it, perhaps, the same bird seen off Oregon two weeks earlier? Yes it was!

The flight path of Y18, May to October 2009. Provided by Rob Suryan, Oregon State University. Click for larger view.

Rob Suryan provided this map showing the past 5 months of travels of this bird. It fledged in May, flew north to the Aleutians, then down the West Coast to California. Then it headed back north, finally losing the transmitter on the 16th of October off British Columbia.

I don't know about you, but I find this terribly exciting!