A group of albatrosses is most often called a rookery, the same term used for the densely packed nesting colonies of many other seabirds.
Albatrosses spend the vast majority of their lives alone, gliding over open ocean, and only come together in large numbers when they return to remote islands to breed. That makes “rookery” a fitting description of a very specific moment in an otherwise solitary life.
What Is a Group of Albatrosses Called?
The standard term is a rookery of albatrosses, describing a breeding colony gathered on land. A more general alternative, flock, is sometimes used for albatrosses seen together at sea.
Other Collective Nouns for Albatrosses
A couple of older, less common terms also appear:
- Weight — an old and somewhat obscure term with an unclear origin, occasionally listed in historical collective-noun references
- Gam — a term with roots in whaling-era maritime culture, originally describing a social gathering of whales, or of ships and sailors meeting at sea, and occasionally extended informally to seabirds like albatrosses that sailors observed closely on long voyages
Where Did the Name Come From?
Albatrosses spend their lives over open ocean, far from Britain, so “rookery” didn’t come from the medieval Book of Saint Albans hunting tradition. The word originally described the nesting colonies of rooks, a common British bird, before being generalized to any densely packed colony of nesting birds, including seabirds like albatrosses, penguins, and gulls. “Gam,” by contrast, comes directly from whaling ship culture, where sailors used it for both social gatherings among whales and for two ships meeting to exchange news at sea.
Albatross Facts
- Habitat: Open ocean, especially the Southern Ocean and North Pacific, nesting on remote islands
- Social behavior: Solitary at sea for most of the year, gathering in large breeding colonies on land; monogamous pairs often mate for life
- Diet: Carnivore; squid, fish, and crustaceans, caught at the surface or in shallow dives
- Lifespan: 40–60 years or more; Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, is the world’s oldest known wild bird, still breeding well past 70
- The wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird, exceeding 11 feet
- The albatross became a lasting symbol of guilt and fate after Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Example Sentences
- A rookery of albatrosses covered the cliffside, each pair guarding its own small patch of ground.
- Sailors once described a flock of albatrosses trailing the ship for days.
- Whalers used gam loosely for any gathering at sea, birds included, during long stretches without landfall.
Other Names for a Group of Albatrosses
Albatrosses are also occasionally called a weight or a gam.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common collective noun for albatrosses?
Rookery is the standard collective noun for albatrosses, describing their breeding colonies on land.
Why is a group of albatrosses called a rookery?
Rookery originally described the nesting colonies of rooks before being generalized to other densely colonial nesting birds, including albatrosses.
Do albatrosses live in groups?
Mostly not. Albatrosses spend most of their lives alone at sea, only gathering in large numbers at breeding colonies on remote islands.
Where does the term gam come from?
Gam comes from whaling-era maritime culture, originally describing a social gathering of whales or of ships meeting at sea, later extended informally to seabirds.
How long do albatrosses live?
Many decades, Wisdom, a Laysan albatross first banded in 1956, is the oldest known wild bird in the world and is still alive today.
Related: Collective Nouns for Birds