Short tailed albatross original

Original 5.5"x7.25" illustration. Short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus). There’s something magic about short-tailed albatrosses. With their distinct candy bills and golden glow, their gigantic size compared to other North pacific albatrosses, and their quiet, stoic nature, they really are a marvel to behold. STALs were once very common. Now classified as vulnerable by the IUCN and endangered at the federal and state level, STALs were hunted extensively for the feather trade during the 1900s. Millions of birds were killed. By the time the Japanese government declared a ban on albatross hunting, there were few left, and by 1949 were assumed to be extinct. Thankfully, like other albatrosses, juveniles don’t return to their nesting site for years after hatching, so while the adults had been killed, there were still some youths out at sea, who eventually returned to Torishima island (their main nesting colony). The world population is now estimated to be around 4,400 birds—a tiny fr