A young albatross does not land for years

After it fledges, a wandering albatross stays at sea continuously for three to seven years before it returns to a colony.

Tracking and the simple absence of the birds from their breeding islands give the same interval. A fledgling wanders the Southern Ocean, mostly in warmer waters while it is young, and does not come back to land until it is ready to begin the long apprenticeship of visiting a colony. That gap is three to seven years. Breeding adults are less extreme and still astonishing: a successful pair often takes a whole sabbatical year at sea before nesting again.

The flight is cheap in a way a person does not expect. Dynamic soaring takes energy from the difference in wind speed above the waves, so the bird can travel enormous distances with very little flapping. A lifetime’s path has been estimated in the millions of kilometres. The number is an estimate. The years without land are a count.