<P> The albatross diet is predominantly cephalopods, fish, crustaceans, and offal (organ meat), although they will also scavenge carrion and feed on other zooplankton . It should be noted that for most species a comprehensive understanding of diet is known for only the breeding season, when the albatrosses regularly return to land and study is possible . The importance of each of these food sources varies from species to species, and even from population to population; some concentrate on squid alone, others take more krill or fish . Of the two albatross species found in Hawaii, one, the black - footed albatross, takes mostly fish while the Laysan feeds on squid . </P> <P> The use of data loggers at sea that record ingestion of water against time (providing a likely time of feeding) suggests that albatrosses predominantly feed during the day . Analysis of the squid beaks regurgitated by albatrosses has shown that many of the squid eaten are too large to have been caught alive, and include mid-water species likely to be beyond the reach of albatross, suggesting that, for some species (like the wandering albatross), scavenged squid may be an important part of the diet . The source of these dead squid is a matter of debate; some certainly comes from squid fisheries, but in nature it primarily comes from the die - off that occurs after squid spawning and the vomit of squid - eating whales (sperm whales, pilot whales and southern bottlenose whales). The diet of other species, like the black - browed albatross or the grey - headed albatross, is rich with smaller species of squid that tend to sink after death, and scavenging is not assumed to play a large role in their diet . The waved albatross has been observed practising kleptoparasitism, harassing boobies to steal their food, making it the only member of its order to do so regularly . </P> <P> Until recently it was thought that albatrosses were predominantly surface feeders, swimming at the surface and snapping up squid and fish pushed to the surface by currents, predators, or death . The deployment of capillary depth recorders, which record the maximum dive depth undertaken by a bird, has shown that while some species, like the wandering albatross, do not dive deeper than a metre, some species, like the light - mantled albatross, have a mean diving depth of almost 5 m and can dive as deep as 12.5 m . In addition to surface feeding and diving, they have also been observed plunge diving from the air to snatch prey . </P> <P> Albatrosses are colonial, usually nesting on isolated islands; where colonies are on larger landmasses, they are found on exposed headlands with good approaches from the sea in several directions, like the colony on the Otago Peninsula in Dunedin, New Zealand . Many Buller's albatrosses and black - footed albatrosses nest under trees in open forest . Colonies vary from the very dense aggregations favoured by the mollymawks (black - browed albatross colonies on the Falkland Islands have densities of 70 nests per 100 m) to the much looser groups and widely spaced individual nests favoured by the sooty and great albatrosses . All albatross colonies are on islands that historically were free of land mammals . Albatrosses are highly philopatric, meaning they will usually return to their natal colony to breed . This tendency to return to their point of origin to breed is so strong that a study of Laysan albatross showed that the average distance between hatching site and the site where a bird established its own territory was 22 m (72 ft). </P>

Where does a bird with no feet sleep