EXCERPT-Two Wandering Albatrosses Make a Difference in the World~Alba and Alban Teamwork to Save Young Albatrosses by Laurel Marie Sobol

Alba and Alban were both born on a remote place called Macquarie Island located south of

Australia.  Alba and Alban are no ordinary albatrosses, they are extra special birds because of

the rare numbers of their species on this remote island. 

  They are the largest albatrosses of the world called the Wandering

Albatross. They have a wingspan about 11 feet long and body length of 3-4 feet long. They have

the longest wingspan in the world.

  Alban is a little bigger than Alba and he has more feathers on his head than Alba.  Alba has

slightly bigger eyes than Alban and an extra skip in her step when she walks with her big pink

webbed feet with three toes in front.  Alban has a bill that is sturdy and strong reflecting his

determined character.

  Alban and Alba loved their parents who raised them for over a year and taught them to fly and

survive in all kinds of weather over the course of several years.  They also love one another and

are mates for life.  They are young adult albatrosses now who are about 12 years old.  Alba and

Alban have a great love for each other that is even unusual among albatrosses in the animal

world.  The love they share is so powerful that a glow seems to emanate and flow between them

and around them wherever they go.  Like a cloud of love if you will that is like a golden halo

about them. 

  When Alban and Alba fly together they fly in tandem like aeronautical flight dynamic

masterpieces of pure genius in action.  Alban tends to lead the team but when he tires Alba

takes the lead like geese tend to do when they fly long distances in their classic V formations.

  Alba and Alban love the ocean and the waves in all kinds of weather.  They are the warriors of

the sea and have many surprises that people have yet to learn about.  Alba and Alban are

expecting to have a long life together, spending at least 50 years with one another, and traveling

around and about the globe numerous times altogether.  Through all kinds of weather and every

kind of condition, coming into contact with all kinds of sea animals and humans with their

unusual activities and situations.

  The world was still theirs to discover, their wonderful world

filled with wild and exhilarating winds, wind currents, wind tunnels, typhoons, hurricanes,

water spouts, tsunamis, and other unknowns of nature yet to be seen by Alban and Alba.

  Alba and Alban love to skirt the waves just above the froth and foam, it gives them lift draft to

fly in all the aerodynamic acrobatic styles they love to fly.  Mainly they use their stiff, thick, long

wings for fancy flight dynamic and slope soaring.  Dynamic soaring is flying high into the wind

and coming down, gaining energy from it, called the vertical wind gradient.  Slope soaring is

flight using rising air on the windward side of large waves.  Albatross have high glide ratios

which means that for every three feet, or meter, they drop in flight while in the air, they can

travel forward 22 meters (or 66 feet).  Albatross have a built in bionic flight template called a

shoulder lock, a sheet of tendon that locks the wing when it is fully extended, giving the wing the

flat out stretched board flight dynamics to fly long distances with little to no effort on the part of

the albatross.

   Alba and Alban had learned long ago to avoid the many hazards in the sea that could harm

them like fishing tackle, plastic bait and lines, plastic trash from human waste and refuse.

 Alba and Alban like to eat squid and use their powerful smell detection to find it and other fish

that sperm whales and other whales leave behind after feeding or regurgitating their food.

  Today Alba and Alban had flown from dawn to dusk on a perfectly lovely day with just the

right amount of sun and wind, waves and food supply.  It was a very good day and Alban had 

taken the lead for most of the day and Alba didn’t even mind one tiny bit.  At sunset the two

youthful albatross found themselves resting together on a coral reef somewhere north of

Australia near the Great Barrier Reef.

  Alban and Alba were no ordinary birds, they were extra special, and they were going to spin

The world on it’s axis, yes they were!