---
title: "Snowy Albatross"
description: "Diomedea exulans — Birds. The snowy albatross (Diomedea exulans), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae; they have a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/snowy-albatross
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Snowy Albatross

> Diomedea exulans — Birds. The snowy albatross (Diomedea exulans), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae; they have a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean.

- Scientific name: *Diomedea exulans*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 1239
- Wikidata: [Q208682](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q208682)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4117](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4117)

## Names

- en: Snowy Albatross
- de: Wanderalbatros
- es: Albatros errante
- fr: Albatros hurleur
- nl: Grote albatros
- pt: Albatroz-errante
- pl: Albatros wędrowny

## Countries with the most observations

TF (183), GS (72), AU (21), NZ (8)

## Summary

The snowy albatross (Diomedea exulans), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae; they have a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean. It is the largest species of albatross and was long considered to be the same species as the Tristan albatross and the Antipodean albatross. Together with the Amsterdam albatross, it forms the wandering albatross species complex, which some began referring to more recently as "snowy".
The snowy albatross is one of the two largest members of the genus Diomedea (the great albatrosses), being similar in size…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_albatross

## Photo

![Snowy Albatross](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/snowy-albatross/medium.jpg)

Photo: Peter Shanks · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/250080678

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/snowy-albatross?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).