Albatrosses have large, long, hooked beaks, each made up of 12 distinct plates. Made of keratin, they are dark in young birds, but gain colouring as the birds mature, attaining bright yellow and orange colours in some species.

The bills of the ‘great’ albatrosses - wandering and royal - can change from bright pink to white as blood vessels beneath the bill constrict or dilate. Adult grey-headed and yellow-nosed have bright yellow stripes along the edges of their beaks.

The beak is strong and sharp-edged, with a stout hook at the end of the upper mandible, ideal for grabbing hold of slippery fish and squid. On the sides of the beak there are tubular nostrils with grooves running along the length of the bill to the tip.

Albatrosses have salt-excreting glands in their heads and when their salt intake is so high that their kidneys cannot handle it, excess salt is discharged from these glands, flowing out through the nostrils and down the bill, dripping off the hooked tip. In black-footed albatrosses, each nostril is divided into two openings, one for excess salt and the other for incoming air.

They have large olfactory lobes, indicating that they have a well-developed sense of smell; this may help them to detect distant food sources. It may also help them to recognise each other at the breeding colony; albatrosses have a distinct musty odour that comes from their strong-smelling stomach oils.

When above water, albatrosses breath through their nostrils and when diving, a valve stops water passing through into their airways.

Despite having such large beaks, albatrosses can use them very delicately. Visit an albatross breeding colony and you will usually see pairs preening one another. This mutual preening, or ‘allopreening’, is an important part of their courtship and helps to establish and maintain the pair bond. It takes place with such gentleness that it is difficult not to interpret it as ‘loving’.

Beaks also play another part in some albatross display as birds will touch or clatter beaks as a form of greeting when an individual returns to its nest and mate.

The beak can also be used aggressively and any threat to an adult at its nest will usually cause it to open its beak wide as a threat. An intruding albatross may be grabbed around the neck and is only released when it submits.