This small albatross is built for speed with narrow pointed wings and long pointed tail. It combines an albatross's mastery of flight with the agility of a swift. It typically ranges further south than other species. Little is known of its movements at sea, partly because it is intolerant of radio transmitters. However there is one record in the North Pacific, a bird I personally saw (Morlan 1994). Campbell Island is one of three New Zealand nesting sites for this elegant species. The others are Auckland and the Antipodes. Numbers appear to be declining and the species is listed as "near threatened" by IUCN. Formerly considered a race of the Sooty Albatross (Phoebetria fusca), it differs in having a blue groove, known as a sulcus, along its lower mandible, while Sooty Albatross has a yellow sulcus. Canon PowerShot SX50 HS.
References:
BirdLife International. 2016. Phoebetria palpebrata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22698448A93684602. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22698448A93684602.en. Downloaded on 08 March 2017
Carboneras, C., Jutglar, F. & Kirwan, G.M. (2017). Light-mantled Albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/52511 on 8 March 2017).
Marchant, S. & Higgins, P.J. (coordinating editors) 1990. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Volume 1, Ratites to ducks. Melbourne, Oxford University Press.
Morlan, J. (1994). Light-mantled Sooty Albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata) over Cordell Banks, Marin County, California. Australasian Seabird Group Newsletter. 27:5-8. (https://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/lmal.htm).
Shirihai, H. (2002) A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife. The Birds and Marine Mammals of the Antarctic Continent and the Southern Ocean. Princeton University Press: Princeton & Oxford.
Waugh, S.M. 2013. Light-mantled sooty albatross. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz