[2] The common name and trinomial commemorate John Douglas Gibson, an Australian amateur ornithologist who studied albatrosses off the coast of New South Wales for thirty years.

[7] Similar in appearance to the wandering albatross, adult birds have white on the back, extending along the upper surface of the wings near the body.

[1] On their breeding islands, Gibson's albatrosses nest on moss terraces and in tussock grassland on or near ridges, slopes and plateaus where an exposed, windy position helps them take off.

The egg is incubated alternately by both parents in long, two to three week shifts, the first of which is undertaken by the male, while the non-incubating bird is away foraging, often in the Tasman Sea up to 1000–1500 km away from the nesting site.

In this way they cover long distances to search for food and often follow fishing boats to squabble for offal with other seabirds and dive for baits.

[1] The Adams Island research found average annual survival rates of adult birds at 98% for males and 96% for females, with the difference not statistically significant.

[9] Although this has ceased, from the mid 20th century onwards, the population has become increasingly threatened through bycatch mortality in the Southern Ocean longline fishery by the foraging birds being hooked, entangled and drowned.

Other threats include starvation through consumption of floating plastic debris, and potentially, at their nesting sites, by human disturbance, the accidental introduction of rodents and other exotic predators, and by habitat alteration caused by climate change.