Why can wandering and royal albatrosses raise only one chick every other year?

Wandering and royal albatrosses are limited to raising only one chick every other year primarily due to their exceptionally long nesting period.1

The development of these large albatross chicks is a protracted process that can last up to nine months. This extended cycle means that the nestling is often still in the nest when the Antarctic winter arrives, requiring it to endure harsh conditions and survive on infrequent feedings from its parents. Because the time required to successfully fledge a single chick consumes so much of the breeding season, these species cannot physically accommodate the requirements of a new reproductive cycle on an annual basis.1

To compensate for this slow rate of reproduction, these birds have evolved to be exceptionally long-lived, with a life expectancy spanning several decades, which helps maintain their population numbers despite the low frequency of successful breeding.1