Mike et al.,
I see what you mean (especially in Rob's last 7 pictures the mandibular unguis
appears to show an almost wholly dark mandibular unguis. However, similar to
Raja's pictures, in Rob's pictures the bird before and after the Northern Royal
Albatross shows on both sides the same pattern of gray and white along the edge
of the hood that I described earlier. I think that this pattern indicates that
we are looking at only one individual and that the differences with regards to
the mandibular spot are light artifacts. Raja is currently not at home, once
she comes home tonight we'll have a look at her original pictures.
Cheers,
Nikolas
----------------
Nikolas Haass
Sydney, NSW
________________________________
From: Mike Carter <>
To: rob hynson <>; Daniel Mantle <>;
; Nikolas Haass <>
Cc: Jeff Davies <>; Rohan Clarke
<>; David James <>; david
mitford <>
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2011 5:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Eaglehawk Neck,Tasmania - Pelagic Reports 3&4 Sept
2011 - photos. TWO not one CHATHAM ALBATROSS?
In my opinion, all the shots in Rob Hynson's first
set of images from various angles show a bird with very little black, on the
mandibular unguis, located along the lower edge. This is contra the second
bird, three minutes later, which consistently shows an almost wholly dark
mandibular unguis. Therefore I reckon two birds were involved as shown
in Raja's images. If Raja would allow me to download her images, I could
crop and place the bills in juxtaposition to demonstrate what I
mean.
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount
Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
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