Hi Rob and Birding-Aus,
Thanks. Yes, the consensus so far - based on the mentioned field marks - is
that this bird is NOT a Grey-headed Albatross.
However, I don't agree that the underwing in 1st and 2nd year
Black-browed/Campbell Albatross are diagnostic for either
species. Black-browed goes from solid charcoal grey underwings at the time of
fledging through stages similar to the "hairy armpit pattern" of a Campbell
Albatross. Therefore in my opinion the underwing pattern cannot be used to tell
them apart at this age. To my personal experience, the eye-brow shape of the
Maroubra bird points more towards Black-browed (although admittedly this is
also not evidence-based and therefore not useful until proven). Unfortunately,
we can't see the eye colour in the photo, which would also be useless in the
first year but becomes more and more amber in the following years [and finally
yellow] in Campbell.
Grey-headed Albatross is a VERY RARE bird off NSW and heavily over-reported due
to confusion with young Black-browed or Campbell Albatrosses. While juvenile
and adult Grey-headed Albatross are straight forward to ID, 2nd and 3rd year
birds are notoriously difficult to ID and those are the ones that cause most
confusion. Adult Grey-headed Albatross has to my knowledge never been reported
off NSW.
Also over-reported are Salvin's Albatross (due to confusion with young
Shy/White-capped) and Little Shearwater (due to confusion with Fluttering
Shearwater in contrasting light conditions)
Cheers,
Nikolas
----------------
Nikolas Haass
Sydney, NSW
________________________________
From: robert morris <>
To: ;
Sent: Monday, July 2, 2012 4:55 AM
Subject: "Grey-headed Albatross" on Eremaea NSW
Hi Nikolas et al
Yes I agree looks like a imm Campbell to me (underwing looks good for
Campbell). The bill shape and color doesn't look good for grey-headed. Cheers
Rob
> Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2012 06:46:59 -0700
> From:
> To:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] "Grey-headed Albatross" on Eremaea NSW
>
> Hi all,
>
> There are two reports including one photo of a bird claimed as a Grey-headed
> Albatross on Eremaea NSW. To me the combination of bill shape and colour,
> eye-brow shape and head/neck colour make this bird a juv (or possibly 2nd
> year) Black-browed Albatross (or possibly Campbell, which to my experience
> should have more black around the eye at this stage).
> Any comments?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Nikolas
>
> ----------------
> Nikolas Haass
>
> Sydney, NSW
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