Thanks Chris,
As a result of my request, the report with the photo has been taken off Eremaea
now. The other report of a Grey-headed Albatross (two other observers) from the
same spot and same day is still on Eremaea. Not sure if they were referring to
a different bird.
Yes, Chris, also in my experience the eye-patch of a young Campbell Albatross
(2nd year, but also possibly 1st year) is very different from that of an adult
Campbell Albatross and looks more like some smudged make-up. To me the
eye-patch appears cleaner in Black-brows of the same age. But again, this may
be very variable and I haven't seen any peer-reviewed evidence supporting that.
The 'thing' on the link you are referring to looks like an adult Black-browed
Albatross with an extreme eye-brow somewhat reminiscent of that of an adult
Campbell Albatross.
Cheers,
Nikolas
----------------
Nikolas Haass
Sydney, NSW
________________________________
From: Chris Corben <>
To: Nikolas Haass <>
Cc: "" <>
Sent: Tuesday, July 3, 2012 7:44 AM
Subject: "Grey-headed Albatross" on Eremaea NSW
Certainly looks like a Black-browed to me.
>From what I remember, the eye-patch difference between melanophris and
impavida is apparent at a young age, long before the eye-colour means
anything. So I'd go with melanophris.
Then again, what is this thing?
http://cdn2.arkive.org/media/E1/E107F013-8EBE-4D25-834B-FCFD542F0E55/Presentation.Large/Black-browed-albatross.jpg
Maybe the eye-patch is more variable than I thought.....
Cheers, Chris.
On 07/01/2012 06:02 PM, Nikolas Haass wrote:
> 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
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