Albatrosses (1 Viewer)

Here in Sydney, Australia, we get to see a lot of albatrosses - nine species recorded locally, four of them common. Black-browed is the commonest.
The main confusion species for Black-browed is Grey-headed, which is one of the rare ones here. The problem is that some Grey-headed Albatrosses don't have grey heads. These are thought to be two-year-olds. They have very dark underwings, very little white - but some juvenile Black-broweds have that too. I suspect the Norfolk record was rejected because Grey-headed couldn't be ruled out, but the underwing would be the crucial feature. Yellow-nosed are relatively easy - and again it's the underwing that's the main feature to look for.

Rod Gardner said:

I suspect the Norfolk record was rejected because Grey-headed couldn't be ruled out, but the underwing would be the crucial feature. Yellow-nosed are relatively easy - and again it's the underwing that's the main feature to look for.

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This thread raises quite an interesting issue in the UK context- when do you reject a claim of something rare, because a much rarer (maybe never seen in the UK) confusion species has not been ruled out? It would be rather galling to have a record of Red-footed Falcon rejected, because Amur Falcon cannot be ruled out.

Good point, white-back. I sometimes wonder whether and how much probability comes into play with the BBRC. Red-footed Falcon is so regular these days it may even be eligible for demotion from the rarities list. So the chances of a bird looking like a Red-footed Falcon are overwhelmingly in favour of it actually being one rather than Amur Falcon. Then again isn't Amur a fairly recent split? If so, how well has it been excluded in the past?

I'm sure likelihood must come into it too. Albatrosses are so arial that maybe it's not safe to exclude any of them altogether. Sure, they've got to get across the doldrums, but that goes for any albatross, Black-browed included.

I am in the fortunate position of seeing most of these species weekly on pelagic trips out of Cape Town. Having a look at the photos on the rarebirdalert website, my gut feel is that it is a Black-browed Albatross. Unfortunately, gut feel is all I can go on because the photos don't offer too much detail.

Adult Black-broweds are unmistakable whilst the only potential problem with juveniles is Grey-headeds which superficially look similar. Both have all dark underwings, but Grey-headed shows a black bill whilst Black-browed shows a grey bill with a black tip. Both can show a grey wash on the head or show no grey wash at all, depending on the individual.

Regards
Trevor
www.zestforbirds.co.za