Any albatross experts out there who would like to comment on the Great Albatross photos at:
http://www.nicklowton.co.uk/albatrosses/index.html
Thanks
Nick
http://www.nicklowton.co.uk/albatrosses/index.html
Thanks
Nick
-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Great Albatross ID (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter niltava42
- Start date
Hi Nick and welcome to Bird Forum from all the Staff and Moderators
I'm sure there'll be someone along soon to help you
D
I'm sure there'll be someone along soon to help you
D
Jane Turner
Well-known member
What a fabulous set of pictures. I promise I'll give these my full attention when I stop wandering! (In transit just now)
the oilbird
Doing a bit for conservation
Fantastic photos! A joy to look through.
My thoughts on each photo are below. Found the first one v tough, would be interested to hear others thoughts on that. I have a few photos of a similar looking bird from the Drake Passage, which at the time I thought was exulans....but looking again at these...im not so sure.
Bird A – Wandering group
Photo 1 and 2 – Very hard to tell a subspecies with birds like this. Belly and underparts are first to whiten as birds age, which seem to be the case in this bird, but without any hint of white in the wings its tough to call. Could be an Antipodean?
Bird B - Wandering - Adult exulans
Photo 3 - This a near or full adult, lots of white on the upperwing, it extends onto the 2ndaries and into the primary coverts. Breeding birds can show this pinkish flush to the ear-coverts, more obvious in males.
Photo 4 - The white underwing extends far into the primaries and all white under primary coverst. There is no black patch on the bend of the wing which the Royal Alberts show.
Bird C - Southern Royal
Photo 5 - All white-tail, some limited white white on elbow patch region of upperwings, and white leading edge.
Photo 6 - limited black wingtips, and possible apparent dark cutting edge to bill also good for southern royal
Bird D - Northern Royal?
Photo 7 – Hard to tell from just an underwing shot, but the black patch on the bend of the wing is a feature of this species
Bird E - Wandering group – Gibson’s?
Photo 8 – The dark tail feathers rule out both of the Royal albatrosses, could be a stage 3 exulans. Gibson’s shows a dark tail like this, but perhaps should show less white on the elbow region? Tough one
Photo 9 – The lack of black patch at the bend of the wing rules out Royal again. The dusky collar patch could be good for a Gibson’s and that bill looks massive!!!
Bird F – Is this not the same bird as in Photos 8 and 9?
Photo 10 – Which is a great photo! The fine vermiculations are good feature of Gibson’s, and no sign of any dark cutting edge which rules out the Royal’s , if this is the same as photos 8 and 9 Id go for a Gibson’s
Photo 11 – From this photo can see similarities to the bird in Photo 8, the dark cap looks to be of the same tone and extent, and the small white dot towards the base of the left wing primaries is shown in both photo.
Bird G – Wandering – Adult exulans?
Photo 12- No dark cutting edge to bill, pinkish ear-covert, lack of black on bend of wing, all point towards exulans.
Photo 13 – could be the same bird as in photos 3 and 4? The white patch on the left wing greater primary coverts look similar.
Bird H – Wandering – Adult exulans
Photo 14 – Can see that pink ear-covert again, lots of white in the upperwing, all white tail. Can compare the white positions on the upperwing of this bird to that in photo 3 and tell it is definitely a different individual.
Photo 15 – Nice shot but doesn’t add much to the ID.
Bird G – Southern Royal – Imm?
Photo 16 – nice black marks on the bend of the wing, good for a Royal. Can see some dark tail feathers, which suggest it is a young bird.
Photo 17 – Looks like a dark cutting edge to the bill which fits royal, the shape of the white on the back rules out a northern royal, maybe can see a white leading edge on the left wing in this photo which should be for a southern royal. Only a very small white elbow patch, similar to photo 5, but the dark tail feathers show it is a different bird.
Thanks for showing these here!
My thoughts on each photo are below. Found the first one v tough, would be interested to hear others thoughts on that. I have a few photos of a similar looking bird from the Drake Passage, which at the time I thought was exulans....but looking again at these...im not so sure.
Bird A – Wandering group
Photo 1 and 2 – Very hard to tell a subspecies with birds like this. Belly and underparts are first to whiten as birds age, which seem to be the case in this bird, but without any hint of white in the wings its tough to call. Could be an Antipodean?
Bird B - Wandering - Adult exulans
Photo 3 - This a near or full adult, lots of white on the upperwing, it extends onto the 2ndaries and into the primary coverts. Breeding birds can show this pinkish flush to the ear-coverts, more obvious in males.
Photo 4 - The white underwing extends far into the primaries and all white under primary coverst. There is no black patch on the bend of the wing which the Royal Alberts show.
Bird C - Southern Royal
Photo 5 - All white-tail, some limited white white on elbow patch region of upperwings, and white leading edge.
Photo 6 - limited black wingtips, and possible apparent dark cutting edge to bill also good for southern royal
Bird D - Northern Royal?
Photo 7 – Hard to tell from just an underwing shot, but the black patch on the bend of the wing is a feature of this species
Bird E - Wandering group – Gibson’s?
Photo 8 – The dark tail feathers rule out both of the Royal albatrosses, could be a stage 3 exulans. Gibson’s shows a dark tail like this, but perhaps should show less white on the elbow region? Tough one
Photo 9 – The lack of black patch at the bend of the wing rules out Royal again. The dusky collar patch could be good for a Gibson’s and that bill looks massive!!!
Bird F – Is this not the same bird as in Photos 8 and 9?
Photo 10 – Which is a great photo! The fine vermiculations are good feature of Gibson’s, and no sign of any dark cutting edge which rules out the Royal’s , if this is the same as photos 8 and 9 Id go for a Gibson’s
Photo 11 – From this photo can see similarities to the bird in Photo 8, the dark cap looks to be of the same tone and extent, and the small white dot towards the base of the left wing primaries is shown in both photo.
Bird G – Wandering – Adult exulans?
Photo 12- No dark cutting edge to bill, pinkish ear-covert, lack of black on bend of wing, all point towards exulans.
Photo 13 – could be the same bird as in photos 3 and 4? The white patch on the left wing greater primary coverts look similar.
Bird H – Wandering – Adult exulans
Photo 14 – Can see that pink ear-covert again, lots of white in the upperwing, all white tail. Can compare the white positions on the upperwing of this bird to that in photo 3 and tell it is definitely a different individual.
Photo 15 – Nice shot but doesn’t add much to the ID.
Bird G – Southern Royal – Imm?
Photo 16 – nice black marks on the bend of the wing, good for a Royal. Can see some dark tail feathers, which suggest it is a young bird.
Photo 17 – Looks like a dark cutting edge to the bill which fits royal, the shape of the white on the back rules out a northern royal, maybe can see a white leading edge on the left wing in this photo which should be for a southern royal. Only a very small white elbow patch, similar to photo 5, but the dark tail feathers show it is a different bird.
Thanks for showing these here!
Last edited:
Trevor Hardaker
Well-known member
Hi there,
The Wanderer complex is notoriously difficult to separate and, even with a good set of photos like these, it will still not be easy. I would agree with most of what "the oilbird" has said except that I think Bird A is actually an exulans. The bill just feels too large for me and the wings also seem very long and narrow. The others tend to have slightly shorter wings with broader bases to the wings.
The only other comment I have is on Bird E and F. Taking into account where the photos were taken, I don't think we can eliminate Tristan Albatross D.e.dabbenena here convincingly. In particular, the pale band across the breast made me think dabbenena is a strong possibility here.
Just my thoughts...
Kind Regards
Trevor
The Wanderer complex is notoriously difficult to separate and, even with a good set of photos like these, it will still not be easy. I would agree with most of what "the oilbird" has said except that I think Bird A is actually an exulans. The bill just feels too large for me and the wings also seem very long and narrow. The others tend to have slightly shorter wings with broader bases to the wings.
The only other comment I have is on Bird E and F. Taking into account where the photos were taken, I don't think we can eliminate Tristan Albatross D.e.dabbenena here convincingly. In particular, the pale band across the breast made me think dabbenena is a strong possibility here.
Just my thoughts...
Kind Regards
Trevor
