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South African pelagics (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Isurus
- Start date
Pterodroma
Well-known member
Pelagic photos
The first photo, a Great Shearwater - actually a good photo, showing well the dark marks on the underwing coverts.
The second photo - at rear a White-chinned Petrel, this bird even showing the white chin which can be difficult to see on most. At front a Yellow-nosed Albatross of the form carteri (called Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross) - this bird is at least 2-3 years old as the culmen is brownish and the tip very dark - the bright yellow with orange tip still has yet to develop. It lacks the grey head and neck of the Atlantic form chlororhynchos
The third picture, same species, I assume same bird, now the upper mandible showing some colour on this view, maybe due to different light. The shearwaters are Great Shearwaters again.
Cheers
The first photo, a Great Shearwater - actually a good photo, showing well the dark marks on the underwing coverts.
The second photo - at rear a White-chinned Petrel, this bird even showing the white chin which can be difficult to see on most. At front a Yellow-nosed Albatross of the form carteri (called Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross) - this bird is at least 2-3 years old as the culmen is brownish and the tip very dark - the bright yellow with orange tip still has yet to develop. It lacks the grey head and neck of the Atlantic form chlororhynchos
The third picture, same species, I assume same bird, now the upper mandible showing some colour on this view, maybe due to different light. The shearwaters are Great Shearwaters again.
Cheers
Trevor Hardaker
Well-known member
Hi there,
I have done a few hundred pelagic trips out of Cape Town over the years and have looked at thousands of Yellow-nosed Albatrosses of all ages and both forms and have never seen a immature Yellow-nosed Albatross with a brown culmen like this.
In my opinion, this bird is definitely a juvenile Black-browed Albatross in which this bill colouration is fairly typical.
Kind Regards
Trevor
I have done a few hundred pelagic trips out of Cape Town over the years and have looked at thousands of Yellow-nosed Albatrosses of all ages and both forms and have never seen a immature Yellow-nosed Albatross with a brown culmen like this.
In my opinion, this bird is definitely a juvenile Black-browed Albatross in which this bill colouration is fairly typical.
Kind Regards
Trevor
Pterodroma
Well-known member
Hi Trevor
I accept that this bird is indeed a Black-browed Albatross.
For information, I went for Yellow-nosed Albatross (spp. bassi=carteri) on the following:
(a) the very white head….whereas most B-B juveniles (with a bill anything like this one) show at least some grey shading to head or neck. Usually second-year birds (then whiter-headed) show changes to the bill and begin showing typically a much yellowier bill (still dark-tipped)
(b) the bill is interesting and I don’t think is, as you say, ‘fairly typical’. I have seen brown, grey and yellow bills (with dark unguis) on young B-B Albatross. Also this bird seems to have black at both the tip and base
(c) there appeared to be yellow along the culmen on the second photo
(D) Yellow-nosed Albatross juveniles’ bills start off black, then in the second/third year the culmen becomes a creamy-brown (and may be very subdued)
(e) in the upper photo there appears to be yellow at the base of the ramicorn (which would of course rule out B-B). I have tried to enlarge this without success
However, after saying this, there are two more features on this second look at the photos! Firstly the lightness shown on the bill is actually reaching lower than the nostrils, and secondly where the lower mandible joins the head there is an angle. Both these would be wrong for Yellow-nosed Albatross (as only the culminicorn is lighter and the join is straight on that species)
I accept that this bird is indeed a Black-browed Albatross.
For information, I went for Yellow-nosed Albatross (spp. bassi=carteri) on the following:
(a) the very white head….whereas most B-B juveniles (with a bill anything like this one) show at least some grey shading to head or neck. Usually second-year birds (then whiter-headed) show changes to the bill and begin showing typically a much yellowier bill (still dark-tipped)
(b) the bill is interesting and I don’t think is, as you say, ‘fairly typical’. I have seen brown, grey and yellow bills (with dark unguis) on young B-B Albatross. Also this bird seems to have black at both the tip and base
(c) there appeared to be yellow along the culmen on the second photo
(D) Yellow-nosed Albatross juveniles’ bills start off black, then in the second/third year the culmen becomes a creamy-brown (and may be very subdued)
(e) in the upper photo there appears to be yellow at the base of the ramicorn (which would of course rule out B-B). I have tried to enlarge this without success
However, after saying this, there are two more features on this second look at the photos! Firstly the lightness shown on the bill is actually reaching lower than the nostrils, and secondly where the lower mandible joins the head there is an angle. Both these would be wrong for Yellow-nosed Albatross (as only the culminicorn is lighter and the join is straight on that species)
Isurus
Well-known member
Pterodroma said:
Links to all 4 pics of this bird. These are tight crops on the bird but as big as they came out of the camera (so no reduction for bf upload). Hope this helps.
http://static.flickr.com/38/102786628_c9c8919c4b_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/27/102786627_324425fe0a_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/29/102786626_872221bc97_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/43/102786625_bf1e114098_o.jpg
Pterodroma
Well-known member
Albatross
Thanks Isurus for these further pictures.
There are features of your bird that still concern me for Black-browed.
The first photo seems to show what is called the fleshy bar – this is the skin at the proximal base of the lower mandible. It may be a trick of the light but if there then the bird would have to be a Yellow-nosed.
Photos two and four clearly appear to show a developing bright culmen, again in favour of Yellow-nosed. Is this another trick of the light?
Photo three is a new picture. I have put some photos of Black-browed and Yellow-nosed alongside this one to show another point I was making. The top seven pics are Black-browed showing the variation in bill colour from a first year (top left) to an adult (bottom right of group) All those with dark-tipped bills are young ones - the first two show the duskiness around the head/neck I referred to in my earlier posting.
Your picture is placed on the bottom left and the four lower photos alongside are Yellow-nosed (although I could only find one immature - top left in group). The feature that also concerns me here is the join of the lower mandible (ramicorn) at the feathering. You will see that this is straight on your photo, say 90 degrees (or certainly appears straight), like Yellow-nosed, whereas Black-browed has a distinct angle of about 45 degrees.
Thanks Isurus for these further pictures.
There are features of your bird that still concern me for Black-browed.
The first photo seems to show what is called the fleshy bar – this is the skin at the proximal base of the lower mandible. It may be a trick of the light but if there then the bird would have to be a Yellow-nosed.
Photos two and four clearly appear to show a developing bright culmen, again in favour of Yellow-nosed. Is this another trick of the light?
Photo three is a new picture. I have put some photos of Black-browed and Yellow-nosed alongside this one to show another point I was making. The top seven pics are Black-browed showing the variation in bill colour from a first year (top left) to an adult (bottom right of group) All those with dark-tipped bills are young ones - the first two show the duskiness around the head/neck I referred to in my earlier posting.
Your picture is placed on the bottom left and the four lower photos alongside are Yellow-nosed (although I could only find one immature - top left in group). The feature that also concerns me here is the join of the lower mandible (ramicorn) at the feathering. You will see that this is straight on your photo, say 90 degrees (or certainly appears straight), like Yellow-nosed, whereas Black-browed has a distinct angle of about 45 degrees.
