Wild Bird Wednesday 642 - Snowy Albatross / Wandering Albatross

More from my recent trips out to sea from Tasmania this week,

There are a group of Albatross species that are broadly known as The Great Albatrosses. The Great Albatrosses are divided into two species complexes, the 'Wandering and Amsterdam Albatrosses', and the 'Royal Albatrosses'. The splitting of the great albatrosses into six or seven species has been accepted by most, though not all, authorities.

I have to say that the ability of some people to be able to split these species in the field is nothing short of remarkable - although it has to said that readily available images on the back of a camera are of great help.

This week's WBW bird is a Diomedea exulans - which is also know as the Snowy Albatross, the White-Winged Albatross and the Wandering Albatross.

The Snowy Albatross has the longest wingspan of any living bird, reaching upwards of 3.5 m (11 ft), and adults can weigh from 5.9 to 12.7 kg (13 to 28 lb).  They are by any standard a large and impressive bird.  And as they glide in towards the boat - and occasionally settle on the water near it - they are an utter joy to watch.

These birds breed on a small number of sub-antarctic islands, but they can be seen anywhere in the southern oceans that surround Antartica.  By any stretch of the imagination that's a lot water to call home.

I may have said it before and I'll probably say it again, but if you get the chance to see any albatross - take it.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 641 - Salvin's Albatross

I was lucky enough to go out on another couple of pelagic birding trips a week ago.  As per usual for me, these went out from Eaglehawk Neck in Tasmania.

This is a Salvin's Albatross (Thalassarche salvini) that we saw in the first trip of the weekend.  This species is part of the Shy Albatross group of birds.  It can be separated from Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta) by its pale grey head with a white forehead, its white underwings and the pale or olive-grey bit with a dark tip.

In the field (or on the ocean in this case) the grey head was very noticeable and this was the feature that first alerted us to the birds presence as it flew past.  Somewhat unusually (so I am told) the bird stayed around the boat for a while, rather than just doing a fly past.

This is a Southern Ocean species that breeds on some of New Zealand sub-antarctic islands. 

In some of these picture you can see the bird interacting with a Shy Albatross. 

As ever, to join on with WBW click on the link below.  Hope all is well.  SM

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