Snowy Albatross

Diomedea exulans

Photo by MikeMules Taken about 30km offshore, off Eden, southern NSW.

Identification

Length 107-135cm. Wingspan 330cm. The largest albatross but plumage varies greatly according to age and can be very difficult to distinguish from Royal Albatross D. epomophora.

Adult

Plumage entirely white except for black primaries and narrow black tips to secondaries although head may be stained pinkish when breeding. Bill fleshy-pink or whitish with horn-coloured nail, legs pinkish to bluish-white.

Immature

Juvenile largely chocolate brown except for white face, underwing white with narrow dark trailing edge and small black tip. Underwing pattern stays much the same but as the bird ages the brown on head and body is gradually replaced with white resulting in a mainly white bird with dark upperwings. These gradually whiten from a white central wedge rather than from the leading edge backwards as in Royal. Many otherwise adult birds retain dark feathers at the sides of the tail, a feature not shown by adult Royal. An enormous seabird with a huge wingspan and majestic flight, check upperwing pattern carefully to distinguish from Royal Albatross. At close range black cutting edges of bill indicate Royal.

Range

Circumpolar in Southern Oceans. Breeds on South Georgia, Inaccessible and Gough Islands, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen and perhaps Heard Islands, Marion, Macquarie, Auckland, Campbell and Antipodes Islands. At sea mainly between Tropic of Capricorn and 600S but sometimes occurs further north off South America and Africa. Recorded as a vagrant in Panama in 1937 and in California in 1967 but all northern records could involve ship-assisted birds. European reports such as Sicily in 1957 and Portugal in 1963 are generally regarded as suspect. Dispersive rather than migratory.

Habitat

Breeds colonially on grassy clifftops and plateaux on islands but spends most of the year at sea. Frequently follows ships.

Voice

Generally silent though may utter harsh croaking and braying sounds when competing for food at sea. Claps bill in display.

Breeding

Begins in September, nest is a large bowl made of mud and vegetable matter. One egg laid in mid-November, white, sometimes speckled with red-brown (131 x 78mm). Incubated for 66-77 days and young fed daily by both parents for first 20 days. Feeding gradually takes place less often but with larger amounts of food per visit. Fledges in September and takes at least ten years to reach full adult plumage.

Diet

Squid and fish, sometimes refuse from ships.

Subspecies

Two to three subspecies are recognised but this species varies considerably in size and undergoes a complex age-related sequence of plumages. Breeders on Inaccessible, Gough, Auckland, Campbell and Antipodes are usually placed in exulans with the remainder of range occupied by chionoptera but Inaccessible and Gough Island birds are sometimes placed in dabbenena.

Wandering Albatross

Breeds on mainland New Zealand at Tairoa Heads light house.

Originally posted by sinclairmarcus

Thread disucssing racial ID [[1]]

External Links

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