ID Challenge #5 - closes 14 November 2010

[craigsteed]

Right, being from Palmerston North I don't see nearly enough Albatrosses on a day to day basis to have any confidence with this ID, the pelagic I went on last year from Wanganui I spent most of the time hanging over the rails saying farewell to my breakfast - I'm going with a Salvin's Mollymawk.

[David Riddell]

I'll go with Grey-headed mollymawk, based mainly on the underwing pattern. The top of the head looks pale like a Buller's, but that could be the light.

[harrier.talon]

Salvin's Albatross

From Andrew Thomas

[Will Parsons]

Initially thought it was a Black Backed Gull but bill seem wrong as curves down too much. My best bet is it's a Buller's Shearwater as large amount of under wing white and smudging behind head.
A challenging challenge!

[philbattley]

A bit lacking in experience on these and without much experience beyond Shy Albatross, and am conflicted about how thick the leading edge to the outer wing is allowed to be for the Shy group. Yellow-nosed too thick...?

I'll throw my vote to Salvin's Albatross, on the basis that the bill colour contrast fits better for that than for White-capped, and the glimpse of cheek and forehead fit better for that than for Chatham Island.

Need to go seabirding more than once a decade...

Phil

[Ross Silcock]

adult southern buller's albatross

[igor]

Buller's albatross

[GrahameNZ]

How about a Grey Headed Mollymawk, Diomedea chrysostoma.

[Wynston Cooper]

Given the glimpses of yellow along ridge and tip of bill and the grey throat/hindneck, plus the broad black leading edge and narrow black trailing edge, I'll go for Buller's Mollymawk (oops! Sorry, Albatross).

Wynston

[Richard Schofield]

Obviously a Mollymawk. Black on leading edge of underwing appears too broad for Shy group, and too narrow for Black-browed/Campbell. Indian Yellow-nosed would have white head. I think not enough black on forewing for Grey-headed, which leaves Buller’s/Pacific. White on forehead suggests Buller’s, but I’m not happy with the black on forewing – not broad enough for Buller’s. So back to Shy group, and maybe the angle makes the black look broader? Everything else (bill, grey head, wingtips) points to Salvin's, so I'll go for that (and hope I'm not last entry this month!)