Luke's Birding Pages

Shy Albatross, Thalassarche cauta

August 24, 1999

9 miles WSW of Point Arena, Mendocino County, California

This is the first Shy Albatross for California.  Note the massive size compared to the Black-foots, and the crisp white underwing with the black pre-axillary "thumbprint."

I determined this bird to be T. cauta, in the strict sense (as opposed to the very similar T. steadi) based on the yellow in the base of the culminicorn.  For further information on this bird and separating the cauta complex, see below for citation to Cole (2000).

The black thumbprint at the base of the wing is diagnostic of all birds in the former Diomedea cauta complex, including Shy (Thalassarche cauta/T. steadi), Salvin's (T. salvini) and Chatham Island Albatross (T. eremita).

Photographs © Luke W. Cole

Reference

Cole, L.W.  2000.  A first Shy Albatross, Thalassarche cauta, in California and a critical re-examination of North Hemisphere records of the former Diomedea cauta complex.  North American Birds 54:124-135.

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