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Case Summary for:
Submission No 130: Laysan Albatross Diomedea immutabilis; Headstone, Norfolk Island, 22 October 1985 & 10- 22 August 1986 Accepted: 10 March, 1998 This case first came before the committee in 1991 (Patterson 1996) and subsequently received a vote of non acceptance primarily due to the lack of core information regarding the background of the sighting. The identity of the bird wasn’t in question, but the committee needed confirmation that the photographs were in fact the bird which occurred on Norfolk Island. This concern is now alleviated and the case reopened as a result of additional information from two further observers, which now authenticates the dates and the circumstances behind the sightings. The dates provided in the first submission are now known to be incorrect. The bird was actually first found on a headland at Headstone, Norfolk Island 22 October 1985, although documented as a Shy Albatross Diomedea cauta (Norfolk Nature Notes 1985 and Hermes 1986) and apparently banded as a Black-browed Albatross Diomedea melanophrys and subsequently released. A further sighting occurred the following year at the same location 10-22 August 1986 (Norfolk Nature Notes 1986). The precise circumstances of the second sighting are not known, however the committee is in receipt of photographs that are dated September 1986 which further back up the August 1986 occurrence. Given that the locality is the same it is quite likely that the 1986 bird is the same individual as the first, however this is not known for certain as details relating to the band are not available and the band if present is not visible on the 1986 photographs. The committee is in receipt of photographs relating to both sightings and in our opinion both have proven to be that of Laysan Albatross and probably refer to the same individual. Having viewed the additional photographs members once again voted unanimously to accept as an adult Laysan Albatross basing their findings on bill colour and shape, extent and density of the black patch in front of the eye and the underwing pattern of the bird photographed in August 1986. In the better photographs the bill has a yellowish-pink tone with a dusky tip, looking long & narrow and paler in colour than that of Black-browed Albatross. The patch in front of the eye being more extensive, extending from the lores to ear coverts. Cheeks grey. Lower eye-lids white. The photograph with the wings outstretched show a white centre to the underwing with irregular black margins caused by broad black patches on the secondary portion of the underwing and the primary tips. The combination of which rules out all possible races of Black-browed or Shy Albatross. The committee has no hesitation in unanimously accepting this record as Australia’s first Laysan Albatross. We believe this to be only the third record for the Southern Hemisphere, the only other records being from the South-West Indian Ocean in 1983 & 1984 (Enticott & Tipling 1997).
References and Bibliography
Tony Palliser |