Black-browed Albatross
Thalassarche melanophris (Temminck, 1828) (1, 1)
Photo © Matthew K. Naylor, Bempton, July, 2021
STATUS
Oceanic. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
The astonishing first inland record has now gained further credence by the appearance of another in Derbyshire in 1952 and of a Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos inland in Lincolnshire, 2007.
RECORD
1). 1897 Cambridgeshire Linton, sub-adult, picked up exhausted, 9th July.
(E. A. Butler, Ibis 1897: 625; J. G. Tuck, Zoologist 1897: 363-364; E. A. Butler, Field 28th Aug., 1897: 389; Saunders, 1899; W. R. P. Bourne, Ibis 109: 146).
History E. A. Butler of Brettenham Park, Ipswich (1897) in The Ibis, Vol. XXXIX. pp. 625-627, dated 25th August, 1897, and in The Field of 28th Aug., Vol. XC. p. 389, with a very similar account, says: 'An Albatross, which has since been identified as Diomedea melanophrys, was caught on the Streetly Hall Farm, near Linton, Cambridgeshire, on July 9th, by a labourer named Samuel Barker, who killed and took it to Mr. S. Owen Webb, of Streetly Hall, who forwarded it, under the impression that it was a species of Gull, to Mr. Travis, taxidermist, Bury St. Edmund's, for preservation. The bird, when captured, was uninjured and in very good condition, bore no marks of captivity, but seemed simply exhausted. On hearing of it through the Rev. G. Julian Tuck, Mr. J. H. Gurney and I examined it, and asked Mr. Travis to forward it to Mr. Howard Saunders, who submitted it to Mr. Osbert Salvin, when it was pronounced to belong to the above species.
It is, I believe, the first instance of the occurrence of an Albatross in the British Isles, though a bird of the same species was shot in the Faroe Islands (Ibis, 1896, p. 136), and others are referred to by Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown, as well as by Mr. H. L. Popham (Zoologist, 1894, pp. 337-338), as having been met with in the same portion of the Atlantic Ocean. In the present specimen the superciliary mark is almost absent, and is merely represented by an indistinct tinge of grey on the feathers over and in front of the eye, in which respect it seems to resemble the one killed in the Faroes. There is another peculiarity which, strange to say, is not mentioned in the British Museum Catalogue (Vol. XXV. p. 447), and that is that the whole of the outer web of the outside tail-feather is white or whitish, a very conspicuous feature when the tail is spread.
The following note was made by Mr. Gurney and myself from the specimen shortly after it was mounted: - Length, following outline of mounted specimen along the back, from tip of beak to end of tail, 26.3 inches; wing, closed, from bend to tip, 17 inches; bill, along ridge to tip, following the curve, 4.2 inches; tarsus, in front, 2.4 inches; tarsus, behind, 2.9 inches; expanse (teste Mr. Travis, about, 84 inches; number of tail-feathers twelve).
Soft parts as described by Mr. Travis, and so far as we could judge ourselves: - Bill, pale lemon-yellow along the culmen, passing into brownish black at the bend towards the tip for about 1 inch. The extreme tip for about half an inch pale whitish horn-colour, remainder brownish-orange. Legs and feet fleshy blue.'
Julian G. Tuck of Tostock Rectory (1897) in The Zoologist, 4th series, Vol. I. pp. 363-364, says: 'Mr. Travis, the birdstuffer at Bury St Edmunds, has lately received in the flesh a bird which is new to the European fauna - one of the Albatross family, of which I am unable to give the specific name.
It was caught near Linton, Cambridgeshire, on or about the July 1st, and sent to Mr. Travis, with the written order (which I saw) to "stuff this gull". The bird in colour much resembles a Great Black-backed Gull, and measured in the flesh perhaps thirty-four or thirty-six inches, with an expanse of wing Mr. Travis estimated at seven feet. The back and wings are somewhat paler in colour than in Larus marinus, but the tail is blackish instead of white; the head, neck, breast, and belly pure white. It arrived in a perfectly fresh condition, and the colour of the feet and legs at once attracted the operator's attention; he described them as "fleshy blue", and this was quite perceptible when I saw the bird, though it had been set up for some ten days.
So far as I am aware, only one Albatross of any species has ever reached England alive, and this lived for a short time in the Zoological Gardens some twelve or fourteen years ago; but the beautifully clean plumage of the Cambridgeshire bird quite precludes the possibility of its ever having been in confinement.' [This specimen has since been submitted to Mr. Howard Saunders, who has again consulted Mr. O. Salvin, our great authority on the Petrels. Both these experts pronounce the bird to be Diomedea melanophrys, the species 'which haunted the Faroes for thirty years, and which has also been taken high in the N. Atlantic'. - Ed.]
Saunders (1899, 2nd ed.) says: 'On 9th July 1897, an exhausted individual of this species was captured on the Streetly Hall Farm, near Linton, Cambridgeshire, and was sent by Mr. S. Owen Webb to Mr. Travis, a taxidermist at Bury St. Edmunds (Ibis 1897: 625). Through the good offices of the Rev. Julian Tuck, Col. E. A. Butler and Mr. J. H. Gurney, the specimen was sent to London for the inspection of Mr. Osbert Salvin and others. Mr. Southwell has neatly remarked that after all the species was only revisiting the haunts of its remote ancestors, for the bones of an Albatross of medium size, from the Suffolk 'red crag' near Ipswich, have been described and figured by Mr. R. Lyddeker.'
In a review of all seabirds by W. R. P. Bourne (Ibis 109: 141-167) the BOU (1971) under 'Introduction' p. xiv, adopted his recommendations for this species and accepted this record.
1950-57 RECORD
2). 1952 Derbyshire Staveley, immature, found in telegraph wires, released, and taken to Skegness and released, mid-August, photo.
M. H. Edmunds, Field 13th Sep., 1952: 424; J. D. Macdonald, British Birds 46: 110-111, plate 13; D. L. Serventy, British Birds 46: 307-308; P. A. Clancey, British Birds 46: 308; H. F. I. Elliott, British Birds 46: 308-310; W. R. P. Bourne, Ibis 109: 147, 148; Frost, 1978).
History M. H. Edmunds of Cutthorpe (1952) in The Field of 13th Sep., Vol. CC. p. 424, says: 'The enclosed photograph may interest your readers. The bird, which had fouled telephone wires, was picked up in Staveley Works, near Chesterfield, recently. The local R.S.P.C.A. inspector housed it for the night and sent it next day to Skegness, where it was released, apparently none the worse for its mishap.
The bird had a wing span of 5ft. and a body 30in. long. A 4in. dark-coloured beak ended in a downward curve. Snow-white in its head and breast feathers, the bird was softly shaded from a greyish fawn to black on its back and wings. It stood erect on broad webbed feet of a delicate flesh colour.
From the enclosed photograph, Mr. J. D. MacDonald, Principle Scientific Officer, Bird Section, British Museum (Natural History), has identified it as a young Black-browed Albatross (Diomedea melanophrys), a very rare visitor to Britain. He states in a letter to me that it has been recorded only once with certainty; a bird was picked up in an exhausted condition in Cambridge in July, 1897.'
J. D. Macdonald (1953) in British Birds Vol. XLVI. pp. 110-111, says: 'On August 21st, 1952, Mr. Morton H. Edmunds, the Editor of The Derbyshire Times, sent to the British Museum for identification a photograph of a bird (see plate 13) that had been captured a few days previously (the exact date was unfortunately not recorded) at Staveley, Derbyshire, where it had become entangled with telegraph wires, although without sustaining any serious injury.
The bird seemed to be in an exhausted condition and Inspector G. A. Lloyd, of the R.S.P.C.A., took the sympathetic course of sending it by rail to Skegness, Lincolnshire, where it was released. It is much to be regretted that the bird was not examined by a competent ornithologist, but the excellent photograph (reproduced here by kind permission of The Derbyshire Times) seems to show fairly clearly the main characteristics of an immature Black-browed Albatross (Diomedia melanophrys). Mr. Edmunds said that "The bird had a wing span beak ended in a downward curve. Snow-white in its head and breast-feathers, the bird was softly shaded from a greyish-fawn to black on its back and wings. It stood erect on broad, webbed feet of a delicate flesh-colour".
From the photograph it appears to me that the wing-span was somewhat underestimated and that 6-7 feet would be more accurate. The Handbook gives the maximum wing-span as 8 feet, but presumably this is only attained by fully adult birds.'
[This bird, although apparently an example of D. melanophrys, seems to have been in a very unusual state of plumage. In the first place, the juveniles of this species (and all the other small albatrosses) have largely grey heads. The 'snow-white' head here should indicate maturity, but usually the adult Black-browed Albatross, as its name implies, has a conspicuous black stripe over the eye which is lacking in this case. The same kind of problem is presented by the colouring of the soft parts, because the bill of an adult is normally yellow, and that of a juvenile horn-grey or brown which is presumably the equivalent of the colour implied in the description. On the other hand the flesh-coloured feet suggest an adult. The comparatively narrow, white band under the wings with a broad, dark margin is another juvenile character. Thus this bird has juvenile characters of bill and wings, adult head-plumage (except for an almost complete absence of the superciliary, dark mark) and feet the colour of which suggests an adult. There appears to be no published description of such an individual, but the rather stout bill is almost diagnostic of the Black-browed Albatross and, taking all the features into consideration, we agree that this is acceptable as the second or third British record of this species. - Eds.]
D. L. Serventy (1953) in British Birds, Vol. XLVI. pp. 307-308, in a Letter, says: 'I was most interested to read the account by J. D. Macdonald of the recovery of an albatross in Derbyshire (antea, pp. 110-111) and to see the accompanying photograph (plate 13), because in my opinion the bird was a Yellow-nosed Albatross (Diomedea chlororhyncha) and not a Black-browed D. melanophrys) as reported. It was an immature individual such as are very common off the coast of Western Australia and which Rothschild long ago described as carteri.
The particulars given agree very well with an immature chlororhyncha, including the white head and nape and the absence of the eye-brow line (incidentally, in Australian waters the immatures of both species never have 'largely grey heads', but are pure white in this respect). The under-wing pattern as shown in the photograph, especially that of the right wing, suggests the sharp boundaries and large amount of white characteristic of chlororhyncha.
Finally, in connection with the estimated dimensions of the Derbyshire bird, it is worth adding that the wing-span of chlororhyncha is smaller than in melanophrys; in A Handbook of the Birds of Western Australia (Serventy and Whittell, 1948) we give 5 ft. 10 ins. as a minimum measurement of the former's wing (when greatly stretched).'
P. A. Clancey (1953) in British Birds, Vol. XLVI. p. 308. in a Letter, says: 'I would refer you to the note (antea, pp. 110-111) on the albatross that was captured in Derbyshire in August, 1952, and which was subsequently identified from a photograph (vide antea, plate 13) and a brief description as a Black-browed Albatross (Diomedea melanophrys).
I have compared the photograph very critically with the albatross material in our collections and would state that, in my opinion, the species captured in Derbyshire was not D. melanophrys, but the closely allied Yellow-nosed Albatross (D. chlororhyncha). The scanty information given in the note by Mr. J. D. Macdonald confirms this decision. D. chlororhyncha and D. melanophrys differ mainly in the coloration of the bill, as well as in its size, and in the amount of blackish above the eyes and in the coloration of the legs and feet. The bill of D. chlororhyncha is mainly of a slate-grey colour, the culminicorn being yellowish shading to dull orange towards the tip. The amount of dusky shading above the eye varies individually, but is never so extensive as in D. melanophrys. The legs and feet of D. chlororhyncha are flesh-coloured. In D. melanophrys the bill is entirely chrome-yellow in the adult stage and the legs and feet brownish yellow (vide Austin Roberts, Birds of South Africa, 1940, p. 4).
It is a great pity that the bird was allowed to go free without first being identified beyond all doubt, but the photograph should be sufficient proof of the first authentic occurrence of this widely distributed, southern oceanic species in the British Isles.'
[The letters that are reproduced above are the only two that we have received criticising the identification of the Derbyshire albatross as of the Black-browed species and we publish them here as they help to provide a good illustration of the problems involved in identifying odd vagrants, and of the care and techniques which must be used in assessing inadequate evidence. In this connection we are very glad to reproduce below Mr. H. F. I. Elliott's careful analysis of the facts which provides unsolicited support of the original identification. We are always very glad to hear from anyone who is qualified to give judgement in such a matter. - Eds.]
H. F. I. Elliott (1953) in British Birds, Vol. XLVI. pp. 308-310, says: 'In your note (antea, Vol. XLVI. p. 111) on the albatross caught in Derbyshire in August, 1952, it is stated that juveniles of all the small albatrosses have largely grey heads. This is incorrect. The juveniles of at least the Yellow-nosed Albatross (Diomedea chlororhyncha) are readily distinguished from adults by having pure white instead of grey heads. Furthermore the dark tone on the head and neck of the juvenile Black-browed Albatross (D. melanophrys) can, according to Murphy, be 'lost through abrasion, the first whiteness...coming as a result of wear' before the first complete moult.
These facts, combined with the existence of old and doubtful records of Yellow-nosed Albatrosses from the River Trent in 1836, and from Iceland about 1843, and modern proof that young birds of the Tristan da Cunha breeding population regularly reach an area nearly 2,000 miles to the north within 4½ months of fledging, have led me to examine the reasons given for accepting the Derbyshire occurrence as the second or third for Britain of the Black-browed Albatross.
All the specimens, of the two species referred to, in the British Museum were examined, together with fresh skins of each recently brought back from Tristan. The latter include a fully fledged juvenile of chlororhyncha, hitherto not represented in the collection. In addition a large number of photographs of chlororhyncha in all stages of growth have been studied, including cine colour-film. It is quite certain in the first place, for good reasons of plumage, size and geographical distribution, which it is unnecessary to detail, that the bird depicted in the photograph reproduced in British Birds (antea, plate 13) is either a Black-browed or a Yellow-nosed Albatross and not any other species. In either case, as chiefly indicated by the bill colour, it is not fully mature.
On this basis its identity as one or other of these two species turns on four points, namely size, colour of bill, colour of the under surface of the wing and colour of the feathering around the eye.
(1) Size. The Black-browed Albatross is on the average considerably the larger of the two species, its recorded weight varying from one and a half to twice that of the other. Curiously enough, however, there is a considerable overlap in the wing measurements on record (i.e. from the carpal joint to the tip of the primaries) and even in total wing-spread the smallest recorded for melanophrys exceeds the largest for chlororhyncha by only three inches. Hence the fact that the nearest one can get to the measurements of the Derbyshire bird (by comparison with the size of the hand holding and roughly in the same plane as the right wing) suggests a wing measurement of about 500 mm. and a total wingspread of 6½ feet, is of little value in deciding the issue. At the most one may say that the small measurements reported, the apparent size in the photograph and the fact that the smallest wing-spread on record for melanophrys is just over seven feet, do slightly favour identification as chlororhyncha. On the other hand the apparent size of the bill in the photograph favours precisely the opposite conclusion. Although there is virtually no difference in length of bill between the two species, the depth of bill of chlororhyncha is usually noticeably less. Again there is a very small overlap in recorded measurements, but allowing for this and the effect of foreshortening, the bill in the photograph is more suggestive of the deeper bill and the more marked lower angle of the gonys typical of melanophrys.
(2) Bill colour. Had those who handled the bird provided a precise description of the bill colour, identification would have been simple. At all stages the great part of the bill of chlororhyncha is black. In the juvenile about to leave the nest there is a very slight paleness on the apex of the culmen, which develops gradually into the golden yellow culminicorn of the adult, but at no stage can one conceive the most casual observer describing the bill as anything but plain 'black' (with more or less of a contrasting streak of colour on the top of the culmen). On the other hand the bill of the fledged melanophrys is never darker than 'greyish black' or 'black with an olive brown wash.' At the stage apparently reached by the Derbyshire bird one would, it is true, expect a yellowish-brown bill with a darker tip, but a specimen in the Museum taken off Chile in November, 1932, very possibly a bird of the year or about 7 months out of the nest, is recorded as having a bill 'bone, colour with a darker tip' while by March 22nd birds of the year (one with down still adhering) were recorded, by the Norwegian scientific expedition of 1938, as already arriving at Tristan from their distant breeding-quarters and described in the field as having 'greenish-black' bills. In short, the description 'dark-coloured' and the indication of a darker unguis in the photograph (making due allowance for the effect of high lights) might well answer to an appropriate intermediate stage and favour identification as melanophrys.
(3) Under-wing pattern. At all stages the pattern of the underside of the wing of chlororhyncha has very much more white in it than that of melanophrys, in which in the young bird the white is reduced to a narrow axial streak. In particular the axillaries of the latter are grey and in the former almost entirely white. It is difficult to be certain of the effect of light and shade in the photograph, but the axillaries certainly look grey and the general effect of a broad dark margin to the wing fully supports identification as melanophrys.
(4) Colour round the eye. It is this point which in my view settles the issue. In all stages of chlororhyncha, from nestlings near fledging but still partly in down to breeding adults, there is a distinct dark supra-loral patch in front of the eye. This is a striking characteristic in the field and is present in all the specimens and photographs examined. On the other hand the somewhat similar dark feathering near the eye of melanophrys is as the name implies usually extended to form a 'brow', but, though slightly more marked in front of than behind the eye, does not as in chlororhyncha nearly reach the bill and almost interrupt the white area between eye and bill. Furthermore in many specimens the dark brow is very much reduced and in one at least appears to be entirely absent. This specimen was collected off Chile in February - a yearling female. It is a very close counterpart of the Derbyshire bird, the photograph of which shows no trace of such a loral patch as without exception in the case of chlororhyncha presents the appearance of a dark triangle on the region of the eye. I have no doubt therefore that, despite the somewhat tantalising nature of the evidence, the bird found in Derbyshire was in fact a Black-browed Albatross, most probably (judging by bill colour and assuming considerable wear) a bird of the year fledged four or five months previously.'
In a review of all seabirds by W. R. P. Bourne (Ibis 109: 141-167) the BOU (1971) under 'Introduction' p. xiv, adopted his recommendations for this species and accepted this record.
NOT PROVEN
0). 1933 Orkney Hoy, seen, 16th November.
(Balfour, 1972).
[BOU, 1971; Booth, Cuthbert & Reynolds, 1984].
History Balfour (1972: 18) says: 'G. T. Arthur reported one off the Old Man of Hoy, on 16th November 1933.'
Comment Not admitted nationally (BOU 1971) or accepted locally (Booth, Cuthbert & Reynolds 1984: 6).
