Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!usc!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!news.funet.fi!ra!misan From: misan@ra.abo.fi (Annika Forsten DC) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Albatross plumage: query on colour of the rump Message-ID: Date: 18 Sep 90 10:15:29 GMT Sender: misan@ra.abo.fi Distribution: rec.birds Organization: Abo Academy, Finland Lines: 39 I'm posting this for a friend in Holland who can't post to rec.birds yet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Any Australians or New Zealanders for this one? On 30 november 1980 an Albatross-type bird flew past the Dutch coast. It resembled an immature Black-browed Albatross (Diomedea melanophris) but the distance was to great to allow specific identification (bill could not be seen). The bird was rejected by the Dutch Rarity Committee as an `Albatross', Diomedea spec., mainly on the ground of one `abnormality': the rump was off-white / mottled greyish, not white (it did form a contrast with the dark tail and lower-back). The Rarity Committee argued that this feature can never be shown by Mollymawk Albatrosses (the relevant species are Black-browed and (perhaps) Grey-headed and Yellow-nosed) and that the bird perhaps could have been a Giant Petrel, Macronectes spec.. I have two questions: - Can Mollymawk Albatrosses show a rump which is not pure white but greyish? If so, under what circumstances or in what age? - Can Giant Petrels have a plumage similar to that of a Mollymawk Albatross? If so, under what circumstances or in what age? If you don't know the answers yourself but do know someone who does, please send me his/her address. I do read the net; but due to local policies I can't submit any follow-ups at the moment. I will E-mail to those who respond. To make things even worse, I`ll be out of the country until the 23rd September. Thanks, Rolf de By (deby@cs.utwente.nl) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Annika Forsten