A Short-Tailed Albatross Observed Near San Benedicto Island, Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico

NOTES

A SHORT-TAILED ALBATROSS OBSERVED NEAR SAN BENEDICTO ISLAND, REVILLAGIGEDO ISLANDS, MEXICO

LUIS SANTAELLA, P.O. Box 50, Rancho Santa Fe• California 92067 ANDRI•SM. SADA,Apartado Postal 1124, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon 64000, Mexico

On 29 April 1990, at 1500, whileon a 73-foot motoryacht cruising the easternPacific Oceanat 19ø26 •N, 110ø44•W (approximately6 nauticalmiles north of San Benedicto Island, the northernmostof the RevillagigedoIslands of Mexico), Santaellaspotted a largealbatross about 200 metersfrom the boat. He immediatelypointed out the birdto hiscompanions, all experiencedobservers: Andr•s and Pilar Sada, EugenioClariond, Miguel A. Gomez, Barbara M. Montes, and Mario A. Ramos. Having just seen two Laysan Albatrosses(Diomedea immutabilis),he initiallythought that the approaching bird would be anotherLaysan. When clearlyseen, however,the bird was unmistakably an adult Short-tailedAlbatross (Diomedea albatrus)•We all saw the bird well with binoc- ularsfor aboutthree minutesas it flew north low over the water in a leisurelybut pur- posefulmanner and disappearedinto the distance.The weatherwas fair with lightwind and swelland water temperatureof 78 øF. The albatrosswas largerthan the two LaysanAlbatrosses we had justseen and had a huge pink bill. The head and body were white with a distinctyellow crown and nape. The wingsabove were black distally and proximallywith black primaries and secondaries separatedby a largewhite patch with irregularborders. The mantleand rump were pure whiteand the tail wasblack, with the pale feet projectingbeyond it. The massivebill im- partedto the bird a front-heavyappearance, as if it were prone to keel forward.The plumageand appearanceof the adultShort-tailed Albatross are uniqueand quitedistinct from thoseof any other of the world'salbatrosses (Harrison 1983, 1987). The other two speciesof the northernPacific Ocean, the Laysanand the Black-looted(D. nigripes), bothfound in Mexicanwaters, differ completely, the formerhaving entirely blackish up- per wingsand mantle,and the latterbeing entirely dusky brown with blackbill and feet. (The juvenile Short-tailedAlbaross is entirelybrown but retainsthe pink bill and pale feet.) Our observationof a Short-tailedAlbatross is the firstreported for the Revillagigedo Islands.The only otheralbatross recently recorded from theseislands is the Laysan,a recent colonizer(Howell and Webb 1990). Between 29 April and 6 May 1990 we ob- servedtwo LaysanAlbatrosses at sea off San Benedicto,one flyingpast Roca Partida, and four on landingon Clari6n. There is a very old recordof a Black-lootedAlbatross off Clari6nIsland (Anthony 1898). As far as we are aware,the only otherrecord this cen- tury of a Short-tailedAlbatross from Mexico is of an adult seen in November 1986 by David Ainley and Larry Spear 230 milesoff Manzanillo,Colima (L. Spearpers. comm.). There are no recentreports for Baja California(Wilbur 1987), from where the species wasregularly recorded prior to 1900 (Grinnell1928). Thisalbatross was formerly abun- dant in the North Pacific,breeding between October and May on numeroussmall islands off Japanand dispersingnorth to the BeringSea and eastto the coastsof Californiaand Baja California(Harrison 1983). After the specieswas nearly exterminated by Japanese Western Birds 22:33-34, 1991 33 NOTES plume-huntersin the late 19th and early 20th centuries,there are now approximately 250 birdsbreeding only on Torishima,off Japan (Hasegawa1984), with a totalpopula- tion of about 400 (Ackerman 1990). There are about a dozen recent records from western North America, rangingfrom Alaska to California (Hasegawa and DeGange 1982, Everett1983, Campbellet al. 1986). The onlyrecords since 1946 of adultShort- tailed Albatrosses off western North America south of Alaska are the two from Mexico reportedhere. Presumably,if the populationcontinues to increase,the speciesshould become more frequent off the Pacificcoast of North America, includingMexico. W. T. Everettand G. McCaskiereviewed this paper and providedmany usefulcom- ments.

LITERATURE CITED

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