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The Black-browed in North America:

First Photographically Documented Record

Figure1. ImmatureBlack-browed Albatross at NorfolkCanyon, +65 nmieast of VirginiaBeach, 6 February1999. Notethe gray collar t contrasting white bead, and black underwings with white secondary coverts. Photograph/J.Brian Patteson

J. BRIANPATTESON* andothers on 6 February1999 at NorfolkCanyon, a localeover the MICHAELA. PATTEN[ ContinentalShelf roughly 65 nauticalmiles east of VirginiaBeach, Virginia.This date saw cold air temperatures(2-10øC), heavy cloud and EDWARD$. BRINKLEY:I: cover,large swells, and wind-seaconditions estimated at Beautbrt force4-6. Otheressentially pelagic observed were four light- ' hematicBlack-browed species in NorthAlbatrossAmerica. ThalassarcheAlthough rnelanophristhere have beenis an "overenig- morph Northern Fulmarus glacialis, five Manx a dozenreports" of thisspecies off the eastcoast of Canadaand the Puffinuspuffinus, a singleGreat Skua Catharacta skua, two first-win- UnitedStates (ABA 1996), all specimenand photographic records of ter Black-leggedKittiwakes Rissa tridact?la, an immatureRazorbill albatrosseshave pertained to the Yellow-nosedAlbatross T. chloror- Alca torda, and three Atlantic Puffins Fraterculaarctica. hynchos(McDaniel 1973, Mlodinow 1999). Indeed, although the The Black-browed Albatross was first noted at 1230 EST. It Black-browedAlbatross was accepted to the listof specieshaving remained in view for 20 minutes at distancesof 20-100 m. Based on occurredin the United Statesand Canada(ABA 1996),none of the past recordsfor the northwesternAtlantic Ocean,it seemedover- dozenor so reportsis substantiatedby physicalevidence or pho- whelminglylikely that the wouldprove to be a Yellow-nosed tographs.Furthermore, the AOU (1998) placedthe specieson the Albatross;indeed, this species remains the "default"albatross off the North Americanlist basedon a specimenfrom Martiniquebut East Coast of North America. Even so, after a few minutes of careful judgednone of the recordsfor the United Statesand Canadato be study,it becameapparent that it was in fact an immatureBlack- satisfactory.Thus, there was some recent discussion of removingthe browed Albatross. It remained in view for at least another 10 minutes speciesfrom the American Birding Association Area list (J.L. Dunn after the identification was made, so all field marks could be pers.comm.). recheckedon thebird with it stillin view.An extensiveset of pho- Hereinwe report the first fully documentedrecord of a Black- tographsand a videotapewere obtained in thistime (Figs. 1--4). browed Albatrossfor the United Statesand Canada.This bird, an immature,was studied at lengthand extensively photographed byus DESCRIPTION OF THE VIRGINIA BIRD The followingdescription is basedon contemporaneousfield notes * EO.Box 772, Hatteras, 27943 andphotographs of the bird. This bird was truly huge, long-winged, t DepartmentofBiology, University ofCalifornia, Riverside, 92521 and impressive.Obviously no other albatrosseswere present for $ 9 RandolphAvenue, Cape Charles, Virginia 23310 directsize comparison, but relativeto otherNorthern Hemisphere

228 NORTHAMERICAN Figure2. ImmatureBlack-browed Albatross at NorfolkCanyon, Figure3. ImmatureBlack-browed Albatross at NorfolkCanyon, +65 nmieast of VirginiaBeach, 6 February1999. Notethe typical +65 nmi east of VirginiaBeach, 6 February1999. mollymawkpattern (dark brown mantle with palehead Notethe extensivelyblack underwings, with whitishbases andunderparts), pinkish base to the bill, extensivegray nuchal to the greatersecondary coverts, and the narrowgray breast band. collar,and cleanwhite rump.Photograph/J. Brian Patteson Photograph/J.Brian Patteson specieswith whichthe authorsare familiarthis bird seemedto be roughlythe samesize or slightlylarger than a Black-footed Phoebastrianigripes or a LaysanP. imrnutabilis albatross, with broad- er wingsand a heavierbody. Length from bill tip to tail tip did not appearappreciably longer than the manynearby Northern Morusbassanus, but the muchgreater wingspan and wingarea and overallrobust appearance of the head,bill, andbody made the bird appearappreciably larger than the gannets. Thebill appearedto be all blackin mostlights, but in betterlight and at dose rangeit was evidentthat it was dark pinkish-gray throughout,with only the ungues being jet black.This black tip was fairlydean-cut from the pinkish-graybase (Figs. 1, 2). The legsand feetwere grayish (perhaps with somepink aswell). Its feetdid not extendbeyond the tip of thetail (Figs.1-3). It flewon long,bowed wingswith deepwingbeats alternating with longglides. It did not raisethe level of itswings much above the horizontal on theupstroke, but oftenbanked dramatically, forming a near-perfectvertical with theocean surface when doing so. It patteredalong the surfaceof the waterfor a shortdistance when taking flight. Not surprisingly,it was silentthroughout the observation. This albatrosswas a typicalmollymawk in plumagepattern/ coloration:pale head, rump, and underparts and dark brown mantle, upperwings,and tail (Figs.1-4). Therewas no distinctpale - Figure4. ImmatureBlack-browed Albatross at NorfolkCanyon, ingbreaking the monotony of darkbrown on the mantle (Fig. 2). The +65 nmieast of VirginiaBeach, 6 February1999. rump wasa dean white,lacking a duskybrown extensioninto it, Notethe white uppertailcoverts and graynape extending toward unlikethe rump of mostLaysan (Figs. 2, 4). The napewas the breastin the point. Photograph/].Brian Patteson

VOLUME53 (1999), ISSUE dusky-gray,with a nuchalcollar of the samecolor extending down Black-browedAlbatross has a largelywhite head with a contrasting the sidesof the neckto form a narrowbreast band (Figs. 1, 2, 4). A graycrown, nape, and narrow collar (Marchant and Higgins 1990). A smoky-blacksmudge around the darkeye extended posteriorly to a juvenileGray-headed Albatross has a mostlydusky-gray head (i.e., thin pointabout halfway to therear of theauriculars (forming the includingthe auricularsand extendingalmost to the throat),such classicblack "brow"; Figs. 2, 3). that they appearto havea hood rather than a collar.The Norfolk Theunderwings were mostly dark, smudgy brownish-black, with Canyonbird had a mostlypure white head, with gray on thenape a palewhitish or brownish-whitestripe on the greatersecondary extendingdown the sidesof the uppermostbreast to form a narrow coverts.In the photographs,the palepigmentation appears to be collar.Indeed, this bird looked extremely similar to the juvenile Black- mostlyat thebase of thesecoverts (Fig. 1). Theremiges were black- browedAlbatross in thephotograph published by Harrison (1987). ish,as was most of theleading edge of theunderwing. Indeed, aside Basedon thecoloration and pattern of thebill (pinkish-graybase from the whitishstripe on the secondarycoverts the underwings witha blacktip) andhead and neck (largely white with a graynape were largelyblackish/dark brownish-black (Figs. 1, 3), with only and breastband),the albatrossat NorfolkCanyon was a juvenile minor deviationsfrom this pattern (e.g., slightly paler axillaries). The Black-browedrather than a juvenileGray-headed. whitishon the covertsblurred almost imperceptibly into the wide blackishborders. The tail appearedto be uniformlydark brown, but STATUS IN THE NORTH it washard to seefrom below because of theexceptionally long, white The westernmostspecimens of the Black-browedAlbatross for the undertailcoverts (Figs. 1, 3). northern Atlantic Ocean are at Lille Hellefiskebankeoff the west coast of Greenlandin lateAugust 1935 (Palmer 1962) and off the Caribbean IDENTIFICATION ISSUES islandof Martinique12 November1956 (Bond 1959).There is an Amongstthe ,the Shy T. cauta,Buller's T. bulleri,and additionalsight report for the Caribbeanof two +220 km north- Yellow-nosedalbatrosses have extensively white underwings atall ages northeastof LosRoques 6 May 1968(de Bruijne 1970). In starkcon- and arethus readily eliminated. The LaysanAlbatross has a largely trastto theirscarcity in thewestern North Atlantic, the Black-browed pinkbill at all agesand shows much more white on theunderwing. Albatrosshas been recorded on 35-plusoccasions in the eastern Thus,given the extensively black underwings, the choices quickly nar- NorthAtlantic (Lewington et al. 1991),including over 25 recordsfor rowto eitherthe Black-browed or Gray-headedT. chrysostomaalba- theBritish Isles by the late 1980s (Dymond et al. 1989).Alternatively, tross.These species are easily distinguished asadults but are striking- the Yellow-nosedAlbatross has been reliably recorded on over30 ly similaras immatures, thus posing a seriousidentification problem occasionsin thewestern North Atlantic(McDaniel 1973, AOU 1998), (Marchautand Higgins1990). So similarare thesespecies that a yet remains virtually unknown in the easternNorth Atlantic recordof a tidelinecorpse from Iceland in about1844 cannot be iden- (Lewingtonet al. 1991). tifiedto species,though it is dearlyeither a Gray-headedor a Black- It is unclearjust how many previous records of theBlack-browed browedalbatross (Bourne 1967, Cramp and Simmons 1974). Albatrossexist for the westernNorth Atlantic.The ABA (1996) stat- As juvenilesboth mollymawkshave a mostlydark bill, largely edthat there are "over a dozenreports;' whereas Brinkley (1997) stat- blackunderwings, and gray about the head and neck Of thesemarks, ed that one in Massachusettsin fall 1996represented the "ninth the exactpattern of the underwingis highlyvariable between indi- [record]in thewestern North Atlantic." We located 20-21 reports in vidualsand thus cannot be usedto distinguishbetween the species theliterature, most of whichhave not been reviewed by local records (Warhamet al. 1966,Marchant and Higgins 1990). These species are committeesor havenot been acceptedby thesecommittees; such alsoextremely similar in upperpartpattern, foot coloration, size, and reportsshould not be consideredfirm records.Reports exist for structure.Furthermore, the presenceof a black"brow" is a common Newfoundland,Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, featureamong the mollymawks(Warham and Bourne 1974),so RhodeIsland, New York, New Jersey,North Carolina,and Florida despitebeing slightly more extensiveor obviouson a Black-browed (DeSanteand Pyle 1986, ABA 1996,AOU 1998).In Canada,an unre- it is of little value in field identification. viewedsight report +50 km northeastof ,Nova Scotia, 15 July Colorationand pattern of thebill andof thehead are the twobest 1980(Tufts 1986 lwho incorrectly gave the yearas 1983])was con- meansby which to distinguishbetween juvenile and immature sideredhypothetical by Godfrey (1986), and was perhapsin Black-browedand Gray-headedalbatrosses (Warham et al. 1966, Newfoundlandwaters (Vickery 1980). There are two additional sight Warhamand Bourne1974, Marchant and Higgins1990). Bill col- recordsfor Nova Scotia,one at CabotStrait 21 July1986 (Forster orationis perhapsthe bestsingle feature. On an immatureGray- 1987)and one off Yarmouth23 August1991 (Mactavish 1992). headedAlbatross, the bill is almostuniform blackish or darkgray, There are two or three records of the Black-browed Albatross for palingonly towardthe cutmenor base(Warham et al. 1966,Tickell the UnitedStates that may be consideredacceptable. Sight records of 1969,Warham and Bourne1974). By contrast,on an immature singlesbetween Nantucket and Hyannis 16 September 1973, and +40 Black-browedAlbatross the bill is mostlygray, pinkish-gray, or km eastof Newburyport11 July1976, were accepted by theMassa- yellowish-graywith a distinctlycontrasting black tip (Warhamet al. chusettsAvian RecordsCommittee (Petersen 1995). Note that a 24 1966,Tickell 1969, Marchant and Higgins 1990). The bird at Norfolk July1976 report from nearNewburyport, feh by someto be of the Canyondearly had a pinkish-graybase to itsbill with a contrasting samebird ason 11July (Veit and Petersen1993), was accepted only blacktip, thusindicating a Black-browedAlbatross. as"albatross sp." by the MassachusettsCommittee. A sightingat Head colorationand patternalso differs between iramatures of Manasquan,New Jersey,24 October 1989 (Mlodinow 1999) was thesespecies. Even as a juvenile,the Gray-headedAlbatross tends to acceptedby the New JerseyBird RecordsCommittee but the record havea mostlydusky-gray head, whereas the head of a juvenileBlack- remainscontroversial (P. E. Lehmanpers. comm.). browedis muchwhiter (Warham et al. 1966,Marchant and Higgins All other reportsof the Black-browedAlbatross for the United 1990).However, the extentof grayon the headcan be quitesimilar Statesare generally treated as unacceptable or hypothetical.One at (Watson1974), and individualGray-headed Albatrosses "with more the Isleof Shoalson the Maine/NewHampshire border 1 August or lesspale heads can be found"(Tickell 1969). Even so, a juvenile 1976,and seen an hourlater east of Hampton,was considered to be

NORTHAIdERICAN BIRDS BLACK-BROWED ALBATROSS likelythe same individual involved in the 1976record from Massa- Cramp,S., and K. E. L. Simmons.1974. Birds of theWestern Palearctic, vol. 1. chusetts(Finch 1977).Also in this area,an adult was reportedoff OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford. de Bruijne,J. W. A. 1970.Black-browed Albatross (Diomedea melanophris) in BaileyIsland, Maine, 28 May 1978(Vickery 1978). A reportof two the Caribbean. Ardea 58:264. near Bird Island in BuzzardsBay, Massachusetts,28 June 1972 DeSante,D. E, and E Pyle.1986. Distributional Checklist of NorthAmerican (DuMont 1973)has not beenreviewed by the MassachusettsAvian Birds.Artemisia Press, Lee Vining, Calif. RecordsCommittee, and an immatureoff SouthBeach 21 September Dumont,P. G. 1973.Black-browed Albatross sightings off the UnitedStates east coast. American Birds 27:739-740. 1996(Ellison and Martin 1997)was accepted by thatcommittee only Dymond,J. N., P.A. Fraser,and S. J. M. Gantlett.1989. Rare Birds in Britain as"albatross sp." (Petersen 1998). Furthermore, an adultalbatross at andIreland. T&AD Poyser,Calton, . George'sBank, Massachusetts, 2 May 1982was felt to be thisspecies Ellison,W. G., and N. L. Martin. 1997.New EnglandRegion. Field Notes (Nikula1982) but couldnot be verified.Neither the ABA (1996) nor 51:23-28. Finch, D. W. 1977. NortheasternMaritime Region. American Birds the AOU (1998) mentioneda recordfor RhodeIsland, but one was 31:225-232. reportedon Cox'sLedge in earlyJune 1980 (Vickery 1980). One Forster,R. A. 1987.Northeastern Maritime Region. American Birds 41:52-61. reportedoff Hempstead,Long Island, New York, 27 May 1996was Godfrey,W. E. 1986.The Birds of Canada,rev. ed. NationalMuseum of not acceptedby the New York StateAvian Records Committee Natural History,Ottawa. (1999).A reportof two, an adultand an immature,observed off Harrison,P. 1987. A FieldGuide to of theWorld. Stephen Green Press, Lexington,Massachusetts. CapeMay Point, New Jersey, 7 October 1974 (Scott and Cutler 1975) [ewington,1., P. Alstr6m, and E Colston.1991. A FieldGuide to the Rare Birds wastreated as hypothetical by Sibley(1997). This report, and those ofBritain and Europe. HarperCollins Publications, London. of singlesat HudsonCanyon _+64 nautical miles southeast of Mactavish,B. 1992.Atlantic Provinces Region. American Birds 46:53-57. Marchaut,S., and E J. Higgins,eds. 1990. Handbook of Australian,New ManasquanInlet 27 May 1973(Buckley and Davis 1973), 8 km east Zealand,and Birds, vol. 1. OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford. of Deal5 July1973 (Buckley and Davis 1973), and off Little Inlet McDaniel,J. W. 1973.Vagrant albatrosses in the western North Atlantic and 5 December1973 (Smith 1974), were not acceptedby the New Jersey Gulf of Mexico. American Birds 27:563-565. Bird RecordsCommittee "due to a lack of documentation" (S. E. Mlodinow,S. G. 1999. albatrosses in North American Finneganpers. comm.). The single record for North Carolina, of two waters. BirdersJournal 8:131-141. NewYork State Avian Records Committee. 1999. Report of theNew York State at seasouth of MoreheadCity 19August 1972 (DuMont 1973), was AvianRecords Committee for 1996.Kingbird 49:114-121. acceptedas "Provisional"by the North CarolinaBird Records Nikula,B. 1982.Northeastern Maritime Region. American Birds 36:827-831. Committee(Tove et al. 1998),although Dumont (1973) noted that it Palmer,R. S., ed. 1962. Handbookof North AmericanBirds, vol. 1. Yale wasperhaps not as conclusive asothers for North America. Lastly, the UniversityPress, New Haven, Connecticut. Petersen,W. R. 1995.First annual report of the MassachusettsAvian Records singlereport from Florida, _+30 km off CocoaBeach 13 September Committee(MARC). Bird Observer23:263-274. 1974,was consideredunverified by Robertsonand Woolfenden Petersen,W. R. 1998.Third annual report of theMassachusetts Avian Records (1992). Committee(MARC). Bird Observer26:276-282. Asidefrom the undocumentedearly December record for New Robertson,W. B., Jr.,and G. E. Woolfenden.1992. Florida bird species:An annotatedlist. Florida Ornithological Society Special Publication 6. Jersey,allprevious reports of the Black-browed Albatross for the Unit- Scott,E R., and D. A. Cutler. 1975.Middle AtlanticCoast Region. American edStates and Canada, hypothetical or not,fall exclusively between 27 Birds 29:34•,0. Mayand 24 October. This temporal pattern matches the summer/fall Sibley, D. 1997.The Birds of CapeMay. CapeMay BirdObservatory, Cape May, New Jersey. peakin theeastern North Atlantic, where roughly three-fourths ofthe Smith,P. W. 1974.Region 5 fieldnotes. New Jersey Nature News 29:56. recordsare during this period (Dymond et al. 1989).Almost all other Tickell, W. L. N. 1969. Plumagechanges in young albatrosses.Ibis recordsfor theeastern North Atlantic are during spring (mid-April to 111:102-105. mid-May),although there are December records for Belgiumand Tove,M. H., H. E. LeGrandJr., E. S. Brinkley,R. J.Davis, and J. B. Patteson. 1998. Marine birds off the coastof North Carolina:A critique. Chat ,a Januaryrecord for Britain, and a Marchrecord for Gibraltar 62:49--62. (Lewingtonet al. 1991).Thus, the immatureBlack-browed Albatross Tufts,R. W. 1986.Birds of Nova Scotia. Nimbus Publications, Halifax. offVirginia represents not only the first photographically document- Veit,R. R., and W. R. Petersen.1993. Birds of Massachusetts.Massaschusetts ed recordfor the westernNorth Atlantic, but it occurredat a time of AudubonSociety, Lincoln. Vickery,ED. 1978. NortheasternMaritime Region.American Birds yearwhen it islargely unrecorded even in theeastern North Atlantic. 32:977-981. Vickery, P. D. 1980. NortheasternMaritime Region.American Birds 34:875-877. ACKNOWI. EI)•Mt:NTS Warham, J.,and W. R. P. Bourne. 1974.Additional noteson albatrossidenti- We thank CharlesD. Duncan, Ion L. Dunn, ShawneenE. Finnegan,Tom fication. American Birds 28:598-603. Halliwell, Laurie Larson, Paul E. Lehman, Steven G. Mlodinow, and Warham,J., W. R. P.Bourne, and H. E I. Elliott. 1966.Albatross identification WayneR. Petersenfor commentsand information. in the North Atlantic. British Birds 59:376-384. Watson,G. E. 1975. Birdsof the Antarcticand Sub-Antarctic.American GeophysicsUnion, Washington, D.C. LITERATURE CITED AmericanBirding Association (ABA). 1996.ABA Checklist:Birds of the ContinentalUnited States and Canada,5th ed.American Birding Associa- tion, ColoradoSprings. AmericanOrnithologists' Union (AOU). 1998.Check-list of NorthAmerican Birds,7th ed.American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. Bond,J. 1959.Fourth Supplement to theCheck-list of Birdsof theWest Indies. Academyof NaturalSciences, Phildelphia. Bourne,W. R.P. 1967. Long distance in thepetrels. Ibis 109:141-167. Brinkley,E. S. 1997.The changingseasons: The fall migration1996. Field Notes 51:8-15. Buckley,P. A., andT. H. Davis.1973. Hudson-St. Lawrence Region. American Birds 27:845-852.

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