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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 104(4)

A White-capped Albatross, Thalassarche [cauta] steadi, at South Georgia: first confirmed record in the south-western Atlantic

Ben Phalan A , Richard A. Phillips A C and Michael C. Double B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK.

B School of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: raphil@bas.ac.uk

Emu 104(4) 359-361 https://doi.org/10.1071/MU03057
Submitted: 17 November 2003  Accepted: 16 August 2004   Published: 16 December 2004

Abstract

Although albatrosses typically show strong natal philopatry, a small proportion of birds emigrate to distant colonies, occasionally establishing new breeding sites and potentially initiating speciation events. Patterns of albatross distribution and speciation may be determined largely by the behaviour of these few wayward individuals. In February 2003, a male White-capped Albatross, Thalassarche [cauta] steadi (identified from DNA), was observed in a colony of Black-browed Albatrosses, T. melanophrys, at Bird Island, South Georgia. It returned to the same colony the following austral spring. Although there have been previous records of shy-type albatrosses (T. [cauta] steadi or T. [cauta] cauta) in the south-western Atlantic Ocean, this is the first confirmed record of either taxon, and indicates the potential for colonisation, over 10 000 km from its present breeding range.


Acknowledgments

We thank Cathryn Abbott for her assistance with the genetic analysis; and Keith Reid, John Croxall and two anonymous referees for commenting on the manuscript.


References

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