Mike et al.,
I see what you mean (especially in Rob’s last 7 pictures the mandibular unguis appears to show an almost wholly dark mandibular unguis. However, similar to Raja’s pictures, in Rob’s pictures the bird before and after the Northern Royal Albatross shows on both sides the same pattern of gray and white along the edge of the hood that I described earlier. I think that this pattern indicates that we are looking at only one individual and that the differences with regards to the mandibular spot are light artifacts. Raja is currently not at home, once she comes home tonight we’ll have a look at her original pictures.
Cheers,
Nikolas
