Shy Type Albatross? off Port Stephens

Hi Mick,   Thanks for your Port Stephens Pelagic 10 August trip report on the SOSSA website. http://www.sossa-international.org/forum/content.php?699   The photos of the Shy type albatross are very interesting. In the text you wrote it was first thought to be a candidate Salvin’s but is now  “considered to be a Shy-type (most likely a cauta) with very dark primaries”.   I agree this is not a Salvin’s because the head and mantle are not grey enough and the there is too much contrast in the bill pattern. I would say it is not a cauta either but almost certainly a steadi (or White-capped Albatross) the NZ subspecies of Shy that breeds on the Auckland Islands. The main ID feature is the fresh juvenile plumage at this time of year. Tasmanian Shy Albatross (cauta) fledge in April, and by August they are showing signs of wear and moult. Conversely, steadi fledge in August and arrive off the NSW coast immediately. Quite a few juvenile steadi have dark underside to the primaries like this, but I’m not sure that cauta ever shows such dark primaries.    Over the last few years steadi juveniles have been much more common than cauta juveniles on Sydney pelagic and Halicat whalewatching trips. Until August, most shy-types are adults, whilst juveniles (which must be cauta) are rare, and older immatures are even rarer. from August onwards fresh juveniles outnumber worn juveniles by maybe 3 or 4 to 1.   Just about all the adults off Sydney might be steadi . For a couple of years I’ve been looking for an adult with a yellow flush at the base of the culminicorn, but haven’t seen one. It seems this character is diagnostic of cauta and never occurs in steadi. I understand that in Tasmanian seas the presumed cauta show this year-round, although I haven’t been down that way in about 2 decades.  Unless cauta can lose that yellow flush when they leave the breeding seas, nearly all the adults off Sydney must be steadi. Cheers, David James Sydney ==============================