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Thread: Wandering Albatross Exulens or Antipodensis?

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    Default Wandering Albatross Exulens or Antipodensis?

    Off the South Coast of Western Australia at Bremer Bay you can go out about 20 miles into the Southern Ocean with Naturaliste charters and view the Orca pods which they now think live there permanently - currently some 300 or so seems to be the guesstimate .
    For those who know about these things there is these days a differentiation between the New Zealand and the Wandering Albatross this may be the former .Heavier Vermiculation!
    It was a rough and over cloudy day for the cameras and we were ploughing home after 7 hours and plenty of orcas when this young lady appeared. Nearly 12 ft wingspan and probably a young female. After falling up the stairwell yet again I luckily got about a dozen shots away as she nearly got the sun behind me. I was supposed to be at a 4000th of a second, not for the bird speed but because of the violent boat movement but as I was on auto iso for the same reason out there I think got away with inadvertantly bumping the shutter speed down.. Can't remember ever seeing one of these beauties before.


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    D5
    500PF
    1/2500th
    iso 200!
    5.6
    25%crop
    hh
    all comments very welcome

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    This image alone made your trip well worth it. I love this canvas. Some might say take a little off the bottom, but I love that cloud as the base. The bird is awesome in SH, EXP and color. TFS

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    This is a great bird Ian and notice the pink hue on the side of the neck which some scientists believed to be from excreted oil from the stomach that is expelled though the nasal tubes during disputes.
    Nice dorsal view and a really good look at the vermiculation pattern on the back.
    Nice and sharp and I like the wispy cloud at the bottom of the frame.
    Nothing harder than getting a sharp frame on a heaving boat.
    If you have more room up top, I would add a sliver more.
    Gail

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    BPN Limited Member Ernst Zigmund's Avatar
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    Pelagic shooting can be a high adrenaline game and you got a fine in-flight shot here.

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    Lifetime Member Colin Driscoll's Avatar
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    Excellent shot of a wonderful bird. If it is the Antipodean Albatross then it is a long way out of range. I suspect it is D, exulans at about Stage 5 but I'm no expert.

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    Thanks Gail for the info on the pink hue which I had read indicated a female but that appears wrong. Colin you are probably on the money regarding Exulans .We have been wondering about the Chocolate top still in place on the head .

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    Lifetime Member Colin Driscoll's Avatar
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    A closer look at HANZAB indicates your bird is probably between Stage 3 and 4 for Diomedea exulans. Full Stage 4 has lost the brown cap and the back patterns.

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    Stunner!
    Lovely bankning pose with a great eye contact from the bird. The image looks beautifully exposed to me and you handled both the whites and the blacks very well.
    The vertical comp and positioning works nicely.
    I know these pelagic situations are really difficult so I can't complain about the high shooting angle with the sky as background but it would be nice to see some ocean as the species are so strongly connected to that element.
    TFS!

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    Nice flight frame of this albatross. Like the vertical framing. The detail looks great.

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    Working on a couple of frames ivan, but they are not quite as close so we'll see if they are up to it! Thanks all

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    very cool image and story, I like the topside details good job

    TFS
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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Ian, great flight image here, and love the pink beak. The dorsal detail shows up nicely, and well done on achieving this on a choppy sea/heaving boat.

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