Short-tailed Albatross

Any sighting of Short-tailed Albatross in the eastern pacific is remarkable. For one boat in California waters to have encounters with two individuals in one day is almost unbelievable. Fortunately, still photography by Eric Preston documents such an occurance. Feather wear on the birds' primaries and mantles plus white flecking around the bills show these to be two different birds. The first bird flew toward the stern of the boat at 9:00am N38 11.575 W123 17.798. This video illustrates the second bird seen just after 10:30 am at N38 07.284 W123 27.200. This chart shows the location of both sightings.

Leslie Lieurance
San Francisco

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