Salvin's albatross

Description

Salvin 's albatross ( Thalassarche salvini Rothschild,1893 ) is a large seabird widespread in the Southern Ocean.Belonging to the family of the Diomedeids,this mollymawk has long been considered a subspecies of the cautious albatross.However,molecular analyzes have shown that this bird,together with its close relative,the Chatham albatross (also considered subspecies of the cautious albatross ),is a sister taxon of T.cautaquite differentiated from it.All three species are now mostly considered distinct from each other.Salvin's albatross was first described by Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild,who named it in honor of the ornithologist Osbert Salvin.It has a gray head,mantle and back,and rump and white lower regions.The beak,pale gray,has a yellow crest and tip.It is distinguished from the albatross of the Chatham for the larger dimensions and the gray beak,and from the cautious one for the darker gray head.At sea,however,it is difficult to distinguish the various species,and this explains the difficulty in counting the number of populations