ML641568380

Observation details

Huge surprise for these inside waters! Weather sunny, seas flat calm, no wind. We were nearly a mile off shore of Chichagof Island, near Flynn Cove, when I saw the bird. The bird itself was close to the north shore of Icy Strait, passing west (to the left in photos) in front of Porpoise and Pleasant Islands— approximately 5 miles from where we were. It was too far away to see with the naked eye. Heat haze made it difficult to perceive shape, but with binoculars I could see a steady flapping rhythm and large flashes of white. I fired off a few shots with my camera (600mm lens, sensor cropped to 900mm), but honestly didn’t expect it to pick up anything discernible. I then was distracted by a flock of shearwaters by the boat and unfortunately didn’t review the photos right away. If I had, I definitely would have pursued the bird with the boat for close views. ID notes: Albatross based on large size making it visible from a great distance, relatively slow flapping rate, front-heavy shape, long wings. Black and white pattern narrows options to Laysan and Short-tailed in this area. Photos show white on back and proximal half of upper wing, eliminating Laysan. Large, pale bill evident even at this distance, and some photos even suggest yellow and pink tones on front end of bird. To preserve integrity, photos unedited except for heavy cropping. Uncropped photo (effective 900mm) placed in main checklist for distance reference.