Grey-headed Albatross
The grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) also known as the gray-headed mollymawk, is a large seabird from the albatross family. It has a circumpolar distribution, nesting on isolated islands in the Southern Ocean and feeding at high latitudes, further south than any of the other mollymawks. Its name derives from its ashy-gray head, throat and upper neck. == Taxonomy == Mollymawks are a type of albatross that belong to the family Diomedeidae from the order Procellariiformes, along with shearwaters, fulmars, storm petrels, and diving petrels. They share certain identifying features. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns, although the nostrils of an albatross are on the sides of the bill. The bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into between seven and nine horny plates. Finally, they produce a stomach oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides that is stored in the proventriculus. This is used against predators as well as an energy rich food source for chicks and for the adults during their long flights. They also have a salt gland situated above the nasal passage that helps desalinate their bodies, to compensate for the ocean water they imbibe.…
Cabo de Hornos National Park
Cape Horn, Chile
+34 birds+1 mammals
Where granite peaks plunge into the Southern Ocean and beech forests cling to windswept slopes, one of Earth’s most remote […]
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSalisbury Plain
South Georgia, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+26 birds+3 mammals
Where tussock grasses bow to relentless Antarctic winds and glacial meltwater carves braided channels through obsidian volcanic soil, one of […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPESt. Andrews Bay
South Georgia, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+28 birds+11 mammals
Where windswept tundra dissolves into obsidian beaches, one of the planet’s most extraordinary wildlife theaters unfolds across St. Andrews Bay. […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEFortuna Bay
Stromness, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+26 birds+9 mammals
Where tussock grasslands sweep down to black-sand beaches and elephant seals haul out in thunderous colonies, the raw sub-Antarctic landscape […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEPrion Island
Prince Olav Harbour, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+25 birds
Windswept tussock grasslands rise sharply from boulder-strewn beaches where the Southern Ocean hurls its grey swells against black volcanic rock. […]
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOCooper Bay
Cooper Bay, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+27 birds+9 mammals
Where black-sand beaches meet towering cliffs striped with cascading meltwater, one of the Southern Ocean’s most dramatic amphitheaters reveals itself. […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEElsehul Bay
Bird Island Station, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+29 birds+4 mammals
Granite peaks rise sheer from the Southern Ocean, their weathered faces streaked with cascading meltwater and cloaked in tussock grass […]
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