The Mighty Southern Ocean Albatross

[TidaLpHasE]

Hi All, I was out fishing yesterday in the wild and rugged Southern Ocean off Portland Victoria.

I soon had a group of these awsome birds waiting for a free handout of fish scraps and bait.

I gave them a bit of a feed of pilchards and snapped a few pics of these beautiful birds.

Not too sure of the exact genera, will research for the exact names.

[Dennis]

Very nice Trevor - I am feeling a little queasy just watching the sea heaving between the different photos!!

What a magnificent bird.

Cheers

Dennis

[TidaLpHasE]

:)Thanks Dennis, it was a little on the up and down side of things thats for sure, i felt like a cork floating around from side to side up and down.

I wanted to get some of the birds in flight, but as always, the timing of such things is never on my side, i had put the camera away out of the elements.

This bird has a wingspan of up to 3 meters:eyepop: and it drinks seawater:screwy:, lives, sleeps and eats on the ocean.

[h0ughy]

nice pics, but could you have prodded it to fly for you!!

[Striker]

Nice Trevor....did you feed it the fish you caught...it flew all the way out to you...hope you rewarded the bird for its trouble.

Nice to see a bird image that you can actualy see the Bird...cough cough Mike(Iceman)....lol

[TidaLpHasE]

:lol:Maybe next time Houghy, it was hard enough keeping steady without losing my balance, i had to kneel down on the floor and against the side of the boat.

I would have loved to get some closeup flybys.

[acropolite]

Nice shots Trevor. I've had the same thing happen with albatross, they plonk thenselves down next to the boat and wait patiently for handouts.

[TidaLpHasE]

No chance Tony, they got a decent feed of fresh WA pillies that i had for bait.

These are the fish i caught, 2 Snapper and 2 Queen Snapper, yum yum

[Striker]

Nice catch Trevor but I can see some severe vignetting in your fish shots....try some flats....lol

I need to get out....forgive me.

[h0ughy]

taken with a fish eye lens ;-)

[astroron]

According to my bird book it is a Black-Browed Albatross,genus Diomedea(Thalassarche).
It is listed as an endangered species.
The book says follows ships, does your tinnie class as a ship?:lol:
Great photo's, I love wildlife shots :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Great shots, what lens did you use?

btw, the horizon isn't straight :P

[wraithe]

this is ironic, i was reading today, that the albatross sleeps when in flight....
i have heard of a few pilots like that, lol, but i'm not sure if it is the only bird that does, but hey some people sleep anywhere, here's a bird that can too...