The Grey-headed AlbatrossThalassarche chrysostoma, also known as the Grey-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-grey head, throat and upper neck.
Mollymawks are a type of albatross that belong to the Diomedeidae family and come from the Procellariiformes order, along with shearwaters, fulmars, storm petrels, and diving petrels. See Black-browed Albatross for details.
The meaning of the name chrysostoma is derived from two Greek words. Khrusos' means gold and stoma means the mouth, in reference to its golden bill.[5] The Grey-headed Albatross averages 32 inch in length and 7.2 ft in wingspan. It has a dark ashy-grey head, throat, and upper neck, and its upper wings, mantle, and tail, are almost black. It has a white rump, underparts, and a white crescent behind its eyes. Its bill is black, with bright yellow upper and lower ridges, that shades to pink-orange at the tip.
Grey-headed Albatrosses nest in colonies on several islands in the Southern Ocean, with large colonies on South Georgia in the South Atlantic.
These photos were taken at Elsehul Bay on the north coast of South Georgia. We had the option of climbing up the Grey-headed Albatross colony or cruising the area in a Zodiac. I chose the Zodiac assuming I could also get good photos of the Grey-headed Albatross from the sea. This was only partially true. The best photos were taken by those who climbed to the colony. Thus, I have borrowed one of these photos taken by Ralph xx xx.