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Shy Mollymawk

Thalassarche cauta

While the rest of the world may call these (and others) albatross (i.e. shy albatross) we refer to them as Mollymawks. They must NEVER be called Mollyhawks. A mollyhawk is a fisherman who follows other fishermen, and a huge insult. The name "Mollymawk" is from the Dutch ... Silly Gull ....

The Shy is the largest of the "mollies", but significantly smaller than all true albatross other than the Light Mantled Sooty Albatross. Originally a single species, they are now the "parent" for a three or perhaps 4 way group

Wikipedia :-

This mollymawk was once considered to be the same species as the Salvin's Albatross, Thalassarche salvini and the Chatham Albatross, Thalassarche eremita, but they were split around 2004. In 1998, Robertson and Nunn, suggested a four-way split including the White-capped Albatross, Thalassarche steadi. The three-way split was accepted by Brooke in 2004, the ACAP in 2006, SACC in 2008, and BirdLife International by 2000. James Clements seems to be the last major holdout on the three-way split. The fourth split, steadi, was only accepted by the ACAP in 2006, and BirdLife International in 2008. Finally, following Brooke, this species was shifted from Diomedea to Thalassarche, which was generally agreed upon by most experts.

The name "Shy" is somewhat odd as they will come to hand distance from a fishing vessel cleaning catch. Magnificent soaring birds, like all the very large seabirds they fly rather poorly, and will often sit on the water, waiting out a calm period. They will follow fishing vessels into Paterson Inlet, and also range into the Ulva area in windy weather.

Size 900 mm


Mollies feeding. A group of mollies are very competitive and noisy when feeding
Landing. Landing is an exercise of control for a superb soaring bird