More for the sake of something more interesting to submit to the listserver
than tawdry views on bird banding, I saw a male Swamp Harrier today off Deal
Island in the Kent Group south-east of Wilson's Promontory. This sighting
was from a small aircraft but I have also seen a raptor sp. that was
probably Swamp Harrier, pass high overhead while off there in a boat near
the Hogan group. I assume that these are fairly common records and that
there is known to be resident populations on the islands.
I would like to ask, has anyone ever been birding on the islands? I can't
imagine that they would be amazingly interesting except in the migration
season when I for one would be keen to visit if possible and spend a week
getting down to earth on misty mornings and searching the few trees on the
island for Flame Robins and during sunlit afternoons scoping Humpback Whale
mother and calves as they pass on migration. Late October / early November
would be the time presumably.
Has anyone ever been there, done that or know perhaps how it may be possible
to get there. The seacliffs are stunning and it would seem like an amazing
place to spend a week or so (but you would of course have to carry plenty of
beer with you).
Of general interest to anyone who may have a house on the Mornington
Peninsula, we also saw what was almost undoubtedly a large (4m) long Great
White Shark in western port bay off Philip Island this afternoon. Sadly
though, not a single cetacean in 5 hours - the purpose for which we embarked
on this otherwise seemingly bizarre voyage around the Strait by plane.
Simon.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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