There have been a few WA sightings that were reported recently that are
worthy of a wider audience.
An American family visiting the Fitzgerald River NP in late December had a
Rockhopper Penguin come ashore and rest for 8 hours under their car!!! I
don't have any more details unfortunately. What has happened to the usual
penguin sightings about this time of year in Tasmania & western Victoria?
A small dark swift was seen flying over the Mitchell Freeway next to Lake
Monger in metropolitan Perth at about 8:30am Friday 15th February. The
traffic was stopped for about 8 minutes and the observer had quite good
looks but unfortunately didn't have any binoculars. He is familiar with
White-throated Needletails over east (but not Fork-tailed Swift) and says
this swift was smaller.
I am still working on a submission to BARC for a Slender-billed Gull that
Robbie Brown and I saw in Broome. I went to the WA Museum last Thursday
and a Silver Gull was suggested as a possibility. The Broome bird had an
immediately noticeable longer bill, no white windows in the primaries and a
noticeable white leading edge to the outer wing. It was suggested that
Silver Gulls from areas such as New Caledonia might meet this
description. Does anyone have any experience with non breeding adult
Silver Gulls from the New Caledonia area (or anywhere else with no windows
in the primaries and a very large bill)?
The Silver Gulls are much more variable that I thought. Ron Johnstone at
the museum says that he can place a Silver Gull within a few 100km just by
looking at the primaries. The SGs in Broome only have one small white
window in the wing. The SGs in Perth have three fairly large windows. The
ones from Tasmania are much different again. Silver Gulls found breeding
at Lake Gregory in the Kimberley of WA a few years ago were South
Australian birds based on the primaries. etc.
___________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://members.iinet.net.au/~foconnor
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
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