On Thursday 12th September we took a whale-watching boat trip from
Kingfisher Bay on Fraser Island. In between finding whales, I was
looking hopefully for sea-birds and saw two sulids flying. They were
pale overall, but with all-dark wings and back also dark, continuous
with the wings, but the birds did not approach the boat and the light
was poor, with clouds and occasional rain showers. I did not think they
were Australian Gannets, which I have known since I was a teenager
sailing dinghies on Port Phillip Bay.
We left the Island on the 8.30 am boat on Saturday 14th Sept. From the
boat we had an excellent view of a sulid sitting on the water, in good
binocular range. Its head, neck and breast were pale but off-white or
pale buff, not at all the pure white with yellowish crown of a Gannet.
It also looked rather scruffy and ragged about the head, not at all
sleek. The bare skin round the eyes was much the same colour as head
feathers and beak - no marked colour at all. The wings and the back
between them were an even dull-black with no pale markings or spots. The
tail was pale.
Unkindly, the bird remained sitting on the water and I never saw its
feet or any underwing markings.
I would be very grateful for help with identification.
My own guess is intermediate-morph Red-footed Booby but I've only so far
seen Brown Boobies, so I don't know.
Oh yes, we had excellent views of a group of three Humpback Whales in
Platypus Bay, mother, baby and escorting male.
Anthea Fleming in Ivanhoe, (Vic)
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
