Following the storm went to Mistral Point from 1230-1430
today. Arrived in appalling conditions (torrential rain) and ran to the
sandstone overhang. Conditions eased and the birds became quite lively. First
good bird was an adult Long-tailed Jaeger that loafed repeatedly on the ocean
surface. A dark morph Arctic Jaeger harassed a gull right up to the cliff edge.
One of at least 10 Pomarine Jaegers absolutely
hammered a Wedge-tailed Shearwater so intently I thought it was going to drown
it and kill it but eventually it relented. A steady stream of shearwaters
(Wedge-tailed, Short-tailed, Sooty, Hutton’s) revealed a close in
Streaked Shearwater at 1340, my best ever from land view. Several gannets and a
Reef Egret were amongst other species.
Port Botany had 2 Double-banded, 25 Pacific Golden and 6
Red-capped Plovers. Also 15 Bar-tailed Godwits, 10 Red-necked Stints and 1 Sharp
–tailed Sand plus a Little Tern. A single Striated Heron was a bit
unusual here.
Dion
