Hi Peter and others,
There are a number of scarce seabirds that are seen in greater numbers
from the NSW coast than on pelagics. I think this is because they fly
parallel to the coast - north or south off Sydney - and close to
shore. Boats usually cross this stream of birds quickly on their way
out to the shelf break.
I and some other birders have seen over twenty Long-tailed Jaegers in
a couple of hours on a number of occasions, and one birder saw about
80, I think it was, in a day's watching. I also saw 79 giant petrels
in one day in 1999 from Magic Point. And in that year more Southern
Fulmars were seen from the coast than on pelagics. Even prions can
turn up in their thousands in good years. Of course, the weather
generally, but not always, has to be atrocious to see big numbers of
such seabirds from the coast.
The real gain from boat trips off NSW is the true deep pelagic
species, the petrels and storm-petrels, but even they sometimes find
their way inshore.
Cheers,
Rod
>Very interested to read this report on Streaked Shearwaters off the
>coast, yet >none were seen on the recent Wollongong Pelagic. How
>often are they seen on >pelagic trips (not often as I recall). Does
>anyone have any ideas why this may >be (do Streaked Shearwaters
>travel in flocks and these have just been missed).
>
>Also regarding White-necked Petrels, Norfolk Island is 1600km ENE of
>Sydney (so >will still be over 1000 km from Australia) and is
>actually closer to New >Zealand, and only a few (one?) pairs breed on
>Phillip Island with the main >breeding colony in the Kermadec Islands
>(north of NZ).
>Cheers,
>Peter
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