Today (3rd June 2006), David Mitford, Stuart Pickering and I enjoyed a
good sea watch at Magic Pt in Maroubra, (approx. 10 km south of Sydney
CBD) with strong southerly winds prevailing for most of the day.
There were numerous Great-winged Petrels passing by Magic Pt throughout
the day with most birds heading north with the wind. Great views were
had of a few Wandering and some Shy Albatross very close to the point.
Several of the Great-winged Petrels seen were easily identified as the
race macroptera as they came within 50 metres from the rocks and two
Northern Giant Petrel were identified amongst several other Giant
Petrels seen that day.
It was good to see a total of at least 10 White-fronted Terns that day.
I had not seen as many here for a few years.
Just before we left a few Prions were noticed with a few identified as
Fairy Prion.
One highlight for the day was watching a Giant Petrel pursue a
Black-browed Albatross (like a Skua pursing a Tern or Gull) over a
period of a few minutes. An out of season Sooty Shearwater was also an
interesting record for the day.
David and Stuart also had seen a possible Southern Royal Albatross that
morning and before I arrived at around noon when they already had a very
good list and numbers of sea birds. Between ourselves we had well over
300 Great-winged and 20 Giant Petrels, 3 Wandering and 15-20 Shy
Albatross.
Also as on my way to Magic Pt, I observed a juvenile Australasian Gannet
land on Maroubra beach. I walked towards it and got within a metre of it
before it took of ungainly out to sea.
My list of sea birds and numbers for the 3 hours (12:15-15:15 pm) I was
at Magic Pt today included the following:
Fairy Penguin (at least 2 heard calling)
Black-browed Albatross (35)
Yellow-nosed Albatross (14)
Shy Albatross (10)
Wandering Albatross (2) (including one race exulans)
Northern Giant Petrel (1)
Giant Petrels other (4)
Great-winged Petrel (approx 200)
Fairy Prion (2)
Prions other (6)
Sooty Shearwater (1)
Fluttering Shearwater (60)
Australasian Gannet (100)
Great Cormorant (1)
Kelp Gull (1) (1 juv.)
Silver Gull (100)
Crested Tern (30)
White-fronted Tern (10)
Edwin Vella
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