Re: short tailed shearwaters off Townsville

["P.J. Milburn" <>]

Good to hear of the impending arrival of Short-tailed Shearwaters.  Thank
you Alex.  I was at sea on Saturday from Wollongong, NSW and no
Short-tailed were in evidence but plenty of Wedge-tailed by now.  I will
post details soon.

>My question is: where do they go after T
wnsville?  To they track down the
>coast or do they fly futher out to sea before heading south?

Given the abundance of this species it seems like the best answer is that
they go everywhere!!  They certainly are numerous close inshore off NSW but
it seems that they are most numerous in a belt about 6 to 10 NM offshore at
least in the Sydney/Wollongong zone.  I presume that this may be the case
all the way down since they cut past the end of Green Cape, NSW which
protrudes about this far out to sea (crudely speaking).  Radio telemetry
would provide a higher resolution picture...... Offers of funding greatly
appreciated!!

cheers
Milburn