Howdy doody,
I have to say that the last thing I expected on my
return to Brisbane would be a staggeringly good
Southport trip. Having made many such excursions in
the past I didn't expect to be doing much more than
counting shearwaters. Happily I was wrong...
Despite an early return to port, of which the less
said the better, this trip was a cracker. There will
no doubt be a full list posted later by Paul
Walbridge, but highlights were: magnificent views of
up to four Lesser Frigatebirds; one immaculate Gould's
Petrel; one Streaked Shearwater; two Long-tailed
Jaegers (incredibly, these were the first records off
Southport) and up to 10 Tahiti Petrels. Interestingly,
there were only two Common Noddys and no Sooty Terns
after the record number on the corresponding trip last
month.
Undoubtedly the birds to cause most excitement,
however, were two Kermadec Petrels and, even better,
an intermediate-morph Herald Petrel. Both species are
to be submitted to BARC and, while sightings of
Kermadec Petrels seem to be becoming more frequent in
recent years in south-east Queensland at least, there
is a genuine paucity of Herald Petrel records away
from their Australian breeding station on Raine
Island.
The first Kermadec Petrel was a pale-morph bird, seen
at 9.20 am just short of the continental shelf. With
its broad wings and unusual flight, I initially called
this bird as a jaeger before realising my mistake. The
underparts and rather large head were off-white with
slightly darker smudges, especially around the face
and neck, with the dark eye standing out. The bill was
short and stubby. The body was chunky, heavy-set and
barrel-chested. The diagnostic upperwing flash (caused
by white bases to the primary shafts) were present and
seen by most observers, but were somewhat difficult to
pick up at first, due to a combination of fairly brief
views and initially unhelpful angles.
The Herald Petrel was an intermediate-morph bird and
one of the strangest-looking petrels I've ever seen.
The body was long and cigar-shaped but full-bodied,
with a long, rounded tail and very long, narrow wings
conspicuously rounded at the tips. Overall the bird
appeared pale brown, with uniform dark upperparts and
a pale belly, not cleanly demarcated from the pale
brown hood. The face, lores and throat were pale. The
bill was small and fine. The underwing pattern was
what really clinched the identification, with pale
bases to the primaries AND secondaries and a white
leading edge to the wing (this was difficult to pick
up in the light).
Although the bird stayed with us for several minutes,
it was easy to lose as it circled the boat. It seems
that while observers at the back of the boat had
picked it up again, I found myself looking at another
Kermadec, this time an intermediate-morph bird. The
overall plumage pattern of this bird was very similar
to the Herald Petrel (and gave me some headaches in
the first instance), but on this occasion the white
upperwing shafts were very conspicuous. We had been
very careful to look for these on the Herald Petrel
and all observers agreed the the upperwing on this
bird was uniformly dark, with barely any M pattern
apparent, suggesting the bird's plumage was
significantly worn. Unfortunately the sighting of
these two birds coincided with the turnaround time and
we left them in our wake.
A more detailed submission will be forwarded to BARC.
Cheers
AS
"Life is short. Bird hard."
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