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A trip that had come perilously close to
cancellation only the night before turned out to be one of the all-time great
Southport pelagic excursions today. With the planned smaller boat not ready, 16
lucky birders boarded the beautiful Skybird at a slightly higher price. It
turned out to be one hell of an investment.
While only 14 bird species
were seen beyond the breakwater, an astonishing seven of these were petrels.
March is traditionally a great pelagic month hereabouts, but it's fair to say
that no one could have predicted such an outcome after a thoroughly ordinary
start to proceedings. As the boat pushed into a gentle one metre swell, the
usual early mobs of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters quickly
dissipated, and we steamed out to the shelf, bathed in brilliant sunshine, but
with very few feathered friends to keep us company.
That all changed shortly after reaching the shelf
as a lonely but brilliant white bird charged towards the boat from the port
side. "White-tailed Tropicbird!" I yelled instinctively. Wrong. The bird was a
White Tern, a lifer for myself and plenty of others, or at
least those yet to visit Lord Howe Island. The bird flew directly over the boat
and disappeared to the south, occasionally dipping to feed upon the surface as
it went.
With little else to be seen bar a few Wedge-tailed
and Flesh-footed Shearwaters, I wondered if this might be the sole cause for
excitement for the day. Wrong again! As the first of surprisingly few
Tahiti Petrels made their appearance, and with a
Gould's Petrel fleetingly sighted by a few sharp-eyed
observers, things suddenly looked full of promise.
That promise was fulfilled almost immediately upon
reaching our destination, a small underwater peak, and began berleying in
earnest. Shearwaters immediately began gathering around the boat, and another
cookilaria-type petrel was briefly sighted but typically kept it distance. It
sounds romantic, but I'm not exaggerating when I say there was a bit of a hush
around the boat for the next few minutes! Everyone was on alert and there was a
real sense of anticipation.
The next hour was simply one of the best and most
exciting times at sea I've ever experienced. It was kicked off by an
intermediate-morph Kermadec Petrel which put in a brief but
close enough appearance to be clinched by most on board. Then another
cookilaria was spotted, this time heading straight for the boat from port. With
an extensive grey half-collar, heavy black diagonal underwing bars and no
contrast between cap and mantle, there was no delay in identifying this bird as
a Black-winged Petrel - one of just two records for Southport
pelagics.
More was to come, with two Great-winged
Petrels (race gouldii) appearing to feed around the boat. Another pair
of Gould's Petrels whizzed past the stern at high speed, and at
least one other individual at last made repeated close approaches to the boat,
thrilling everybody on board after earlier frustrating glimpses.
By this stage everyone was in raptures, but there
was more to come. A small pod of around a dozen Risso's
Dolphins was a delightful addition to the trip list. Then came what
most thought to be the icing on an already rich cake, a magnificent
White-necked Petrel in spanking plumage that was spotted just
behind the stern and which moved off quickly but not before plenty of oohing and
aahing from all on board.
Reluctantly the engines were started and we were
off again, but while the trip home was almost as devoid of birds as on the way
out, two sightings capped the day. The first was a scattered group of
Spotted Dolphins (broken up into smaller pods) briefly circled
the boat, with many pausing for a spot of bow-riding as the sea flattened
out.
But the final addition to the day's list was simply
bizarre: an exhausted White-headed Petrel, at least 2000
kilometres out of range at the tail end of a hot Queensland summer! Incredibly,
the boat almost drove over the top of this bird when barely another was to be
seen: at what odds? The bird, which was starving and ridden with sea-lice but
still alert, was easily captured and has been taken into care.
How it came to this unexpected location is pure
guesswork: perhaps it landed on a ship after a blow, and was transported north,
far from its normal feeding grounds? This bird is the first White-headed Petrel
to be recorded from a Southport pelagic and surely one of very few live records
for Queensland.
So it was that a very happy group of birders
plus one rather bemused petrel alighted on shore at 3.30 pm. A few pelagic
newbies on board probably think it's always this easy.
Species list:
Great-winged Petrel 2
KERMADEC PETREL (intermediate) 1
WHITE-HEADED PETREL 1
Tahiti Petrel 6
BLACK-WINGED PETREL 1
GOULD'S PETREL 5
WHITE-NECKED PETREL 1
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
Flesh-footed Shearwater
Huttons/Fluttering Shearwater 2
Pomarine Jaeger 1
Silver Gull
Crested Tern
WHITE TERN 1
Mammals:
Risso's Dolphin 10-12
Spotted Dolphin 40-50
A very tired, but pleased as punch
AS
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