Today myself, Graham Turner, Trevor Quested and Simon Blanchflower
enjoyed a good summer sea watch from the fabulous Magic Pt at Maroubra. We were
expected sea watching conditions to be good today following a serious of
southerlies during the week. Our main highlight today was good views of an adult
Wandering Albatross (possibly Gibsoni) which is quite unusual from this location
at this time of year. Other good finds included 6 species of Shearwater ?
hundreds of Wedge-tailed, Short-tailed and Fluttering Shearwaters and a few
Fleshy-footed, Sooty and Hutton?s Shearwaters. There were also a few of both
Pomarine (2 light-phase harassing the gulls) and Arctic Jaegers (both dark and
Intermediate phase).
At one stage I thought I was looking at the ?Maroubra Monster?, when we
saw a couple of fins sticking above the surface a few hundred metres out at sea.
It ended up being a Fur Seal resting on its side and occasionally revealing its
head above the surface. It stayed in this position for at least half an hour
before diving down.
We observed a number of shorebirds at Penryhn
Rd on the north side of Botany
Bay including 20 plus Red-necked Stints, 11 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers,
2 Curlew Sandpipers, 63 Bar-tailed Godwits and saw on the sand spit 4 Little
Terns amongst 163 Common Terns.
Before heading home, myself and Graham checked out the East Lakes Gold
Course (almost next door to Sydney Airport) and had great views of 20 plus
Latham?s Snipe all out in the open (feeding or resting), a Darter, a few
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, a Baillon?s Crake, 3 Whiskered Terns and an uncommon
introduced bird for Sydney (and usually only seen in the Eastern suburbs), a
Greenfinch (amongst 2 others heard).
A great day birding in the Eastern suburbs.
Edwin
