Ah, I didn't realise that frigate-birds were so uncommon in NSW. I saw
a lesser frigate-bird circling high above from the lighthouse at Byron
Bay in December 1997.
Regards, Laurie.
On Monday, November 10, 2003, at 03:24 PM, Alan Morris wrote:
Hi Birders,
Mike Simpson on 8/11/03 enquired about the status of Lesser
Frigate-birds off Sydney NSW. The following is the information
available to me from E.S.Hoskin's book "The Birds of Sydney" 1991
Surrey Beatty & Sons Pty Limited and from information published in
the NSW Bird Reports from 1970.
The precise identity of Frigatebirds seen near Sydney in December
1932, March 1951 (3), and January 1983 was not determined.
Records of Lesser Frigate-birds for the County of Cumberland (=Sydney)
are as follows:
Dee Why 24/2/1957 and again on 3/3/1957 and at that time, possibly the
same bird at Lion Island & Broken Bay
1 5km off Sydney Heads 26/2/1983
One over Curra Moors, Royal NP 5/3/1983
1 10 km off Sydney Heads 23/2/1985
However on 18/11/2001 one was seen on the Wollongong pelagic to the
south of Sydney and on 19/7/1959 a pair were seen of Budgewoi Beach,
on the Central Coast just to the north of Sydney.
So to answer Mike Simpson's question, Lesser Frigate-birds are rare
birds in the Sydney Region with a minimum of 4 proven records and
possibly eight records, therefore his report of 2 birds in the early
1970s in Sydney Harbour would have been of interest at the time. All
up there are 39 records for Lesser Frigate-birds in NSW and 4 Greater
Frigate-bird records (the latter accepted by the NSW Records Appraisal
Committee). Most records for both species are for the far North Coast
of NSW.
Alan K. Morris
Birding NSW Records Officer
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
