Dear Birding-Ausers
Last year, I wrote a series of articles for Babbler, the BA-Vic
newsletter,on the seasonal variation of seabirds seen on the Portland /
Port Fairy trips over the last 10 years. This third article was on pelagic
birding in Winter. (Please note that it was written in 2003.)
Regards
Chris
PELAGIC BIRDING IN WINTER
FROM PORT FAIRY, VICTORIA
VICTORIAN PELAGIC BIRDING IN WINTER
Historical trips in winter
Following on from the brilliant Victorian autumn, winter is also an
excellent season for pelagic birds. While often cold and sometimes wet,
the weather is still fairly stable and many of the scheduled trips get
out. In the last five years, eleven winter trips have been run, a very
respectable number for south-west Victoria.
Common pelagic bird species
Winter is the season for albatrosses - Shy, Black-browed and Yellow-nosed
Albatrosses are usually always in good numbers and Wandering is almost
always seen in small numbers. Both Southern and Northern Giant Petrels
are frequently recorded along with Cape and Great-winged Petrels.
Fairy Prions are always seen, usually in good numbers. Short-tailed
Shearwater numbers drop dramatically and they are sometimes not observed
at all in winter. Fluttering are the most numerous shearwaters and Sooty
and Hutton's are frequently seen. Wilson's and Grey-backed Storm-Petrels
are often seen along with Great Skua and White-fronted Tern, which are
regular winter visitors.
Other birds regularly seen are Little Penguin, Australasian Gannet,
Black-faced Cormorant, Silver, Pacific and Kelp Gulls and Crested Tern.
Winter rarities
Royal (three times), Buller's (three), Grey-headed (twice) and Sooty
(twice) and Light-mantled Sooty (once) Albatrosses have all been recorded
during winter in the last five years. Although still a race of Shy
Albatross, Salvin's Albatross has also been seen three times in winter.
This race may become a full species one day. Small numbers of Common
Diving-Petrel have been seen on four out of the five winter trips that
left Port Fairy. It was much less common out of Portland.
Slender-billed and Antarctic Prions are frequently in small numbers among
the much larger number of Fairy Prions. The former was seen on all trips
in the last five years and the latter on five occasions. Sometimes, Blue
Petrels also accompany the prions. They were seen in July and August
1999 (Portland). White-faced Storm-Petrel has only been seen once in
winter in the five years. In July 2001 on a separate private trip, a
South Polar Skua was reported. This record is still under review by
BARC.
There are number of other possible rarities that we are still searching
for. These include species such as Providence and Kerguelen Petrels
(which have only been recorded off headlands and as beach-washed
specimens to date) and Antarctic Petrel and Antarctic Tern, which might
turn up in winter.
DIVERSIONS ON SOUTH-WEST VICTORIAN BOAT TRIPS
Victorian Islands
Returning from the shelf from both Port Fairy and Portland, there are
islands to explore on the way home ? Lady Julia Percy Island and Lawrence
Rocks, respectively. One of the reasons we visit them is because there
have been a number of reports of rare penguins over the years,
particularly from the former. While to date, we haven't seen any
penguins other than Little on these outcrops, we keep persisting, hoping
one will turn up when it needs to moult.
Not far off the Port Fairy coast, Lady Julia Percy is a large, flat,
sharply-sloping basalt island, which is a declared wildlife reserve.
Many coastal birds are found here. As well as Black-faced Cormorants,
Silver and Kelp Gulls and Crested Terns, we regularly see Sooty
Oystercatcher and Masked Lapwing. Other birds seen occasionally include
White-faced Heron, Swamp Harrier, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Brown and
Peregrine Falcon, Nankeen Kestrel, White-fronted Chat and Welcome
Swallow. A very large population of Australian Fur Seals lives on the
island. We also see both Common and Bottle-nosed Dolphins in the area,
the latter sometimes in large numbers. Several species of seabird have
bred on Lady Julia Percy - Little Penguin, Fairy Prion, Short-tailed
Shearwater and Common Diving-Petrel.
Off Portland are the Lawrence Rocks. These two volcanic rocks are much
smaller than Lady Julia Percy, but are still interesting with a
non-breeding colony of Fur Seals. They host a large breeding colony of
Australasian Gannet, as well as records of breeding Little Penguin, Fairy
Prion and Common Diving-Petrel. Large numbers of Black-faced Cormorant
used to breed here up until 1935, but apparently don't now. Many of the
coastal birds seen at Lady Julia Percy Island have also been recorded on
Lawrence Rocks.
Around both islands, skuas are often seen harassing the gannets in winter
and jaegers harassing the gulls and terns over summer. Apparently, the
underwater fauna and flora off both island groups is very spectacular,
but we don't see much of it except for the obvious extensive kelp beds.
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