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 fourth article was on pelagic birding
in Spring. (Please note that it was written in 2003.)
Regards
Chris
PELAGIC BIRDING IN SPRING FROM PORT FAIRY,
VICTORIA
VICTORIAN PELAGIC BIRDING IN SPRING
Historical trips in spring
Spring should be a terrific time for pelagic bird-watchers in Victoria. We
look forward to the possibility of seeing great sea-birds like Southern
Fulmar, Grey Petrel and Kerguelen Petrel. But the theoretical expectations
and the practical reality are far apart. In the last 8 years, only 7
spring trips have been run due to the consistently poor weather in this
season. In spring in Victoria, a succession of vigorous cold fronts
usually blow across the State with strong winds and large south-westerly
seas straight from the Southern Ocean. Consequently, most scheduled trips
are postponed because of the weather to the following weekend, then
cancelled on the replacement Sunday when the next front invariably arrives.
Spring is a consistent disappointment for keen sea-birders and frustrating,
hard and unrewarding work for the organiser.
Common pelagic bird species
>From the limited data available, spring is still good for a range of
albatrosses. Shy (including the Salvin's race occasionally), Black-browed
(both races) and Yellow-nosed Albatrosses are always seen, usually in
reasonable numbers, and Wandering has been recorded in small numbers on all
trips, except one. Southern and Northern Giant Petrels are frequently
recorded along with Cape, Great-winged and White-chinned Petrels and
infrequently Common Diving-Petrels. Fairy Prions are nearly always seen,
often in good numbers.
Short-tailed and Fluttering Shearwaters are usually observed, the former
often in very large numbers (tens and maybe even hundreds of thousands).
Flesh-footed, Sooty and Hutton's Shearwaters are frequently seen.
Wilson's, White-faced and Grey-backed Storm-Petrels are regularly recorded.
Other birds regularly seen are Little Penguin, Australasian Gannet,
Black-faced Cormorant, Silver, Pacific and Kelp Gulls and Crested Tern.
Spring rarities
Royal Albatrosses (either or both Southern and Northern) are virtually
guaranteed in early spring and Light-mantled Sooty Albatross was recorded
in November 2002 off Port Fairy. White-headed Petrels were recorded in
November 1997 off Portland and November 2002 off Port Fairy.
On one exceptional trip in October 1997 off Portland, Southern Fulmar, Grey
Petrel and a probable Bulwer's Petrel were seen.
Great Skua and White-fronted Tern are often still present in early spring.
Arctic and Pomerine Jaegers and Whiskered Tern have been occasionally
recorded later in spring. 2 Arctic Terns were seen on the November 2002
trip.
Sometimes, unusual birds are seen at sea, like the 2 Ruddy Turnstones seen
at sea in September 1995.
For spring, there are number of other possible rarities that we are still
searching for. These include Kerguelen, Mottled, Antarctic and Snow
Petrels and Manx Shearwater.
DIVERSIONS ON VICTORIAN BOAT TRIPS
Ocean Mammals
One of the delights of these trips is the possibility of seeing marine
mammals, particularly cetaceans. Blue Whale, the largest mammal ever to
have been on Earth, has been recorded several times from Portland and Port
Fairy in summer and autumn. Southern Right Whale has been recorded,
usually in winter. Several other cetaceans have been seen, including
Long-finned Pilot Whale, Minke Whale, Killer Whale, Humpback Whale and
Sperm Whale.
Common and Bottle-nosed Dolphins are regularly seen and Australian Fur
Seals are always present at Lawrence Rocks and Lady Julia Percy Island.
Our Boat and Crew
For some years, we have been using the Michael J IV. This is a charter
vessel catering for fishing and birding trips and, in summer, trips to Lady
Julia Percy Island. It is also used for commercial fishing. Operating out
of Port Fairy, it is crewed by the owner, Gary Roberts, and skippered by
Howard "Howie" Willoughby. The boat has some comforts, such as emergency
life-raft, life jackets and portable toilet. Before they started taking us
out to the shelf looking for sea-birds, Gary and Howie did not know much
about sea-birds. Gary is now an expert "berleyer" and, after several years
of watching us identify sea-birds behind the boat, they have both learnt
the key identifying features of many pelagic species.
Now, Howie is an excellent spotter of sea-birds from the front of the boat
although he doesn't always know what they are. And, they often have
information regarding what is around before our regular outings because
they now take notice of the birds on their fishing trips. So, we often
head out to "hot" spots that they saw on a previous fishing trip.
INTERSTATE PELAGIC TRIPS
There are several other places in Australia from which regular pelagic
trips originate. They include Southport in Queensland, Newcastle, Sydney,
Wollongong and Eden in New South Wales, Eaglehawk Neck in Tasmania and
Perth in Western Australia. Currently, many of these are much easier to
get a place on than Port Fairy. They are also worthy of consideration
because many other pelagic species that are not observed off south-west
Victoria can be seen from these places.
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