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Last night as I sat, thoroughly uninterested in who
was about to win inventor of the year, I had a knock at the door. I opened
the door to greet Paul Hackett with a cardboard box on his
shoulder.
Paul had a bird that had been found at an apartment
block in Mentone (a Bayside Melbourne suburb) and it was a ripper.
It was a Southern Fulmar (as you may have guessed
from the message header). The bird, apart from possessing a severely
retarded sense of direction, seemed to be in good health and Paul, as a wildlife
volunteer was taking it to a carer after he confirmed it's
identity.
It seems Southern Fulmars are uncommon visitors to
Victorian waters in the winter and this bird should be on its way to the
Antarctic pack ice to spend its summer there! I guess that it is a young
bird and is heading to Lorne or the Gold Coast for schoolies week, or had
schoolies week way down south and is still a bit fuzzy about the direction
home.
So, Michael, one to add to your Bayside list, I
would think, and for me a dilemma.
Can I tick this bird? After a handful of pelagic
trips this bird is new to me, but now I have unmistakeably seen it--what a
quandary I am in!
Cheers
Stuart
Stuart Cooney
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