David Mitford and myself
spent most of this afternoon (20th
Feb 2005) sea watching from Magic Pt, Maroubra (about
10km south of the Sydney CBD).
The winds ranged from light southerly in the early afternoon
to moderate southerly winds towards the evening when the storm arrived bringing
a drenching of rain and some lightening. Today’s highlight was a juv. SOOTY TERN seen quite close to shore and in fairly
calm conditions (well before the storm). There was also a good number of
Fleshy-footed Shearwaters amongst the numerous Wedge-tailed and lots of Pomarine Jaegers. There was also about 6 Common
Bottle-nosed Dolphin going past as the rain arrived.
The species and minimum numbers seen this
afternoon were as follows:
Fairy Penguin (heard calling below Magic Pt)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater (3,000)
Fleshy-footed Shearwater (15)
Short-tailed Shearwater (30)
Fluttering Shearwater (5)
Australasian Gannet (10)
Little Pied Cormorant (1)
Little Black Cormorant (3)
Great Cormorant (2)
Arctic Jaeger (1 dark-phase)
Pomarine Jaeger (41)
Silver Gull (200)
Crested Tern (15)
SOOTY TERN (1 juv.)
I would also like to note Rod Gardner also saw today another Streaked
Shearwater from Maroubra.
Edwin Vella
