Graham Turner, Rod Gardner
and I enjoyed a good afternoon yesterday (Saturday 27th August 2005)
sea watching from Magic Pt at Maroubra (approx. 10km
south of Sydney CBD). Winds were mainly light and southerly most of the
afternoon with light rain and a nice rainbow well off the coast from where we
were watching.
The highlight that afternoon being a very close in NORTHERN GIANT
PETREL (even when a few Ginat Petrels do come within
a km from the coast, you need to be very careful in separating the Northern from
a Southern Giant Petrel and vice versa as many can be quite tricky). Another
quite close in individual could have been a Southern Giant Petrel but we were
not 100 sure. Also very good was a extremely close
sighting of an adult Campbell Island Albatross (close enough to even see its
pale iris besides its distinct under wing markings). For good entertainment,
the sighting of a Brown Skua pursuing an Australasian
Gannet only about a km or so from the shore certainly achieved this. The Brown Skuas were also pursuing the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters which
have recently arrived from further north. Good views of just about all the sea
birds were had that afternoon (many sea birds know how to turn just in time
before they hit the cliff!!).
A list of seabirds species and the minimum
numbers seen for the afternoon from Magic Pt is as follows:
Black-browed Albatross (2)
Campbell Island
Albatross (1)
Yellow-nosed Albatross (14)
Shy Albatross (3)
Northern Giant Petrel (1)
Giant Petrel species unidentified (3)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater (300 plus)
Fluttering Shearwater (Rod saw a few before Graham and I arrived at
Magic Pt)
Australasian Gannet (200)
Little Black Cormorant (6)
Great Cormorant (1)
Brown Skua (6)
Silver Gulls (300)
Crested Tern (12)
Just before we had left Maroubra about 6 pm, Graham and I also heard the Lewins Rail call in the heath beside one of the swamps
south of Maroubra
Beach.
A great afternoon indeed!
Edwin Vella
