I am wondering if I can get some guidance on the id
of a sea bird at Cape Byron (Byron Bay nth NSW) in calm mid morning conditions
last Friday 10 March.
I first saw a dark bird with broad squared off tail gliding
along the cliff face just below the information centre. It was almost raptor
like in appearance from above which is why I immediately looked at the tail and
noticed that it was square and quite broad in relation to the bird’s size
and (from my experience) ruled out a raptor. Unfortunately due to terrain and
works to upgrade guard rails I only got a very brief glimpse.
However when I walked further down the access road there
was a dark bird among the gulls working bait fish schools just off the southern
part of the headland. Its wings and body looked thicker/shorter than a
shearwater. It was mostly flying close to the water with slow, strong wing
beats with occasionally gliding particularly on he face of the swells. Its tail
was mostly fanned whilst doing all of that manoeuvring. When feeding it hovered
and fluttered feet down just above the water with its wings fairly vertical as
its head dipped in to apparently catch small fish which I could see breaking
the surface. It was dark above and below with a hint of paler grey colour in
the belly/ventral area. From above it was a lighter tannish brown along the
back and out along the wings where it met diagonally with a darker area
extending to the tips of the wings. From the books the only thing I can match
it to is a dark phase White-bellied Storm-Petrel particularly when one looks at
the illustrations at the top of page 93 of the 1997 Pizzey & Night which
shows the lighter brown meeting diagonally with a dark outer wing and the
adjacent illustration shows the paler belly/vent. The feeding behaviour was
very similar to that described for the Wilson’s
Storm-Petrel in the same book but there was no white band across the tail/rump.
Unfortunately at the distance I could not pick up any detail of bill or feet.
There are just a few things in some of the guides
that have me a bit wary, not the least its appearance so close to the coast although
a few days earlier we had experienced several days of extremely strong onshore
conditions from a close in low pressure system. One of guides also mentions
that the White-bellied holds over the water with horizontal wings when feeding.
Are these feeding patterns diagnostic? I would be grateful for any thoughts
Regards and thanks, Rex Fisher
