This morning (5th August 2007), Stuart Pickering, David Mitford and I spent
a few hours sea watching from Magic Pt Maroubra. Conditions were quite calm
with light westerly to south-westerly winds. The cuttlefish die off again
was attracting good numbers of Albatross close to the coast. There were also
good numbers of Brown Skuas seen (their numbers off Sydney appear to peak
around August) but few Fluttering Shearwaters were present until about the
time we left around noon when small groups started to appear heading north
but well away from shore. Surprisingly, there was also a lack of Giant
Petrels this morning with only one very distant bird seen.
Between the southern end of Maroubra beach and Magic Pt, David and Stuart
found a Bar-shouldered Dove (probably a new bird for Maroubra) and we saw a
few Fairy Martins (which have recently returned) and heard a Horsfield's
Bronze-cuckoo and Brown Quail. At Magic Pt, while we were sea watching, one
of the local Peregrines and a Kestrel also paid us a visit.
Our list and numbers of sea birds recorded this morning (within the time
period 730 to 1130) included:
Fairy Penguin (heard)
Black-browed Albatross (40)
Campbell Albatross (1)
Yellow-nosed Albatross (20)
Shy Albatross (9)
Wandering Albatross (2)
Giant Petrel species (1)
Fluttering Shearwater (27)
Australasian Gannet (50)
Brown Skua (9)
Silver Gull (100)
Crested Tern (10)
Mammals recorded:
Humpbacked Whale (at least 6)
Dolphin species (at least 5)
Edwin Vella
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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