birding-aus

NSW - Sea watch from Magic Pt, Maroubra - 9th February 2008

To: "'Edwin Vella'" <>, "'Birding-aus'" <>
Subject: NSW - Sea watch from Magic Pt, Maroubra - 9th February 2008
From: "Tony Palliser" <>
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 22:56:59 +1100
Edwin,
Clearly a fantastic sea-watch, but without wishing to appear "cocky" how
are you separating White-necked Petrel from Vanuatu Petrel now that the
two are split (following the 2008 Christidis & Boles taxonomy)?  I have
been informed by one source that Vanuatu is the more likely?  

As much as it pains me, I have removed White-necked Petrel from my list
for the time being.

Once again I congratulate you for a great sea-watch and a most
informative report.

Cheers
Tony




-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of Edwin Vella
Sent: Saturday, 9 February 2008 10:12 PM
To: Birding-aus
Subject: NSW - Sea watch from Magic Pt,Maroubra - 9th
February 2008


This afternoon (9/2/08), David Mitford, Graham Buchan and I, enjoyed a
good
afternoon's sea watching from Magic Pt in Maroubra (approx. 10km south
of
the Sydney CBD). Winds were mainly light southerly breezes with fairly
calm
in shore waters during that afternoon after the rain had cleared. 

Further offshore from Magic Pt, winds appeared to be much stronger,
driving
in 2 species of Albatross including a nice adult Wandering and one or
two
Black-browed Albatrosses (both species seen on 2 to 3 occasions during
the
afternoon), a WHITE-NECKED PETREL, 2 Sooty Shearwaters and many other
interesting sea birds.

Long-tailed Jaegers were numerous and were the most common of the three
species that afternoon hanging about in small groups with the largest
group
comprising at least 20 birds together.

Later in the afternoon, a passer by took interest in what were doing. As
we
were engaged in a discussion, David alerted me to a quite close in
BULLERS
SHEARWATER heading slowly south. Such a stunning bird could have been
missed
if we had then left our eyes off the sea. We advised the non-birding
visitor
that this was one of the rarities that we see from time to time from
Magic
Pt and we showed him not long after, 2 Fairy Penguins feeding with
Crested
Terns just below the cliff. He was quite pleased with that sighting.

Species recorded that afternoon (time 1530 to 1900 approx) from Magic Pt
Maroubra and approximate numbers were as follows:

Fairy Penguin (2)
Wandering Albatross (1)
Black-browed Albatross (1-2)
WHITE-NECKED PETREL (1)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater (500)
BULLER'S SHEARWATER (1)
Sooty Shearwater (2)
Short-tailed Shearwater (50)
Fluttering Shearwater (20)
Australasian Gannet (60)
Little Pied Cormorant (1)
Little Black Cormorant (1)
Pied Cormorant (1)
Great Cormorant (2)
Arctic Jaeger (2)
Pomarine Jaeger (15)
Long-tailed Jaeger (60)
Silver Gull (200)
Crested Tern (30)

Mammals recorded:

None

David and I also saw some Southern Emu-wrens (there was a group of at
least
4 hopping about the banksias) and 2 Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoos along the
walk to Magic Pt.

A very rewarding afternoon indeed.

Edwin
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