Yesterday afternoon (3/5/08), David and I enjoyed another good sea watch
from Magic Pt in Maroubra (approx. 10km south of Sydney CBD). Winds were
very light from the south/south-west with a slight swell in the ocean.
The sea was alive with mass feeding frenzies of a thousand or so Gannets,
hundreds of both Silver Gulls and Crested Terns and lesser numbers of
Albatrosses and other sea birds. This feeding frenzy was seen from inshore
waters and kilometres away out to the horizon. Very few shearwaters were
about with many expected to have made their way north but a few late
Wedge-tailed and Short-tailed Shearwaters were still lingering about. We saw
our first Yellow-nosed Albatrosses for the year and also saw several Arctic
Jaegers (the later species probably peak in numbers off Sydney during Autumn
before they head back to the Arctic). Most of the Yellow-nosed Albatrosses
were seen towards the evening and 'very close' to the shore further
supporting our previous assertions over many years that many Yellow-nosed
come close to the shore later in the day. Any suggested reasons why??
Our list of sea birds (and numbers in brackets) for the 3 hours we were at
Magic Pt were as follows:
Fairy Penguin (a few heard before the evening)
Black-browed Albatross (7)
Yellow-nosed Albatross (6)
Shy Albatross (1)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater (2)
Short-tailed Shearwater (4)
Fluttering Shearwater (2)
Australasian Gannet (1000 plus)
Little Black Cormorant (2)
Great Cormorant (1)
Arctic Jaeger (8)
Kelp Gull (1)
Silver Gull (500 plus)
Crested Tern (300 plus)
Mammals seen:
None
May could be regarded as the quietest month for sea birds with most of the
summer birds gone and too early for the winter birds but yesterday David and
I saw this as not always the case.
Also, I have had queries from many birdo's asking me when is it the best
time to go sea watching? The presence of certain species may depend on
various factors (wind conditions and direction, food supply, currents and
time of day) but something interesting or interesting event may occur at any
time.
Edwin Vella
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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