Hi all
I visited Long Reef today between 10:30 and 12 for a walk with my family
(after the last couple of days in Sydney getting out in the open air was a
bonus.) We walked around the golf course, up to the headland and back to
the main car park.
The golf course ponds were all very full, hosting plenty of Wood Duck, Black
Duck & Chestnut Teal, Moorhen, Coot (with young) and some cormorants.
Plenty of Masked Lapwings on the course (I counted at least 20) and a couple
of Pipits, which I hadn't seen on either of my last two visits.
From the main lookout, there were plenty of birds off shore - good numbers
of Wedge tailed Shearwater close in, big rafts of Fluttering types a bit
further out, some Gannets and a few albatross drifting about too. I
identified several Black Browed, 1 Shy and 1 Yellow Nosed whilst watching.
One albatross had me puzzled - it had a dirty/grey looking head and long
wings with an all dark underwing - the profile looked wrong for a Black
Browed (wings seemed too long for the body) and the flight was quite heavy
and flapping, so I wonder if it was an immature Grey Headed (which I believe
is the only other species where the immatures show an all dark underwing)?
It was a long way out and I kept losing it behind the wave tops so even with
the scope up at about 40x I didn't get good views - one to keep an eye out
for perhaps. I suspect that a more sustained sea watch could have produced
something quite interesting but I didn't have that luxury.
On the reef itself (off limits at 11 as the tide was in) were a big mob of
Crested Terns, Silver Gulls, three Turnstones (that I could see) and some
grey looking waders about Turnstone size, which I would have assumed to be
Grey Tailed Tattlers except that they were all huddled together, so I
wondered if they were one of the migrant species returning - Knot perhaps.
2 Eastern Curlew flew over.
Cheers
Tom Wilson
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