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Birdline Tasmania
Published sightings for the week ending 11 Sep 2011.
| Sun 11 Sep
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Wandering whistling duck x 3
Lake Dulverton, Oatlands
I know this sounds highly implausible. At Lake Dulverton today there were many hardheads, one black duck and quite a few domestic ducks/geese in and around the top lake with the aquatic vegetation. Amongst the wild ducks were three different coloured ducks of a similar size - the most notable feature being what appeared to be a yellow stripe down their side along the edge of the wing - like a whistling duck. The birds had a light coloured cheek/neck almost like a grey teal but with a very dark stripe over the top and down the back of their head. They were a reddish/chestnut colour underneath the yellow stripe and darker on top. They flew twice and squeaked as they took off. They had a white V-shaped stripe across their tail. When they landed on the bank I got slightly better views. They showed slight speckling on their front. They were slightly speckled yellow/buff on their front turning to the chestnut colour toward the bottom of the neck and underneath, light buff face with dark stripe over the top and down the back of the head, yellow "stripe" along the wing edge and darker on the back with some light edged feathers, particularly towards the front. The birds looked quite plump when they were on the bank. Didn't check the leg colour but it was dark. When flying the most notable feature was the squeaking on takeoff then the slightly V-shaped white/light strip across the rump. Tail was longish and slightly pointy or maybe legs were trailing. The wings were mostly dark and didn't appear to have patches of lighter colour as most ducks do. Didn't have a camera with me and flushed them before I could even get a phone camera shot. I looked in my book as this was not a duck I am familiar with and this bird was exactly like a wandering whistling duck. This bird is not found anywhere near here but it is what I saw - please tell me I am not going crazy. Could they be escapees of some sort?
Ian Lundy
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| Sun 4 Sep
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Soft-plumaged Petrel and more
Eaglehawk Neck pelagic
Eaglehawk Neck – Sunday 4 Sept 2011
Vessel: Pauletta (skipper John Males)
Participants: Stuart Pickering, David Mitford, Micha Jackson, Pete Kyne, Rob Hynson, Raja Stephenson, Nikolas Haass, Kate Godman, Els Wakefield, Dan Mantle.
Weather: 15-20 knot northerlies switching to north-westerlies, 1.5-2.5m waves with only a very low swell, overcast, scattered showers later in the day.
Berley Point: 43° 00 309S 148° 17 759S (350 fathoms)
Birds: numbers given are a rough guess for the total for the day (the maximum number seen at one
time is given in parentheses)
Fairy Prion 200 (40)
Grey-backed Storm-petrel 8 (3)
White-faced Storm-petrel 3 (1)
Sooty Shearwater 4 (1)
Hutton’s Shearwater 1 (1)
Common Diving-Petrel 50+ (14)
Cape Petrel 50 (21)
Soft-plumaged Petrel 2 (1)
White-headed Petrel 8 (3)
Providence Petrel 2 (1)
Great-winged Petrel 60 (20) – predominantly macroptera but including at least 2/3 gouldi
Northern Giant Petrel 1 (1)
Southern Royal Albatross 2 (1) Adult and Imm
Wandering Albatross 10 (8) – incl. at least 1 antipodensis, 1 gibsoni, 1 exulans, the rest were considered to be mostly gibsoni/exulans
Black-browed Albatross – melanophrys 5 (3)
Campell Albatross – impavida 2 (1)
(Indian) Yellow-nosed Albatross 6 (2)
Buller’s Albatross 1 (1)
Shy Albatross – cauta/steadi 30 (7)
Salvin’s Albatross 2 (1) Adults
Australasian Gannet 8 (2)
Silver Gull
Pacific Gull
Kelp Gull
Crested Tern
White-bellied Sea-Eagle 1 (1)
See Raja Stephenson's pictures of both pelagics below.
Nikolas Haass for Dan Mantle
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| Sat 3 Sep
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Chatham Albatross, Light-mantled Sooty Albatross and more
Eaglehawk Neck pelagic
Eaglehawk Neck – Saturday 3 Sept 2011
Vessel: Pauletta (skipper John Males)
Participants: Stuart Pickering, David Mitford, Micha Jackson, Pete Kyne, Rob Hynson, Raja Stephenson, Nikolas Haass, Paul Brooks, Jeremy O'Wheel, Els Wakefield, Dan Mantle.
Weather: 15-17 knot northerlies, 1-1.5m waves with only a very low swell, bright, dry day with minimal cloud cover.
First Berley Point: 42° 69 051S 148° 17 495S (200 fathoms)
Second Berley Point: 42° 57 886S 148° 19 767E (400 fathoms)
Birds: numbers given are a rough guess for the total for the day (the maximum number seen at one time is given in parentheses)
Fairy Prion 1000+ (100)
Slender-billed Prion 2 (2)
Grey-backed Storm-petrel 5 (2)
White-faced Storm-petrel 3 (1)
Sooty Shearwater 1 (1)
‘Fluttering-type’ Shearwater 1 (1)
Common Diving-Petrel 30+ (8)
Cape Petrel 10+ (8)
Soft-plumaged Petrel 2 (1)
White-headed Petrel 6 (1)
Great-winged Petrel 30+ (8) – predominantly macroptera but including at least 2/3 gouldi
Northern Giant Petrel 2 (2)
Northern Royal Albatross 1 (1) Adult
Southern Royal Albatross 1 (1) Imm
Wandering Albatross 6 (2) – incl. at least one good candidate for gibsoni, the rest were considered to be mostly gibsoni/exulans
Black-browed Albatross – melanophrys 2 (1)
(Indian) Yellow-nosed Albatross 3 (1)
Buller’s Albatross 1 (1)
Shy Albatross – cauta/steadi 60 (12)
Salvin’s Albatross 1 (1) Adult
Chatham Albatross 1 (1) Adult
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross 1 (1)
Crested Tern 10 (3)
Australasian Gannet 12 (4)
Silver Gull
Pacific Gull
Kelp Gull
White-bellied Sea-Eagle 2 (2)
See Raja Stephenson's pictures below
Nikolas Haass for Dan Mantle
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