Dear Birding-Ausers,
Here is the report for how the BirdLife Victoria Portland Pelagics went for
2011-2012.
Regards
Chris
For details of future Portland trips, go to the BirdLife Australia web
site at the bottom of the relevant Birdlife Victoria page at
http://www.birdlife.org.au/locations/all-victoria-statewide/activities-vic
For reports of past BA-Vic and BirdLife Victoria trips from Portland
and Port Fairy, search the Birding-Aus archives for the trip reports
at http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/birding-aus/
THE BIRDLIFE VICTORIA (formerly BA – VIC) PELAGIC FROM PORTLAND IN 2011 and
2012
By Chris Lester
VICTORIAN PELAGIC BIRDING IN 2011 and 2012
Trips in 2011 and 2012 – one an excellent year and the other not so good
In 2011, eight boat trips were held, which was well above our longer-term
average, with good runs in both Autumn and Spring. As well, the range of
species and the rarities that turned up were exceptional. However, 2012 was
the opposite with only three trips for the whole year. However, we did get
one mega-rarity with the species diversity being quite good.
2011 and 2012 rarities
The 2011 and 2012 highlights were:
February 2011 – a Soft-plumaged Petrel, a Shy Albatross race salvini and 2
Long-tailed Jaegers.
March – a Shy Albatross race salvini and a distant, unidentified “Coolaria”
petrel.
April – at least 6 Great Shearwaters, 2 Gould’s Petrels and 5 Brown Skuas.
May – a Great Shearwater, a Sooty Albatross and a Brown Skua with a
possible Antarctic Prion.
August – a Northern Royal Albatross and 2 Brown Skuas.
September – Southern Royal Albatross.
October – both Northern and Southern Royal Albatrosses.
November – a Cook’s Petrel.
April 2012 – 5 White-fronted Terns.
May – a New Zealand Storm-Petrel (a first record for Victoria), a
Flesh-footed Shearwater, a Brown Skua and a White-fronted Tern.
October – a Southern Royal Albatross.
2011 and 2012 seasonal variation
The regular species on our summer trip in 2011 were White-chinned Petrel,
Flesh-footed and Sooty Shearwaters, White-faced and Grey-backed
Storm-Petrels and Arctic Jaeger. Autumn regulars in 2011 and 2012 were
Northern and Southern Giant-Petrels, Common Diving-Petrel, Cape and
White-chinned Petrels, Sooty and Hutton’s Shearwaters, Buller’s Albatross,
White-faced and Grey-backed Storm-Petrels and Pomarine and Arctic Jaegers.
In winter, the regulars were Northern Giant-Petrel, Hutton’s Shearwater,
White-faced and Grey-backed Storm-Petrels and White-fronted Tern. Regular
spring birds were Northern and Southern Giant-Petrel, Cape and
White-chinned Petrels, Flesh-footed, Sooty and Hutton’s Shearwaters,
White-faced, Wilson’s and Grey-backed Storm-Petrels, Arctic Jaeger and
White-fronted Tern.
In this seasonal context, “regular” and “common” only means that the
species were observed in the relevant season. It does not mean that the
number of individuals was high. In fact, the number may be very low as,
for example, with the listings of Wandering Albatross, Sooty Shearwater and
White-fronted Tern, where usually only one or two birds are observed on
each occasion.
The common pelagic bird species
>From Portland, the common birds seen on nearly all trips are Little
Penguin, Fairy Prion, Great-winged Petrel, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel,
Short-tailed and Fluttering Shearwaters, Shy, Black-browed, Yellow-nosed
and Wandering Albatrosses, Australasian Gannet, Black-faced Cormorant,
Silver, Pacific and Kelp Gulls and Crested Tern.
Mammals
It was great for cetaceans during the early part of the 2011 year. The
highlights were Blue Whales in each of February, March, April and May and a
Southern Right Whale in May. As well, we saw the normal Common Dolphins at
sea and the Australian Fur Seals on Lawrence Rocks on most outings.
Strangely, we did not record Bottle-nosed Dolphins on any trips in 2011.
2012 was also good as we saw a pod of 20 Long-finned Pilot Whales in May
and an Australian Sea Lion (a probable first for Portland pelagics) in
October, along with the normal Common Dolphins and the Australian Fur Seals.
A BIRDLIFE AUSTRALIA OFFICIAL ACTIVITY
The Victorian Pelagic from Portland is an official BirdLife Australia
outing. This group supports our trip in many ways and has our thanks.
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