This afternoon (1/3/08), David Mitford and I enjoyed a good afternoon's sea
watch from Magic Pt in Maroubra (approx. 10km south of the Sydney CBD).
Winds were mainly moderate southerly winds with fairly choppy seas calming
down towards the evening.
Not long after my arrival at about quarter to 4 pm, I spotted our main
afternoon highlight. I noticed a WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL feeding and flying
slowly as it bounced low over the sea with a small group of Silver Gulls. I
watched for about a minute but then disappeared just a minute before David
had arrived at about 4 pm. David then thought he was going to miss out on
this Maroubra tick. However about half an hour or so later, we spotted the
Storm-Petrel again and watched it on an off for about an hour as it fed
either on its own or with Silver Gulls with its bouncing flight over the
waves. The Storm-Petrel was also seen resting on the water a few times.
Other interesting birds observed from Magic Pt this afternoon included 20
Flesh-footed, 6 Hutton's and a Sooty Shearwater amongst many Wedge-tailed,
Short-tailed and Fluttering Shearwaters. Long-tailed Jaeger numbers were
down from my last reported sea watch (16/2/08) and we only saw about a dozen
including a rare dark-morph bird but there were more Pomarine Jaegers this
time which appears typical for this time of year off Maroubra.
Species recorded this afternoon (time 1530 to 1900 approx) from Magic Pt
Maroubra and approximate numbers were as follows:
Wedge-tailed Shearwater (200)
Flesh-footed Shearwater (20)
Short-tailed Shearwater (80)
Sooty Shearwater (1)
Hutton's Shearwater (6)
Fluttering Shearwater (70)
WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL (1)
Australasian Gannet (30)
Little Black Cormorant (1)
Arctic Jaeger (4)
Pomarine Jaeger (15)
Long-tailed Jaeger (12)
Silver Gull (200)
Crested Tern (30)
Mammals recorded:
Dolphin species
Fish recorded:
Flying Fish species
Our Maroubra sea-watches so far this year has certainly been rewarding. All
four of my visits this year have produced at least one rarity.
Edwin
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