The trip was off Eden on the South Coast, near Bega. No, I did not survive purely on cheese. The Eden trips are run by the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG), not SOSSA, which is why most likely most people won't have heard of them.
There were two trips scheduled for the weekend, but I was only on the saturday trip. On the sunday, I went birding in the area...
Anthony Overs, my banding instructor, was leading the trips, so I was able to go with him.
The Saturday began early. Fresh home from the Kimberley, early was no problem for me! a 10-past-5am start from where we were staying with the very generous David and Diane near Bega, saw us arrive at the small port in Eden by 6.40, all ready for a 7am start.
The rest of the people didn't arrive till 10 to 7, by which time Anthony was beginning to get nervous!
I was extremely happy to see that one of my idols, Tobias Hayashi was going to be on board :D.
We chugged (or swooossshhhheeddddd, to be more accurate) out to sea - it was cold, but that was soon forgotten in the birding activity!
Crested and a Caspian Tern followed the boat for a while, with plenty of Silver Gulls. Remembering my Wollongong experience, I had chosen to be on the top deck of the boat for the ride out, in case any penguins or diving-petrels were seen.
No penguins, but not far out of the harbour we began to see Common Diving-petrel. CDPs are uncommon birds, but during the course of the day we saw around 50, tying in with all the reports off the east coast so far this year - something weird is going down, somewhere!
Common Diving Petrel - small bird, long distance, moving boat!
There was actually quite a big swell, which made me a little nervous - both about the iron-ness of my stomach, and the wisdom in my choice of the top deck. The boat off Eden is a very good one, but it moves around a fair bit in a swell like any boat, and being up top somewhat increases the problem.
Shy Albatrosses began to appear, and after about half an hour, we entered a stream of southgoing Short-tailed Shearwaters. They didn't hang around the boat, just kept on flying, which was a bit annoying for photography.
Shy Albatrosses
As the day progressed and we got a bit further out, it became clear that in the swell it would not be possible to reach the continental shelf. That was a bummer, and instead we just sort of tacked around on the ocean.
Fairy Prions began to appear, giving terrible views at first, merely pale shapes among the dark shearwaters. We were entertained by mammals - Common Dolphin and Humpback Whales were around us, and we got good views of both.
Humpback Whale
After a very brief visit by a Great-winged Petrel, and an even briefer visit by a Giant-petrel of unknown species, the day quietened down and we didn't see much new for a while.
Great-winged Petrel
Eventually we decided to stop, and try burleying. Out came the shark liver, and into the water went the contents of Anthony's special bottle of tuna oil. I don't overly mind the smell of shark liver and tuna oil, but it certainly isn't something I'd go out of my way to be smelling on a close-to-upset stomach (thank god for Kwells), so I moved to the upwind side of the boat.
The Fairy Prions (and another prion I am waiting for ID confirmation on, but most likely it's just an odd fairy) closed in and came within just a meter or two of the boat, rivalling the Shy Albies for proximity. Despite the amazing views, it was hard to track them with the camera as the swell was accented by our lack of movement (and also I was half-trying to focus on dodging the frequent doses of spray that threatened to drench my lens if I wasn't careful).
This is the weird Prion... Love to hear anyone's thoughts!
Someone saw a White-faced Storm Petrel, right at the back of the oil-slick, but I couldn't find it - damn!!
However, just a few minutes and several lousy Prion shot later, it was back - and even quite close! I managed to even get a photo of it :D
White-faced Storm Petrel
I kind of expected that to be the highlight of the day, really. But I was wrong, as after a short while a Grey-backed Storm Petrel appeared! It stuck around for about half an hour to 45 minutes, dropping in and out of sight, and even came right in close a couple of times (within 8-10m of the back of the boat). A real delight to see, and as Tobias said it's about the best views you'll ever get of one!
Grey-backed Storm Petrel
We were also amused (or perhaps distracted) by the antics of an Australian Fur Seal in the water behind the boat, a'nommin' on the shark liver.
Australian Fur Seal
We began to head for home. The only other bird of real note was an immature - and yes, I said and mean 'an' - Black-browed Albatross. The one and only bird of this species (or any Albatross species other than Shy) of the trip!!!
Following us home... A Short-tailed Shearwater (top) and the view from the back of the boat!
As we pulled into the harbour, there were Black-faced Cormorants and Pacific Gulls on the assorted floating thingos that are usually in harbours, providing a nice, easy life and year tick to end the day!
Black-faced Cormorants
Pacific Gull
Finally, a cool composite picture by Julian Robinson of us all on the boat! (I'm on the top deck, far left :) ) http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozjulian/9927499774/
Julian
No comments:
Post a Comment