After poor weather forced the can- cellation of our 4th April trip in what would have been outstanding conditions for seabirding, we were rather fortunate to secure a re- placement date so soon, and even more fortunate that the weather was again favourable for seabirds, with a 15-20 knot southerly. There was a 2.2 m swell forecast as well, so we were in for a bumpy ride! Thus it was with a combination of excitement and some trepidation that we set off on time at 0630.
We motored slowly down the river, getting good views of an adult White-bellied sea-Eagle and a cou- White-faced Storm-petrel, the star bird of the day, and scarce this far ple of Ospreys riverside. The north in Australia. This bird is in wing moult. Photo by Richard Fuller. weather seemed rather calm, alt- hough things began to get a little bumpy as we cleared the seaway too far off for safe ID. Birds on the White Tern is restricted as breed- and struck a course to the ESE. first part of the journey out to the ing species in eastern Australia to Onboard, our burley consisted of a shelf were small numbers of Hut- Lord Howe and Norfolk Island, range of fish and prawns, chicken ton’s Shearwaters, and a couple of and this bird is presumably a post- mince, tuna oil and several tins of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. breeding straggler from one of tuna cat food. those colonies. Encouragingly, the first Provi- Just beyond the seaway was a dence Petrels appeared well before Another trio of Providence Petrels group of about 180 terns, and alt- the shelf, while still in Sunshine and a Brown Booby provided hough most were very distant, Coast waters at 0830, and a storm something to look at as we neared they seemed to be almost all Com- -petrel was briefly glimpsed but the shelf, and we eventually cut mon Terns, with about 10 White- not viewed well enough for identi- the engines over about 130m of winged Black Terns mixed in. fication. Soon after we crossed into water. Although we were short of There were probably some other Brisbane waters, a browner Ptero- the shelf break, we had made rela- species there, but most birds were droma appeared, with extensive tively slow progress in the rough grey around the conditions, and didn’t want to lose face, all dark plum- too much time by pressing on fur- age, including un- ther. Our drift carried us due derwings which south at about 2km per hour in showed only a slight the broiling sea. paler area on the primaries—a Grey- We began deploying burley, the faced Petrel! Soon lion’s share of which was kindly after, a ghostly prepared by Kye Turnbull— white bird appeared enormous thanks Kye! Providence in flight, and after Petrels began appearing almost some initial confu- straight away, and as soon as the sion about its identi- cat food started to be dispensed, a ty, its large black continuous stream of Wilson’s eye with sharp, up- Storm-petrels materialised. Even- turned bill was ap- tually the shout went up for a Grey-faced Petrel, showing rather brownish plum- parent in Stephen White-faced Storm-petrel, a mag- age overall, extensive grey around face, and ab- Hey’s photographs— nificent grey and white storm pet- sence of any frosting on upperparts that help dis- a splendid White rel with a black bandit mask and Tern! white supercilium. It hung around tinguish it from Providence Petrel. Photograph by for a while allowing for some pho- Ged Tranter.
tos, and delighted the crowd. This is a scarce species this far north in Australia, with the last birds on a Sunshine Coast pelagic being seen in 2016. White-faced Storm-petrels breed during the summer on small islands off southern Australia, and winter well offshore in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. These birds are presumably engaging in post- breeding dispersal, and it was won- derful to watch them doing their trademark trampolining on the sea surface with both feet—magical! Flesh-footed Shearwater, photograph by Ged Tranter. Presently, a Flesh-footed Shearwater sidled in and spent quite a while sat 14th November. Contact Rich- SPECIES: Total (max. at once) on the sea off the stern. Wilson’s ard Fuller on Storm-petrels continued to stream [email protected] if you are Brown Booby 1 (1) past, and although another couple of interested in joining any of the Common Noddy 1 (1) White-faced Storm-petrels appeared, trips. White Tern 1 (1) those straining to pick out a third Common Tern 160 (160) species of storm-petrel were to be Report by Richard Fuller Crested Tern 16 (6) disappointed. White-winged Tern 10 (10) PARTICIPANTS: Eric Ander- Sooty Tern 1 (1) New Providence Petrels kept appear- son, Louis Backstrom, Detlef Storm-petrel sp 1 (1) ing and giving reasonably close pass- Davies, Michael Dawson, Rich- White-faced Storm-petrel 3 (2) es of the boat, and eventually anoth- ard Fuller, Stephen Hey, Leonie Wilson’s Storm-petrel 47 (23) er Grey-faced Petrel showed up, al- Huijser, Tim Kastelle, Wayne Providence Petrel 27 (10) lowing for some nice photos. Time Kroll, Helen Leonard, Peter Grey-faced Petrel 2 (1) was ticking on, and as the clock ap- Leonard, Braden McDonald, Flesh-footed Shearwater 3 (2) proached 1230, it was time to restart James Martin, Barry McGov- Wedge-tailed Shearwater 4 (1) the engines and begin the journey ern, Stephen Murray, John Hutton’s Shearwater 16 (8) back. The sea was still rather rough, O'Shea, Nancy Pachana, Debbie Hutton’s / Fluttering Shearwater 7 so not the most pleasant journey, Quirk, Gary Quirk, Ged Trant- (2) and relatively uneventful birdwise, er, Kye Turnbull, Jamie Walk- NON-BIRDS with the highlight being a Common er, Brad Woodworth. Noddy just before we left Brisbane Common Bottlenose Dolphin waters. (Tursiops truncatus)
Notably absent were Tahiti Petrels, usually a mainstay of these trips. Cetaceans were represented only by a small group of Bottle-nosed Dol- phins not far out of the seaway, per- haps not surprising given the rough conditions.
Overall, this was a good trip, with the White-faced Storm-petrels, Grey- faced Petrels and White Tern being particularly notable. Despite the rough conditions, a good time was had by all. We have three remaining trips in 2021, on 11th July, 31st Oc- Providence Petrel, showing conspicuous double white flash on tober (extended 12-hour trip into underwing. Photo by Ged Tranter. deeper water beyond the shelf), and