Summary: An
excellent day out started off with a small pod of Orca, including a large bull, just off Rottnest Island. We
continued on to the head of the Perth Canyon for two berley and drift sessions
with a good mix of eastern Indian Ocean birds, where the undoubted avian highlight
was a single Atlantic Yellow-nosed
Albatross. It left it late and only joined the birds on the slick for five
minutes towards the end of the day. Other good sightings included a single Arctic Tern, two Southern Giant Petrels and up to 35 Soft-plumaged Petrels (including a darkish morph bird and several
intermediate morph and streaked individuals).
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| Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos off Fremantle Western Australia. The ‘puffin-like’ black triangles around the eyes made this Atlantic easy to pick out from the closely related and common Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses (photo: Plaxy Barratt) |
