Pirates Parade: The Autumn Jaeger Migration at Woodman Point

Many birders are familiar with the annual migration of waders between the Arctic tundra and Australia, but some may not realize a similar migration takes place just offshore this time of year – that of jaegers head north towards their far northern summer breeding grounds. An excellent place to witness this spectacle is at Woodman Point south of Fremantle, where the long sandy spit jutting around 1.5kms into Cockburn Sound provides a perfect platform for jaeger-watching. 

 

A patient seawatch here during the migration (which builds through March to peak around mid-late April) will usually reveal a steady procession of jaegers flying northwards, as well as some hanging around to feed by kleptoparasitic attacks on gulls (chasing them until they regurgitate food). Woodman Point is a perfect site to witness these spectacular aerial chases, sitting directly next to a seagull ‘highway’ between Carnac Island and a local rubbish tip – for the jaegers, a somewhat different diet to their summer fare of lemmings and voles! 
 

Two intermediate-morph Arctic Jaegers Stercorarius parasiticus close in on a Silver Gull at Woodman Point.

Another South Polar Skua - Woodman Point

UPDATE: The identity of this bird has now been accepted by BARC.

Another intermediate-morph South Polar Skua Stercorarius (Catharacta) maccormicki has been reported in south-west WA, seen on the 3rd of May flying briefly over the end of Woodman Point, south of Fremantle. Unfortunately only the silhouette and underside of the bird were able to be photographed, but nevertheless several key diagnostic features confirm the bird’s identity:

Underbody contrast
Though the early morning light is not ideal, the bird shows the diagnostic hallmark of strong contrast between the fairly uniform, cool-toned, paleish grey-brown body, and the evenly cold black underwing coverts and axillaries. There are no rusty or rufous tones in the plumage as is frequent on Brown Skua [1, 2]. Other supporting plumage features include a fairly substantial white ‘flash’ in the primaries; a small but distinct dark loral eye-mask on the paler head; and the suggestion of a whitish grizzled area in the interramal area at the base of the lower bill.

South Polar Skua Stercorarius maccormicki (NB. subject to BARC acceptance) at Woodman Point, 3rd May 2012. Note the strong contrast between the pale, evenly grey-brown body and cold black undercoverts; whitish area at the base of the lower bill (interramal area); long narrow wings and short tail.

Seawatching: The Basics

Seawatching is one of the most challenging types of birding, usually involving sitting on some exposed headland in windy conditions, trying to identify seabirds offshore, many of which are difficult to identify even with good photos! This challenge is part of the attraction of seawatching, and the rewards for the keen seabirder are sightings of pelagic seabirds usually only seen well offshore. Indeed, if pelagic trips aren’t your thing, seawatching is probably the only way to see many deep ocean albatross, petrel and shearwater species.

The challenges of seawatching can also put people off, and judging by the relative lack of records, the WA coast is seriously under-seawatched! So, in the hopes of encouraging a few more WA birders out there to take up seawatching, we present this guide to the basics of seawatching. Experienced seawatchers probably won’t find anything new in here, but we hope that newer and prospective seawatchers will find this guide useful, and get you thinking about heading to your nearest headland after the next storm!

Before heading out

Find a site
Or several sites! Reading trip reports and previous sightings, searching the web, and asking other birders will usually suggest some worthwhile sites. Some sites worth trying include:

Perth (see also our previous blog post)
• Woodman Point
• Point Peron
• Rottnest Island
• North Mole (though note the mole is now fenced off in the best seawatching conditions)
South-west
• Cape Naturaliste near Dunsborough
• Bunker Bay (near Cape Naturaliste)
• Cape Leeuwin near Augusta
• Torndirrup NP near Albany (esp. Cave Point Lighthouse, the Blowholes carpark)
Further north
• Red Bluff near Kalbarri
• Red Bluff near Carnarvon
• Point Quobba near Carnarvon
• Steep Point near Denham

If you're feeling more adventurous, you might like to pore over maps and look for your own site! Look for geographical features that stick out to sea, like headlands or points, and if possible find a location that offers at least a little elevation and some sort of shelter from the wind to help you to keep your scope and bins steady.

Cape Naturaliste, a well-known seawatching site near Dunsborough. Note the relatively calm sea that betrays relatively poor seawatching conditions on the day of this photo - the haul from a 2.5hr watch was just 20+ Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross and a single Brown Skua.

Perth Seawatching Sites

If our previous post has got anyone fired up about seawatching (how could it not have?), this follow-up outlines the major seawatching locations around in the greater Perth area. Seawatching anywhere requires patience and many long hours of watching to reap the rewards of potential rarities, but this is particularly so on the Perth coast, where a good deal of effort is often required just to see commoner species! However, if you are prepared to put in the time, you may be rewarded with interesting sightings of seabirds usually only seen well offshore.

The best seawatching conditions usually occur from late May through to August with the passage of strong cold fronts. Ideally, a strong wind (25knts or more) with a reasonable westerly component is needed to bring seabirds close to the coast, particularly if the wind remains strong for 2-3 days or more. However, you may be lucky and pick up one or two seabirds in lighter winds. Morning is generally the best time of day for seabird activity, particularly the first few hours after sunrise, with activity often dropping away somewhat in the afternoon.

Wilson's Storm-Petrel, photographed from North Mole in Fremantle

The Sea, The Sea

Winter is finally upon us here in SW Western Australia, and all right-minded birders turn their thoughts to the arrival of hordes of petrels and albatross from more southerly climes. So it was on Friday that I drove down to Point Peron to indulge in a little seawatching. A cold front was passing over and the winds were forecast to be in the region of 20-25 knots.

For those people who don’t know, seawatching is just that - spending hours just staring at the waves, imagining what fantastic species might fly past (but never do!). Sean Dooley in his book “Anoraks to Zitting Cisticola” defines seawatching as “trekking out to an exposed spot on the coast… and sitting for hours as you scan the oceans for any birds that fly past; the worse the weather the better, as deep ocean species are more likely to be blown towards the shore”.

So what did I see on my seawatch?  First I have to explain to you that the south-western Indian Ocean must surely be the worst seawatching spot there is (if you know better, then please tell me, not that I’ll believe you).  This is made worse because just around the corner (literally) is the Southern Ocean, which has albatross and petrels galore. But given that it’s a five hour drive to get down there, that is not a viable option, so I’m stuck with Perth.


Those were the days.........