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.

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 29 July 2012

Participants: Alan Collins (Organiser), John Graff (Organiser), Ron Broomham, Mark Carter, Rose Ferrell, Stewart Ford, Nigel Jackett, Darryl Jones, Dan Mantle, Glen Murray, Graham Palmer, Leif Reidell, Peter Taylor, Roy Teale, Nathan Waugh

Conditions: Conditions for the trip were a little rougher than the Saturday trip, with NE'ly winds around 10knts in the morning, increasing to around 15knts for the return journey. Seas were forecast to be 1.5m, and the swell was forecast to be 2m, increasing to 2.5m through the day. Overhead conditions were fine and sunny for the majority of the trip, though there was cloud and rain away to the SE

Report
Overall this was a disappointing trip for Albany, especially for regular participants. Only 9 pelagic species were recorded, with no unusual sightings, and it proved difficult to bring any birds in behind the boat. The highlight was another sighting of Orcas (Killer Whales), following on from the sighting on the Saturday trip, though the views were not as good on this occasion.

Great-winged Petrel. Photo courtesy Dan Mantle.

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 28 July 2012

Participants: Alan Collins (Organiser), John Graff (Organiser), Prue Anderson, Ron Broomham, Martin Cake, Stewart Ford, Nigel Jackett, Liz King, Richard King, Dan Mantle, Robyn Pickering, Jon Pridham, Roy Teale, Nathan Waugh, Gavin White

Conditions: Conditions on the day were relatively calm, with winds less than 10knts all day. Seas were forecast to be less than 1m and swell was forecast to be 1.5-2m. Overhead conditions were mostly overcast, with significant shower (occasionally heavy) activity offshore in the morning

Report
Overall this was an average Albany trip, with 11 pelagic species recorded, and most of the expected species making an appearance. However, no Wandering Albatross were seen for the second Albany pelagic weekend running, and there were no unusual sightings. The highlight of the trip was a group of Orcas (Killer Whales), which showed quite well at our second stop – these represent the first record for WA pelagics.

'Type A' Orcas off Albany- note the shape of eyepatch for type identification. Photo courtesy Dan Mantle.

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.

Victoria Dam: Perth's Hidden Endemic Hotspot

For years, visiting twitchers in a hurry to see some South-west endemics have headed out on Albany Highway in solemn pilgrimage to Wungong Gorge. While many have no doubt succeeded (though recently it has been less reliable for Red-eared Firetail), Wungong is to be honest a fairly dismal place, heavily degraded with weed growth (not to mention the occasional seedy characters hanging round the toilet block!). Well, allow Leeuwin Current Birding to reveal our preferred one-stop-shop for all the local endemics: Victoria Dam (alternatively known as Victoria Reservoir).

Victoria Dam is reached by an access road signposted off Masonmill Rd, a short loop road off Canning Rd in Carmel. A short distance along the access road, you reach a boom gate with a carpark on the right .On weekends, the boom gate is closed, so you have to park in this carpark and walk the rest of the way along the access road (about 1km each way). When the first gate is open, you can drive further along the access road until you reach another boom gate, with a second carpark on the left. The road is no public access (by car or on foot) from this point on as it’s the ranger’s residence, so you need to park here.  There is a walk trail leading downhill from this carpark to the base of the dam wall (see map below). This trail passes through an area of nice marri/jarrah forest, past a small patch of wandoo, and onto a set of wooden steps that lead down to the top of the dam wall (Perth city is visible in the distance from the top of the steps, framed by the sides of the valley). From the top of the dam, you can follow a bitumen road down to the base of the dam wall, where there is a grassed picnic area and toilets. Thickets of ti-tree and Calothamnus beneath the dam wall, and thick vegetation along the creekline, provide dense cover for some of south-west WA’s more secretive, gully-loving bird species.

A female Western Spinebill, one of many south-west endemics commonly found at Victoria Dam.

South Polar Skua at Bremer Bay

An intermediate-morph South Polar Skua (Catharacta maccormicki) was observed around the Bremer Bay area over the Easter weekend, from Saturday 7th April 2012 until at least Monday 9th April. Authenticated sightings of this species are extremely rare in Australia, particularly Western Australia, and even these records are typically pelagic or offshore, making this sustained inshore sighting most unusual.

The bird was first seen distantly on the afternoon of 7th April, harassing Crested Terns and Silver Gulls around the rocky point and offshore island east of the Fisheries harbour (end of Swarbrick Rd) at Bremer Bay. Its contrasting pale head and neck, and relatively small size raised suspicions of South Polar Skua, but unfortunately this could not be confirmed before the bird disappeared.

South Polar Skua at Bremer Bay.

Hillarys Pelagic Trip Report - 1 April 2012

Participants (21)
Alan Collins (organiser), Ben Allen, Dimitris Bertzeletos, Steve Burns, Martin Cake, Cheryl Davis, John Graff, Mike Green, Greg Howell, Liz King, Richard King, Louise Little, Wayne Merritt, Clive Nealon, Jenny Preston, Jon Pridham, Mark Stanley, John Vogel, Nathan Waugh, Bruce Wedderburn, Pete White

Conditions
Departed Hillarys Boat Harbour at 7.20am. Returned at 3.45pm.  The forecast was for a partially cloudy day with showers and 10/15 knots W/SW winds increasing to 18/23 knots by early afternoon. Seas were 2m with a swell of 2m.

Description
The highlight of the trip was the large numbers of Streaked Shearwater seen. At least 40 birds were seen very close to the northern shore of Rottnest Island; this species has never been seen in the SW of Western Australia, before this trip the furthest south they had been recorded at sea in WA was just north of Geraldton. Other highlights included prolonged and close views of Wilson’s Storm-Petrels and a couple of very obliging Hutton’s Shearwater.

Streaked Shearwater, Hillarys Pelagic Trip April 2012.

Streaked Shearwaters near Rottnest Island

Streaked Shearwaters are relatively common visitors to waters off northern Australia, but there are few (if any) records from the seas off Perth, and certainly no recent records. Hence it was something of a surprise when the recent pelagic trip organised out of Hillarys Boat Harbour recorded good numbers just north of Rottnest Island. The first birds were recorded c. 12km NNE of Rottnest Island (c. 15km off the mainland) on the outward passage of the boat. Several birds were seen in this area, but no further birds were seen on the outbound journey. However, on the return journey, several more Streaked Shearwaters were recorded c. 8km NW of Rottnest, and larger numbers (probably 20+) 2-5km due N of Rottnest Island. Overall, it was estimated that 40+ birds were recorded on the trip.

A Streaked Shearwater with the Perth skyline in the background, April 2012.



Location of Streaked Shearwater records on April 2012 pelagic. Click here for full Google Map.