Sunday 28 January 2018

THE ELUSIVE WHITE-NECKED PETREL

Oh, dear.  Recently I was lamenting the fact that I'd dipped on Black-eared Catbirds after four trips to Iron Range - two of which had the sole purpose of looking for catbirds.  Now I am bemoaning the fact that I've dipped on White-necked Petrels.  Again.

I have looked for White-necked Petrels every summer since 2008.  I've been to Wollongong on six occasions, Port Stephens twice, Southport twice and this was my third trip to Kiama.  In addition to this, four boat trips I've booked on for the sole purpose of admiring White-necked Petrels, have been cancelled.
Wedge-tailed Shearwater, photo by Brook Whylie

We had a pleasant day out of Kiama on Saturday 27 January 2018.  The weather was perfect, the sea was calm, the company was great, but there were no exciting birds.  For me, the best bird of the trip was the bulbul I saw sitting on electricity wires on the way to the boat.  A White-tailed Tropicbird was probably the most unusual sighting we had.  It flew low over the boat, giving good views.  The only jaegers we saw were Pomarines, and I think there were about half a dozen of them.  We saw six species of shearwater:  the most common was Wedge-tailed, then Flesh-footed, with just one or two Short-tailed and Sooty.  We had exceptionally good views of both Fluttering and Hutton's and what was most unusual was they were close enough even for me to tell the difference.
Fluttering Shearwater, photo by Brook Whylie


Hutton's Shearwater, photo by Brook Whylie

Naturally, a White-necked Petrel was seen out of Southport the day after I didn't see one out of Kiama.  All I can do is keep my fingers crossed for February.

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