Thanks to the slow moving ex-cyclone Oswald (which has still to reach the Brisbane area) I had an exciting seawatch off Pt Lookout yesterday (Saturday). The weather was, predictably and obviously, wild, wild, wild – east north easterlies 30-35 knots, I’d estimate, gusting at times to 45 knots. Easing a little after midday. Rain storms off the coast pushed the birds quite close at times enabling relatively easy identification.
Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were the dominant bird – 800 -1200 per hour based on general estimates and several 15 minute counts. Fluttering Shearwater 8 – undoubtedly missed many more. Hutton’s Shearwater 1 Sooty Shearwater 1 Short-tailed Shearwater 1 – undoubedly missed others, but would suggest they were in very small numbers anyway. Buller’s Shearwater 4 Streaked Shearwater 1 Black-winged Petrel 2 White-necked Petrel 6 – could easily have missed more of both sp – these were all well within scope range and readily identifable. Sooty Tern 27 – again undoubedly missed others, most usually seen as an adult and juvenile pair. Pomarine Skua 2 Arctic Skua 1
