Around midday yesterday an Eastern Grass Owl was watched quartering over the tussock grassland on Tortoise Head, French Island, which is in Westernport Bay, Victoria, by Ken Harris and his survey team. For more information phone Chris Chandler on 0407 705450.
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136 ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Nikolas, you could well be right. As I said my initial impression was a bird larger than a Silver Gull – towards Kelp Gull size. Unfortunately it was as the bird passed over and us and started heading away that I noticed that it wasn’t one of “our gulls” – I got the distinct sense of a red or reddish bill, but didn’t really get a sense of the size. Stony Point jetty is fenced for pedestrians, so we couldn’t chase it – and we had already packed our cameras away to offer them some protection from the rain. Once we got to our car, the bird had vanished, but on driving out we kept an eye open for it, without luck.
The plumage was very crisp and clean – no mottling, and the cap was full and dark. As for the tips of the tail feathers, my impression was that the tips were white and the top of the tail became darker (or perhaps had a dark band), but the view we had was not for any great length of time and I could easily have been tricked by the light.
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
Sent: Sunday, 7 July 2013 7:47 PM Cc: birding-aus@vicnet.net.au
Hi Paul,
What do you mean with ‘white tips to the tail’ in a bird with a white tail? Was this a typo and you were referring to white mirrors in the primary tips?
Otherwise, why wasn’t it a Laughing Gull, which would also fit the size impression better? What bout the size and shape of the bill?
Cheers,
Nikolas
Hi Paul, What do you mean with ‘white tips to the tail’ in a bird with a white tail? Was this a typo and you were referring to white mirrors in the primary tips? Otherwise, why wasn’t it a Laughing Gull, which would also fit the size impression better? What bout the size and shape of the bill? Cheers, Nikolas —————- Nikolas Haass nhaass@yahoo.com Brisbane, QLD ________________________________ From: Paul Dodd < paul@angrybluecat.com> Cc: birding-aus@vicnet.net.au Sent: Sunday, July 7, 2013 7:33 PM Just an update to this. We caught the ferry from French Island around 4:30pm as the weather was turning. We arrived at Stony Point jetty around 5:00pm and were walking slowly along the jetty to our car when a gull flew over – heading north towards Hastings. The gull had a full black hood, reddish colour to the bill and what appeared to be white tips to the tail. My initial impression was that it was larger than a Silver Gull – heading towards Kelp Gull size – but I could easily have been mistaken about the size as the gull was flying alone. On reviewing the images of Franklin’s Gull in “Gulls of the Americas” and also by doing a Google search, I am positive that the gull was a full adult – probably in or near breeding plumage – Franklin’s Gull. If anyone is in the area it may pay to have a bit of a look for it. Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, 7 July 2013 4:13 PM Cc: < birding-aus@vicnet.net.au> Mike and others, Ruth and I have spent most of the day at Tortoise Head, but no luck. Tortoise Head is a wonderful place and we’ve had no shortage of Black-shouldered Kites, Nankeen Kestrels, Wedge-tailed Eagles and White-bellied Sea Eagles. There were a few waders – RM Stints, RC Plovers and a pair of Double-banded Plovers. A lovely day but we were ultimately defeated by rain and mosquitos! Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria Sent from my iPhone On 07/07/2013, at 10:45 AM, “Mike Carter” < pterodroma@bigpond.com> wrote: the tussock grassland on Tortoise Head, French Island, which is in Westernport Bay, Victoria, by Ken Harris and his survey team. For more information phone Chris Chandler on 0407 705450. =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org =============================== =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Just an update to this. We caught the ferry from French Island around 4:30pm as the weather was turning. We arrived at Stony Point jetty around 5:00pm and were walking slowly along the jetty to our car when a gull flew over – heading north towards Hastings. The gull had a full black hood, reddish colour to the bill and what appeared to be white tips to the tail. My initial impression was that it was larger than a Silver Gull – heading towards Kelp Gull size – but I could easily have been mistaken about the size as the gull was flying alone. On reviewing the images of Franklin’s Gull in “Gulls of the Americas” and also by doing a Google search, I am positive that the gull was a full adult – probably in or near breeding plumage – Franklin’s Gull. If anyone is in the area it may pay to have a bit of a look for it.
Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria
Mike and others,
Ruth and I have spent most of the day at Tortoise Head, but no luck. Tortoise Head is a wonderful place and we’ve had no shortage of Black-shouldered Kites, Nankeen Kestrels, Wedge-tailed Eagles and White-bellied Sea Eagles. There were a few waders – RM Stints, RC Plovers and a pair of Double-banded Plovers. A lovely day but we were ultimately defeated by rain and mosquitos!
Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria
Sent from my iPhone
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================