Dear All I woke early today to see if the winds off SEQ were still strong; they were – it had been blowing 40-50 kts all night and similar late on Saturday. I decided to go to Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island and got the 5.55 ferry and hitched a lift with the local baker to Point Lookout. I was hoping for a White-necked Petrel, Streaked Shearwater or Buller’s Shearwater. A Buller’s Shearwater was seen yesterday off Point Lookout so I had high hopes. The seas were huge and it was difficult to stand on the exposed headland. It was also overcast which is good at this site in the mornings as you look east. I tucked myself in at 7.00am and started sea-watching. It was pretty disappointing to start off with – just Crested terns, a few Common Noddies, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and several Arctic Jaegers. Just before 7.30 I stopped looking down my ‘scope to look around with my bins when a large bird appeared to my right (south-east of the headland) at a distance of c200m – imagine my surprise when I put my bins on a small albatross (in SEQ in the late summer!). As it banked up (heading north) I could clearly see a distinct grey hood and a yellow and black bill. I thought I knew what it was but couldn’t believe my eyes. I quickly got the bird in my telescope and clearly saw an adult Buller’s Albatross (as I’d suspected)! This was based on the hood, the distinctive yellow/ black /yellow bill and the underwing pattern. What on eart h this was doing here in March one will never know – I followed it past Whale Rock as it headed quickly north towards Morton Island. I am very familiar with Buller’s Albatross but I’m not sure what they should be doing in March and where they might be seen in Australian waters at this time of year. I haven’t really studied the recent weather pattens but Qld has had some other odd Albatross records in the last 12 months including a Southern Royal, a Salvins and Light-mantled Sooty. I wonder where this bird came from – up the East Coast or straight across from NZ. I also could not tell which sub-species it was. I stayed another 3 hours waiting for the next rarity. The best I could do was a nice light phase Pomerine Jaeger. cheers
Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
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