Cape Gannet at Portland

Hi all, I have just got home from watching the cape Gannet that Ruth and Paul found. Access is easy as far as the main car park at the end of the road. Turn off to Point Danger and drive under the huge metal pipe going to the refinery. About 500 m past the pipe is an intersection with an arrow saying “Gannets”. Take that road and go down to the carpark; this section is ok for 2 wheel drive cars. Past the car park, 4X4 of Subaru size or more is required for the last 500 metres to the viewing platform. The road is flooded so keep to the right of the track going in (left coming out obviously), especially at the second puddle, or you may fall in a deep tyre hole and spoil your whole visit. There was a little Ford Focus bogged in it when I went in this morning but luckily a big Nissan Patrol pulled it out just as I got there. If you don’t want to drive the last 500 metres leave your car at the car park then walk the track and get your feet a bit wet or walk down a mown track that leads from the ocean side of the car park. When the bird is there it is easily seen from the viewing platform with a scope. It is too far away for just binoculars. I watched it mating with an Aus Gannet so it may stick around for a while. They seem to be setting up home on the extreme left and closest to you, when looking from the viewing platform, and it is very obvious – it has an all black tail and even when preening the gular strip is very obvious. Sadly the birds on the rookery all seem to face west, into the wind, so you may have to watch for a while until it turns its head. Find the all black tail first. Oh, and don’t worry that you can’t see the birds on the right side of the colony from the platform, I doubt it will be there. As Paul said it seems that the non-brooding birds go fishing first thing in the morning and start returning at about mid day so an early arrival is not necessary. If the bird is not there when you arrive you may just have to wait until it has finished eating. Talking of eating, Mac’s Hotel is where we stay for pelagics. They have not expensive motel rooms out back and very yummy meals. Rooms in the main hotel part are expensive. Here is a bit of a diagram that may or may not work. The “X” are Aus Gannets, all mainly sitting on nests. “CG” is where the CG hangs out. Cliff edge and Ocean XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX X CG XXXXX No birds, just bare ground Fence near birds Scrub Fence with locked gate Car park Viewing platform Oh, and bristlebirds were bouncing around and calling when I was there at 0800 this morning. I will put some photos on my blog after I finally wake up tomorrow, it has been a long weekend. My thanks to Chris Lester for organising the pelagic which, as usual was great fun. Cheers Jenny http://jenniferspryausbirding.blogspot.com.au/ =============================== 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 ===============================