Two Mottled Petrels were seen during the pelagic trip today off Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Short-tailed Shearwaters were in unusually large numbers. More here: http://tinyurl.com/qzkpduw Greg Roberts =============================== 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 ===============================
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5 responses to “Mottled Petrel off Sunshine Coast”
Hi all, Just a comment on this thread about Fleshy-foots. This time last year we also had a dearth of Fleshy-foots off the NSW coast. Off Port Stephens we had just a single bird in October and not one in November. Sydney had one bird in both Oct and Nov and just 2 birds in December. Wollongong had 6 in November but finally by December there was a “many” (100+) recorded (I don’t think they went out in Oct last year). It wasn’t til our January 2013 trip that we had a “reasonable” count of 15 birds and Sydney had 40-odd in Feb. Off Southport there were zero in Oct but then 22 in December. So something was going on with Fleshy-foots last year too. Late arrivals back at Lord Howe? I recall having this convo with someone but can’t recall the theories. Does anyone know what species the “At Lord Howe Island this month, 200 shearwater birds washed up for the first time in many years…” line in The Age article refers to? I’m assuming still Short-tails. It certainly doesn’t explain the lack of Wedge-taileds and as an avid seawatcher off Newcastle I was seeing the regular 100’s/1000’s of Wedgies right up until the Short-taileds arrived and since then I’ve found it very difficult to see a Wedge-tailed from shore whereas normally you’d be very hard-pressed to not see one from Nobby’s. Perhaps they are feeding elsewhere? Fingers crossed we get out of Port Stephens this Sunday to perhaps put another piece into this puzzle. Mick p.s. on that note, there are no vacancies for this Sunday, but I have a couple of spare seats for the 24th of this month – if anyone’s interested contact me off-list. On Monday, 4 November 2013 1:26 PM, Nikolas Haass <nhaass@yahoo.com> wrote: Hi all, Here are some of Raja’s pictures from Greg’s Mooloolaba pelagic and Buckley’s hole on Bribie Island, SE-QLD: http://www.adarman.com/Pelagics/Queensland-Pelagics/2013-November-02-Sunshine/ Cheers, Nikolas —————- Nikolas Haass nhaass@yahoo.com Brisbane, QLD ________________________________ Sent: Saturday, November 2, 2013 6:37 PM Two Mottled Petrels were seen during the pelagic trip today off Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Short-tailed Shearwaters were in unusually large numbers. More here: http://tinyurl.com/qzkpduw Greg Roberts =============================== 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/ =============================== =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi all, Here are some of Raja’s pictures from Greg’s Mooloolaba pelagic and Buckley’s hole on Bribie Island, SE-QLD: http://www.adarman.com/Pelagics/Queensland-Pelagics/2013-November-02-Sunshine/ Cheers, Nikolas —————- Nikolas Haass nhaass@yahoo.com Brisbane, QLD ________________________________ From: Greg Roberts <ninderry@westnet.com.au> Sent: Saturday, November 2, 2013 6:37 PM Two Mottled Petrels were seen during the pelagic trip today off Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Short-tailed Shearwaters were in unusually large numbers. More here: http://tinyurl.com/qzkpduw Greg Roberts =============================== 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 ===============================
I am of course just guessing but it does seem odd to have so few Wedge-tailed and Flesh-footed Shearwaters too. Certainly, something is very different this year. 1000’s of Short-tailed Shearwaters so hungry they were landing on the boat off Sydney on Friday is quite an experience. But as Chris points out there could be a positive spin to this. Perhaps it would be good to find out if there is anything unusual on the breeding grounds? If the shearwaters are starving then how healthy are the less common species? Furthermore where are they right now? Cheers, Tony —–Original Message—– [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au] On Behalf Of Chris Corben Sent: Sunday, 3 November 2013 12:33 AM I have been following the Short-tailed Shearwater story with interest. I love these birds! I certainly bear them no ill-will. But lets face it – if millions didn’t die each year, the planet would soon become covered in them. In reality, that’s not going to happen, because all sorts of things tend to keep populations in check, unless you are like humans, and clever enough to avoid population stability. Every year, millions of STSWs migrate down the east coast of Australia, with the first year birds coming through about now. Every year, huge numbers of them die during this time and end up on beaches, alarming people who don’t understand biology. Some years we see more dead than other years, and some years we see huge wrecks. But what does a wreck mean? There are all sorts of things a wreck could mean. I’ll suggest a few. 1) Recent breeding seasons have been unusually productive 2) They had an extra good time in their wintering range, so there are more than usual still alive now 3) Conditions have resulted in more of them flying where we can see them, so we see more dying 4) They are experiencing very tough conditions and there will be far fewer breeding next season as a result. Of these, only the last is anything to worry about. How do you distinguish between these (and other) possibilities? You need trained biologists who understand population dynamics and the specifics of how they relate to STSWs, and you need them to have access to data collected for meaningful monitoring of the species. Witnessing a wreck is a fascinating, and maybe scary thing, but understanding what it means requires actual science, not knee-jerk reactions. With regard to what Greg and others have noted recently, if there are unusually large numbers present in the near off-shore waters, then you would expect to see unusually large numbers dying. Still doesn’t give any indication of whether or not the mortality is abnormal, or of any consequence to the species. Cheers, Chris. On 11/02/2013 03:37 AM, Greg Roberts wrote: =============================== 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 ===============================
Hi Chris, I do understand and appreciate your comment. I just would like to raise that there is a misunderstanding. 400 Short-tailed Shearwaters during the Mooloolaba pelagic, 219 STSWs during the Southport pelagic, 100s off Sydney and even 5000 off Wollongong are NOT ‘unusually large numbers’ in general. Unusual was: (1) The behaviour of the Short-tailed Shearwaters, which were very hungry and remained around the boats eating as much chum as they could. So, there were ‘unusually large numbers’ near the boats only. Normally (in other years) we get similar or mostly higher numbers streaming south in flocks and not stopping for our chum. This confirms that lots of STSWs are starving and eventually dying. I agree that this doesn’t tell us much about the cause of the wreck. (2) The numbers of Wedge-tailed and Flesh-footed Shearwaters were unusually low on all mentioned east coast pelagics. This may indicate that something strange is going on out there. I agree, that professional population dynamic studies need to be undertaken to find out, which of the four factors mentioned by you in your e-mail below caused this year’s large wreck. But I also believe, that the ‘snapshot’ data from our pelagics (especially the combination of starving/dying STSWs and the lack of WTSWs and FFSWs) could add some descriptive information to the population dynamic data that may be generated or maybe even trigger new population dynamic studies, which can be significantly delayed due to the fact that funding needs to be applied for. Best wishes, Nikolas —————- Nikolas Haass nhaass@yahoo.com Brisbane, QLD ________________________________ From: Chris Corben <cjcorben@hoarybat.com> Sent: Saturday, November 2, 2013 11:32 PM I have been following the Short-tailed Shearwater story with interest. I love these birds! I certainly bear them no ill-will. But lets face it – if millions didn’t die each year, the planet would soon become covered in them. In reality, that’s not going to happen, because all sorts of things tend to keep populations in check, unless you are like humans, and clever enough to avoid population stability. Every year, millions of STSWs migrate down the east coast of Australia, with the first year birds coming through about now. Every year, huge numbers of them die during this time and end up on beaches, alarming people who don’t understand biology. Some years we see more dead than other years, and some years we see huge wrecks. But what does a wreck mean? There are all sorts of things a wreck could mean. I’ll suggest a few. 1) Recent breeding seasons have been unusually productive 2) They had an extra good time in their wintering range, so there are more than usual still alive now 3) Conditions have resulted in more of them flying where we can see them, so we see more dying 4) They are experiencing very tough conditions and there will be far fewer breeding next season as a result. Of these, only the last is anything to worry about. How do you distinguish between these (and other) possibilities? You need trained biologists who understand population dynamics and the specifics of how they relate to STSWs, and you need them to have access to data collected for meaningful monitoring of the species. Witnessing a wreck is a fascinating, and maybe scary thing, but understanding what it means requires actual science, not knee-jerk reactions. With regard to what Greg and others have noted recently, if there are unusually large numbers present in the near off-shore waters, then you would expect to see unusually large numbers dying. Still doesn’t give any indication of whether or not the mortality is abnormal, or of any consequence to the species. Cheers, Chris. On 11/02/2013 03:37 AM, Greg Roberts wrote: =============================== 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 ===============================
I have been following the Short-tailed Shearwater story with interest. I love these birds! I certainly bear them no ill-will. But lets face it – if millions didn’t die each year, the planet would soon become covered in them. In reality, that’s not going to happen, because all sorts of things tend to keep populations in check, unless you are like humans, and clever enough to avoid population stability. Every year, millions of STSWs migrate down the east coast of Australia, with the first year birds coming through about now. Every year, huge numbers of them die during this time and end up on beaches, alarming people who don’t understand biology. Some years we see more dead than other years, and some years we see huge wrecks. But what does a wreck mean? There are all sorts of things a wreck could mean. I’ll suggest a few. 1) Recent breeding seasons have been unusually productive 2) They had an extra good time in their wintering range, so there are more than usual still alive now 3) Conditions have resulted in more of them flying where we can see them, so we see more dying 4) They are experiencing very tough conditions and there will be far fewer breeding next season as a result. Of these, only the last is anything to worry about. How do you distinguish between these (and other) possibilities? You need trained biologists who understand population dynamics and the specifics of how they relate to STSWs, and you need them to have access to data collected for meaningful monitoring of the species. Witnessing a wreck is a fascinating, and maybe scary thing, but understanding what it means requires actual science, not knee-jerk reactions. With regard to what Greg and others have noted recently, if there are unusually large numbers present in the near off-shore waters, then you would expect to see unusually large numbers dying. Still doesn’t give any indication of whether or not the mortality is abnormal, or of any consequence to the species. Cheers, Chris. On 11/02/2013 03:37 AM, Greg Roberts wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================