Hi all I spent about 2hrs at Long Reef, northern Sydney, this morning from 6:30 to 8:30, mostly to see if anything interesting was offshore with the strong South-Easterly blowing. Lots of Gannets were seen and about 25 Wedge Tailed Shearwaters working their way south (so the one seen on last Saturday’s Sydney Pelagic was not that far ahead of his brethren). Quite a few Albatross – mostly Black Browed but some Yellow Nosed, and one Wandering and one Shy came in very close while I was on the reef itself (and several more further out too). Also further out was a steady southbound stream of Fluttering (Type) Shearwaters – mostly in 2s and 3s, but every so often in a bigger wheeling pack. Several Brown Skuas were also seen, and a long way out a possible Cape Petrel heading north, so I lost it as it passed in front of the sun. On the Reef itself, it was very quiet, with 11 Sooty Oystercatchers, 4 Turnstones, 2 White Faced Herons and 1 Pelican of note. The latter was right at the end, but I think it was there for possible fish offerings from the rock fishermen. I couldn’t find the smaller waders – I thought they may have been snugged in amongst the rocks on the south side to shelter from the breeze, but as the tide pushed into and flooded that area nothing small came out, so I wonder where they have gone to escape the wind? Lots of Ravens on the reef and the headland – upwards of 40 (although hard to count as they were wheeling about all over the place), plus the regular Kestrel 2 pipits and wattlebirds. Cheers Tom Wilson
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