A MEGA Twitch or "Once more onto the beach, dear friends, ..."*

White-rumped Sandpiper, the bird that said we just HAD to go on the twitch

On Monday 5th of January two postings on the local birding site got all the local twitchers edgy. A White-rumped Sandpiper had been seen on a beach near Shoalhaven, south of Sydney and a South Island Pied Oystercatcher (SIPO) had been seen on a beach near Coff's Harbour, North of Sydney. The oystercatcher is from New Zealand and they turn up in Australia with some regularity.

South Island Pied Oystercatcher

The sandpiper is a different case altogether. It breeds in the arctic and then flies down the west coast of Canada and the USA to spend the northern winter in the south of South America. Somehow this bird got mixed with the wrong flock, or got her/his directions mixed, or maybe just wanted to go exploring. Whichever, he/she ended up in Australia instead of South America. Because there have only been a few, maybe 6 or 7, White-rumped Sandpipers found in Australia the twitcher network went crazy.

Joy's photo of me peering down the beach. We found the SIPO at the far end

Joy and I read the postings, called Barb, and the "game was afoot"*. The earliest we could leave was Saturday so it was a long week hoping that both birds would hang around. I watched the twitching sites for reports of the sandpiper daily, well, no, hourly actually, well, OK, every 5 or ten minutes. People were driving in, flying in, organising groups to go carpooling. People started posting photos of the sandpiper and giving updates. Then it disappeared from the beach it had been found on! aaargh, we would miss seeing it. Then it was re-found at a Little Tern nesting colony beside a lake south of Shoalhaven, aaah, there was still hope.

Inside our 20th century plane.

We booked a loop trip; Melbourne to Coff's Harbour via Sydney, Shoalhaven via Sydney and then back to Melb. We rendezvoused at Joy's on Friday night and left for the airport at 0400 Saturday morning. The flight to Sydney was by your standard 21^st C jet but Sydney to Coff's was in a quaint old thing with a high wing and propellers. This would have been OK but when I looked out the window there was this huge spinning blade, and I immediately had images of a James Bond scenario where the blade would break loose and come scything through the plane, right about where I was sitting. When we came to land the wheels came down and the whole plane shook and shuddered, it was all just so last century (smile).

The view from my seat

It looked much more romantic once we were in the air

All went well though and by 1100 we were standing on the beach south of Coff's Harbour looking for the SIPO. The day was warm, as it always is in central New South Wales but there was a very strong northerly blowing right down the beach. We started staggering into the wind as sea spray and flying sand blasted into our faces. The spot we were aiming for was 3 km up the beach and we so hoped that the bird was hiding somewhere closer.

The SIPO in a cloud of sand

I set up the scope and peered up the beach into the sand storm. Nothing. A kilometre further north and I tried again. Still nothing. We kept walking and finally saw a small black dot. I set the scope up and through the fog of sand I could see three bird-sized black dots. Yes!! it was starting to look good. After a bit more walking I tried the scope again and .... two of the dots were driftwood but one was a bird, an oystercatcher. But was it an Australian oystercatcher or a New Zealand one?

We got closer and took a few photos and it looked good for the SIPO. We then moved closer again and up to the top of the beach by the bushes so we were less visible. The sand blasted us and the bird turned and looked at us. It then took off and flew for maybe 50 metres up the beach and we got a good view of the open wing. All the marks were good for SIPO. Yes!! Tick one for the trip.

It was Barb's 750th Australian species so she was particularly pleased

On Sunday morning we were on the 0600 flight out of Coff's heading for Shoalhaven via Sydney, well actually Culburra Beach and Lake Wollumboula, just south of Shoalhaven. The departure lounge at Coff's was as much fun as the flight in the little plane had been. We walked in and there it was, the Biggles coffee shop. This wasn't just 20^th C, it was early 20^th C. I loved it. We walked out to the plane and up the stairs and the door closed. I was sure I then heard a call from the cockpit, "chocks away Algy", but maybe not. One excellent thing though was that we flew so low I got nice photos of Tucker Rocks and Bundagen Headland where we had seen the SIPO.

Bundagen Headland. We walked 3 km along the beach to the right

After driving from Sydney in heavy rain and fog we arrived at the sandpiper lake at about 1100 and the experience was very different to the SIPO experience. As we got out of the car a birder was loading his scope into the boot of his car. "Hi" we said, "is the bird still here". No need to name the bird, there was only one that birders wanted to see. "Yes", he said, "there's a group watching it now". We walked for about a kilometre in a light drizzle of rain but thankfully not much wind, and there were the people, and there was "the bird". I set the scope up, pointed it at a bird huddled behind a bit of seaweed and, Tick Two. The MEGA was in the bag.

WRSP with Red-necked Stints

WRSP and Little Tern

WRSP and Lesser Sand Plover

WRSP

The rain stopped and shafts of sunlight lit the black clouds and grey lake. We chatted to people as they came and went. We took hundreds of photos. We chatted to more people. We took more photos of the other waders at the lake. Without a doubt there was a greater variety of small wader species than I had seen in many years; there were Broad-billed Sandpipers, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Curlew Sandpipers, Red-knots, Lesser Sand Plovers and Red-necked Stints. The thrill of seeing this bird, rare to Australia, held us and the others on the beach despite the showers of rain that drifted through.

Lesser (Mongolian) Sand Plover

The beach and Little Tern nesting area

Little Terns

The Little Terns had almost finished nesting inside their fenced-off reserve but they and the Crested Terns were still around in big numbers. 

Little Terns inside their fenced off nesting area

We finally drifted off to clean up at our motel and head to a little cafe for a late lunch. The Ten Thousand Tastebuds Cafe is only small but it had the best food and is well worth going to if you are in town looking for "the bird". Best of all, they knew about the sandpiper and didn't think we were totally strange as we sat there eating sandwiches and raving about a non-descript little brown bird that had somehow got lost and flown half way round the world, the wrong way.

Red Knot

Broad-billed Sandpipers

Broad-billed Sandpipers and Red-necked Stint

Red Knots and Red-necked Sandpipers

In just two days of frantic travelling and birding we had ticked off two new birds, seen a lot of NSW birds that we don't get around Melbourne, met a bunch of wonderful people and had a really fun time. What a gorgeous way to spend a weekend.

Red-necked Stints

Water Dragon, just to show that we look at things other than birds (smile)

Water dragon

*With apologies to the bard and King Henry V, or Sherlock Holmes, and modified to suit (smile)

All text and images © Jenny Spry

New Year's Day 2015

It's nice to start each year with a special bird so, as I got in the car at 7 am and headed to the Western Treatment Plant (WTP), I tried very hard not to look at any birds. Then an Indian Myna, one of Australia's worst environmental bird pests, sometimes known "lovingly" as flying rats, flew straight in front of the car and I couldn't help but see it, sigh. Ah well, the year had to start with something in its normal habitat, a suburban (smile).

Indian Myna in its normal habitat, a suburban street

It is also nice to start the year with friends and our champagne picnic at the WTP with Joy T, Mel and Joy S has now been going long enough to be a tradition to look forward to. And like last year, unexpected friends joined us. This year Annette and Mark stopped by our spot that looks out over the coastal marshland - that is full of often heard, but rarely seen, crakes and rails - and made us six. Perhaps next year it will be eight (smile).

Unlike last year, the sun came out for us and the wind didn't blow, so we sat back and chatted about 2014 and dreamt of trips for 2015 knowing that the birds and weather will conspire to thwart many of our plans. For example on Friday and Saturday, 2^nd and 3^rd of January, the temp got over 38º C (100º F) in Melbourne and higher on the drying salt lake where the dowitcher is hanging out. Joy and I were going to drive north-west for a second look at the Long-billed Dowitcher, as well as chase up some arid country birds but we decided against it, maybe we are getting old (smile). On Saturday the heat came with gale force northerlies and the effect is similar to standing in front of a blast furnace with its door open. If we had been with the dowitcher, stinging sand and salt would have been added to the mix. Not fun birding.

Pectoral Sandpiper with very worn feathers

One uncommon bird seen on Jan 1^st 2014 was seen again this year, a Pectoral Sandpiper, but the Long-toed Sandpiper and Broad-billed Sandpiper we had last year have either not returned yet or have not been found. This is not surprising as there are tens of thousands of small waders at the plant at the moment and finding one small bird that is only slightly different from all the rest is not easy. It is made harder still when you have patiently worked half way through a flock of thousands only to have a Swamp Harrier go over, and they all take off, re-sort themselves with a whirr of wings, and then land back where they started (smile). But in the end I finished the day with 95 species which is a good number and just a bit down on last year's 104.

Pectoral Sandpiper

So with the temp in the 40s for the last two days I have been computer birding in preparation for 2015. The new diary has been started, the new bird sighting spreadsheet is finished, all the 2014 photos are sorted and stored and many cups of my new favourite green tea, Lung Ching, have been drunk. Maybe this week, when the forecast is better, I will head west and see if I can find a Painted Honeyeater, and so the pleasure of being in the bush and finding birds will continue for another year.

Horsfeld's Bushlark

Happy New Year everyone, stay well and I hope you see lots of birds and don't dip on too many.

Crested Pigeon

Buff-banded Rail

All text & images © Jenny Spry

Britannia Seamount Trip

Black Petrel, and what a beautiful bird. It might be my new most favourite pelagic bird (smile)

When one travels 200 km offshore for three nights, pelagic sea-birding can become an extreme sport. An extreme sport needs extreme equipment and the motor yacht Phoenix One certainly fits the description of "extreme equipment" (smile).

Our destination. Thanks to Google Earth

I heard about a trip to the Britannia Seamounts in early October and I was in a state of excited anticipation from the moment I got the invitation. A trip to the Seamounts in December is a first ever. There maybe nothing special out there or there may be something entirely new to Australia. The first trip to the seamounts was in April 2012 and the second was in April 2014 and on both those trips a new storm-petrel was seen and, as yet it has not been determined exactly what it is; it could be a new species or one that hasn't been seen in 150 years, a Lined Storm-petrel.

Mystery Storm-petrel. Photo taken in 2012

A trip in December may get us another look or maybe it will get us just a list of birds commonly seen off Brisbane. And so, on the eve of my departure from Melbourne I can feel the anticipation that comes before a major pelagic trip, and the fear linked to the condition called Pelagicdipphobia, the fear that I wont actually get on the boat, that the plane will be late, that a big storm will materialise from nowhere, etc etc, and all the other irrational fears.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Phoenix One. 

Well, the plane wasn't late, Paul & Ruth gave me a ride to the boat and the boat actually left a bit early. The trip started with a tour of the boat and being shown to our cabins. Mine was a twin share and we had our own bathroom with shower and toilet. The bathroom had green marble tiles and all the cabins, including the main cabin, had white carpet. Very nice. We sailed at about 8 pm and I was in bed by 9 pm so I could be up and ready at first light. We cruised through the night and when I awoke on Tuesday morning the sun wasn't up but a few of the other birders were.

Birding from the top deck

Cutting berley from the rear deck

Out on deck I joined the others scanning for birds. There were 3 or 4 possible new birds for me but the one I really wanted was black Petrel. It is not the most uncommon of birds but I had missed it on 3 previous trips. After about 1/2 an hour the sun was up and a golden light spread across the water and then, into that golden light flew a Black Petrel. It was my first bird for the trip and it was a TICK! Yeaah!

White-chinned Petrel in the early morning light. 

After that the bird numbers grew and in came Great-wing Petrel, Black-winged Petrels and the first of many Flesh-footed Shearwaters. Then there was a distraction, the smell of fresh espresso coffee. The trip was getting harder by the moment.

Birds feeding on the berley behind the boat.

Great-winged Petrel. The amount of white on the face varies from bird to bird

The next excitement was when a Long-tailed Jaeger came powering in and started harassing the Great-winged Petrels and we were given an exhibition of power flying by both birds. I soon got repeat views of Black Petrels as 2 or 3 new ones arrived at the slick and then a surprise bird from way down south appeared, a White-chinned Petrel. They are common off Victoria where I do most of my pelagic trips but the Queenslanders got quite excited as it was an uncommon bird in their waters.

Long-tailed Jaeger harassing a Great-winged Petrel

Long-tailed Jaeger

Then about 1/2 an hour later, at about 1030 the next southern visitor arrived, a Wandering Albatross, race gibsoni, flew up the slick and stayed with the boat for some time. About an hour later a second Wandering Albatross appeared and it seemed that there was some sort of pattern developing; three southern birds over the Britannia Seamount in one morning.

Flesh-footed Shearwater

Wandering Albatross

Wandering Albatross

White-chinned Petrel

After this, new arrivals slowed down and we were able to eat our hamburgers for lunch in relative peace. Of course it couldn't last and the excitement rose again as a third Wandering Albatross arrived, this was a definite pattern. But to change the theme our next bird was a land bird, a Cattle Egret in breeding plumage 200 km from the nearest land!

White-chinned Petrel over a Flesh-footed Shearwater

To finish the day off the first of many Tahiti Petrels arrived. By 1800 our concentration started drifting and beers started to appear, then cheese and biscuits to go with them. When dinner arrived we were treated to two fully set dining table and Cape Grim organic steaks, cooked perfectly. After dinner some people sat and partied but I crawled off to bed to be ready for the next day.

Britannia Seamount sunset

The dining table

Cape Grim steak, rare, with salad

Wednesday morning we woke to new conditions. The calm winds and mirror seas had given way to 25 knot northerlies gusting to 30 knots. The Phoenix One was so well fitted with stabilisers that I didn't even realise the wind strength until I got on deck and looked at the seas and blowing white caps. The boat was so steady that I could put my coffee down anywhere and there was no fear of it slopping or tipping over.

Black-winged Petrel

White-faced Petrel and Black-winged Petrel

Gould's Petrel

Gould's Petrel

The first Offshore Bottle-nosed Dolphins arrived at about 0700 and pods of them came and went throughout the day. Then another jaeger arrived along with some Kermadec and Tahiti Petrels and we all scanned for anything new. At 0830 a small flash of white was seen in the wake and it moved off to port and away. I got a few quick photos of what I expected to be a Wilson's Storm Petrel but when I got them on the computer it turned out that there was also a White-bellied Storm Petrel, another unusual bird to find in those waters.

Kermadec Petrel. The plumage on this species is very variable. This is a dark phase bird.

Medium phase

Pale phase

At 0930 the excitement levels rose again as a Gould's Petrel joined the birds feeding behind the boat and stayed long enough for us all to get good looks. This was soon followed by a skua with a very pale neck, another southern bird, a South Polar Skua. This rush of southern birds was quite unexpected and had the Queenslanders all excited. but I wanted northern birds. Sigh, we were having great birding but where were the Polynesian Storm Petrels, the New Zealand Storm Petrels, the Collared Petrels, the new birds for me?

Tahiti Petrel

Black-winged Petrel

Great-winged Petrel

After that things quietened down until lunch time when a White-tailed Tropicbird joined us. It was not a new bird for me but it was a juvenile with lots of black marks on its back and wings. At this age with its black markings, in the distance, it could have been a Red-billed Tropicbird, a tick for me, and I took heaps of photos and hoped ....... but no, just a White-tailed.

White-tailed Tropicbird

Tahiti Petrel

The afternoon went past with no new birds but plenty of wonderful tropical birds to watch, the Kermadecs, the Tahitis, the Black-winged. By 1700 the beers and cheese were out again and a wonderful smell was coming from the galley. Dinner was a roast, no two roasts; ham or lamb or if you wanted, as many did, a mixture of both. Wine and coffee and perusing photos on the laptops provided a gentle close to the trip as we turned for home. My list for the trip totalled 18 pelagic species and one tick. Add that to the fun of doing a pelagic on a luxury motor yacht and the trip turned out to be very special in deed, with thanks to John, Paul and Brian for getting it all set up for us.

The cheese platter served on the top deck

We got off the boat at about 0800 on Thursday, said our good-byes and headed our various ways. A magnificent 3 nights and 2 full days of birding came to and end, without any storms (25 to 30 knots is not a storm, it is good pelagic birding weather, smile) or other problems. The storm did come though. When I got home I heard the Brisbane area was being battered by 40 to 50 knot winds and rain. Now that would have been too rough to be out in!

Off-shore Bottle-nosed Dolphin

Flying Fish

Cattle Egret

An apology. Some sky and water colours have taken on a strange hue somewhere between my computer and google. I have tried to correct it but it is late in the afternoon on New Year's Eve so I have given up.

Happy New Year everyone.

All text & images © Jenny Spry