Australian Pelagics

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A dip in the ocean

by Andrew Stafford (sponsored by Swarovski)

I SHOULDA known. It was late October, to start with. Any pelagic freak would be nuts to miss an October trip off Southport, or anywhere off our east coast really. Conditions were perfect: a strong La Nina phenomenon, south-east to north-east winds and the Short-tailed Shearwater migration in full swing. It was in almost identical conditions, in 1996, that a Southport pelagic reported no less than 37 Mottled Petrels, as well as Queensland’s second Soft-plumaged Petrel. You just knew this was going to be good.

Aussie birders get together on board a yacht and head into the Southern Ocean ... just to watch seabirds.

So it was no surprise to hear what I’d dipped on later: Mottled Petrel (only the one this time), South Polar Skua, Black Petrel and three Long-tailed Jaegers, the last a surprisingly rare bird off Queensland. A great day’s birding in anyone’s language.

It’s not as if I didn’t have the chance to go. In fact, I had two chances, after the trip was literally blown out of the water by bad weather the&hellip Read more