We have had a cold and pretty wet winter in southern Victoria and it certainly doesn't feel like Spring yet. However I did manage to enjoy a beach walk to see Phillip Island's Rhyll Inlet at the weekend. This was in the late afternoon light during an hour or two of sunny and still conditions. I made my way to Observation Point and made these .... well .... observations!
In the breeding season, a pair of Pied oystercatchers generally hang around east of Silverleaves. I tried hard to get some background in this shot. It shows French Island on the other side of a very calm Westernport Bay. The hills behind Grantville form the distant horizon.
Clicking for the enlarged view reveals Pied oystercatcher Red Flag 5E
Two endangered Hooded plover have paired off once again at the eastern end of Silverleaves beach. Meet current local "Orange Flag PW above Silver band"
Among the fascinations for me is the anticipation of what shorebirds will be present at the sandy spit that is Observation Point. Here are a few Curlew sandpiper among the Red-necked stint. In the foreground is an out of focus Red-capped plover
Red-necked stint
A Double-banded plover in full bleeding plumage always stands out in the crowd! "Shouldn't you be in New Zealand?"
I am always on the lookout for Godwits, Whimbrel and Eastern curlew. Three Eastern curlew arrived while I was watching but I saw no Godwits which I found unusual. There was more than the usual number of ducks and I had some difficulty sorting the species as they kept their distance. I was impressed with the number of Australian shoveler, a species I generally don't see a lot of.
Eastern curlew, the hills between San Remo and Anderson in the background.
Several Australasian shoveler amongst the Grey and Chestnut teal. It might be worth a click for the enlarged view as the male shovelers have an amazing colour scheme.
Great cormorant are generally outnumbered by Pied cormorant at Observation Point
This Australian pelican flew low across the surface of the water for at least 100m! I love watching that. It seems to be heading towards San Remo where the pelicans get fed each morning
My happy shadow - Observation Point at high tide (iPhone panorama). Westernport Bay to the left, Rhyll Inlet to the right
The return trek - I'm about to get wet and painfully cold feet!! All worth it!
It's not often you see the terms "family holiday" and "pellagic cruise" together unless you are saying something like:
"Pete and Kath's relationship never really recovered from the infamous pellagic-cruise family-holiday incident"
White-capped albatross (or Shy albatross depending on which guide you are using), 15 April 2014
There are cruises run from Adventure Bay on Tasmania's Bruny Island by Pennicott Wilderness Journeys marketing spectacular scenery and the exhilaration of moving in powerful boats close to blow holes and sea tunnels. The opportunity to see wildlife such as seals, dolphins, whales and, yes, birds is also advertised.
On our stay at Bruny with our double-family group of nine (a few proclaiming definite sea sickness tendencies) I knew that the possibility of orchestrating a boat trip in the open sea were not great. This was April this year.
Well the pictures tell the story of a calm, mostly sunny day and an exhilarating and memorable trip! Entertaining guides (perhaps a little crazy!), no sea-sickness and an exciting boat ride had everyone happy.
Buller's albatross
One of each of the albatross species with a Silver gull for good measure
Crested tern
One of the roosting Black-faced cormorants shown above
Sooty oystercatcher
Great cormorant
Seal colony at The Friars
What are the chances of another moment in my life that I may photograph a dolphin and albatross in the same shot?
If you're curious to know more here's a 2 minute home movie with our experience of the cruise (you'll find many more on youtube including some professionally shot films commissioned by the company -this and more at the Pennicott Wilderness Journeys website)
'Traveled with Richard and nephew Moses to Cat Bay at the weekend which is reportedly a haunt for Black-faced cormorant. Unlike the other cormorants we see in Australia this fellow sticks to the coast and offshore islands of southern Australia. As a result, it is a cormorant that one has to go and look for rather than encounter incidentally. Having said that it is my experience that they are extremely sedentary - returning to a previous black-faced haunt is generally successful.
Black-faced cormorant Phalacrocorax fuscescens
This particular haunt is Flynn's Beach at Phillip Island's Cat Bay. It is easy to see the remains of an old jetty looking NE from the Cat Bay car park and on it there are often cormorants. I understand the jetty was built to unload passengers visiting a Phillip Island resort lodge in the days before the large bridge at San Remo. Guests would stay at the lodge and be taken to see the nightly arrival of a colony of Little penguin Eudyptula minor. This event is now promoted internationally as the famed Penguin Parade.
With binoculars check from the car park for the presence of cormorants and then enjoy the beach walk. The old jetty pylons may be approached from the Cat Bay or Flynn's Beach car parks. There is also an unmarked management track that leads from the main road opposite the Penguin Parade buildings. This is hard to find but leads straight to the pylons.
Black-faced cormorant, Flynn's Beach, Phillip Island
One of those iphone panorama shots (markedly exaggerating the curve of the bay)
Seven Black-faced cormorants - also a Great cormorant (top right) and a Little pied cormorant (middle right)
Comparison view Black-faced and Great cormorant
Little pied coromorant
On this occasion we did approach from the dune lending this initial view of the scene:
The birds were quite relaxed with our presence, only the Great cormorant flew off. I have found another reliable place for Black-faced cormorant is the Port Fairy's Moyne River rocky breakwater. Again the bird tolerated very close inspection:
Black-faced cormorant, Port Fairy
Perhaps not so endearing close-up but generally the striking pied look with brilliant white and no other colour makes for a generally handsome cormorant ("no other colour" except for that piercing green-blue eye)!
