Kelp Gulls & Little Penguins, The Nobbies, Phillip Island

While Australia's endemic Pacific gull is the most common large gull seen around Southern Victoria I read that the Kelp gull Larus dominicanus has been moving in on its territory since the 1940s. Kelp gulls breed on many Southern Hemisphere coasts. In Australia they compete with Pacific gull as they share similar habitat, diet and behaviours (including dropping molluscs from a height to smash them).

It was a long time before I started to recognise that not all the large gulls I was seeing were Pacific gulls. I have since become aware that a particular rock stack at The Nobbies on Phillip Island is a popular site for Kelp gull which actually breed there.

Here are some shots taken on a recent dull Saturday.

Kelp gull, The Nobbies, Phillip Island

Kelp Gull, Legs and bill colour much more insipid than Pacific Gull

I wonder who is studying these guys?

Phillip Island is well-known locally for its Little penguin colony. Man-made nesting boxes seem popular at The Nobbies (both for the penguins and interested humans who watch from boardwalks). I think this must be a moulting phase for many penguins as the kids counted some 32 penguins on our visit.

Little penguin, The Nobbies, Phillip Island

"The Nobbies". On the horizon at far left is Seal Rocks …. 

…home to a colony of Australian Fur seals (you can just make the seals out in the above photo)

A Cape Barren Goose begrudgingly left the road as we drove back (iPhone shot from the car window)

Bird on!

Silver gulls breeding colony, The Nobbies

Well all is in readiness for another Silver gull breeding season at The Nobbies on Phillip Island. Last weekend birds looked to be making all the preparations for nesting with some pairs giving the impression they were brooding eggs - no chicks at this stage.

Sorting out territory or who belongs to who, Silver gulls Larus novaehollandiae

Gathering nesting material. The gulls make nests of plant matter in areas of low vegetation.

"Now how does this work?"

Many birds could be seen in obvious pairs, one bird often appearing to be nesting

Some apparently nesting birds seemed to adopt this posture crossing their folded wings

The Nobbies typically hosts around 1000+ nesting seagull pairs at this time of year

These days the nesting area is shared with young families of resurgent Cape Barren Geese

An extremely adaptive bird
(perhaps less so than some humans unable to understand the "Best you don't feed the gulls" sign!)

This Common Copperhead snake is a regular sighting from The Nobbies boardwalks

Sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday

Bird on!

The Nobbies

These few pictures from last weekend capture the breadth of bird-watching experiences available at the Nobbies, Phillip Island.

Firstly the headland's viewing platforms provide some good vantage points for observing birds in flight up at their level and at close range .... perhaps a little too close!

Immature Pacific gull (Larus pacificus)

Then if you have some decent optics you might be able to hazard an educated guess as to what some distant seabirds might be. People see albatross and the like I believe (obviously not in this photo).

Small dark seabirds 500m from shore (as always - click to enlarge). I really have no idea. The island is however Short-tailed shearwater territory at the right time of year. This photo at 3pm, 25 March 2012 (don't they only come close to shore at dusk?)

But while I had my eyes & camera focussed on passing gulls and distant specks normal people engage in the most popular form of bird-watcing at the Nobbies:

Fairy penguin spotting at The Nobbies, 25th March 2012
Little penguin (Eudyptula minor)

The remaining images are from previous years

The Nobbies looking east (C 2004)

There have been several massive breeding seasons of Silver gull in recent years and there has been Crested tern colonies as well.

Silver gull & chicks (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae)

"Son, I'm watching you. Put that cigarette down!" (below) ...

Crested tern (Thalasseus bergii), The Nobbies, 3/1/2011

Crested tern colony, The Nobbies, 3/1/2011