TOWER HILL AND PORT FAIRY

Yesterday I enjoyed a very pleasant pelagic out of Port Fairy. This was the first time I'd been out on the new big boat, the Southern Explorer.

I had expected some big swells, perhaps some rain, and certainly cold winds with lots of seaspray. As it turned out, the seas were calm, the weather benign. I listed 17 species of birds out at sea, but I dipped on one Flesh-footed Shearwater that flew past in a hurry. I was a little disappointed we didn't see more storm petrels - I love these dainty little ballerinas. I saw just three storm petrels, all Wilson's. And the only prions we saw were Fairy Prions. There weren't big numbers of them either, but some came quite close to the boat. There were no diving petrels and just two Little Penguins. Naturally there were Silver Gulls and Greater Crested Terns, and, when we were nearly back at port at the end of the day, just one Common Tern. And those elegant creatures, Australasian Gannets, graced us with their presence throughout the day.

What there were a lot of were Shy Albatrosses. And they were not shy. We must have seen hundreds throughout the day, gliding, taking berleigh or just sitting beside the boat, seeming to enjoy being admired. Just one Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross flew past quickly, unfortunately missed by many people on the boat. And there just a handful of great albatrosses: two or three Southern Royal and one Wandering. Everyone is impressed by a great albatross. Their sheer size is breath-taking. This photo was taken by Ken Haines.

I thought there were surprisingly few Short-tailed Shearwaters, given we were in Port Fairy in November. I saw one Sooty Shearwater, but I'm told there were more. I'm not sure how many Northern Giant Petrels there were (no Southern), I only saw one at a time, so it is possible it was the same bird throughout the day. As to the petrels, there were Grey-faced, Great Winged and White-chinned. Here's a White-chinned, taken by Ken Haines.

My last pelagic in February, out of Kiama, was quite disastrous. I spent the entire day, wet to the skin, shivering in the captain's cabin. Yesterday was more like it. Good company, good birds, good weather. As a pelagic should be. On Saturday afternoon, we visited Tower Hill. This is site 57 in my 100 Best Birdwatching Sites in Australia. I've been there many times before and always enjoyed it. As always, I was entertained by koalas, kangaroos and emus. Other people enjoyed the copperheads. I liked the skinks. But of course I preferred the birds. We saw a pair of Musk Ducks with three cute ducklings. And just one male Blue-billed Duck made me think the water must have been deeper than I'd expected. There were some regal swans, and a few other waterfowl, Swamp Harriers (of course!) and one or two Whistling Kites. As usual, the highlight for me was the bush birds. There was one gorgeous male Australian Golden Whistler, and, I think an equally attractive, if not quite so showy, male Rufous Whistler. There were Silvereyes, Brown Thornbills and a good collection of honeyeaters: White-naped, Yellow-faced and New Holland. There were Red-browed Finches and European Goldfinches. I mustn't forget the fairywrens: the males were truly superb, living up to their name quite appropriately. We heard, but did not see, a Fan-tailed Cuckoo. Likewise, we heard, but did not see a mournful Little Grassbird. Luckily, we did see, one very noisy Australian Reed Warbler. Tower Hill is worth a visit. There is no reason (in my opinion) to commune with the copperheads. Walk right past is my advice. Then you can admire the beautiful Musk Ducklings.