MY SECOND SOUTHPORT PELAGIC FOR 2025

AND MY FOURTH UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO SEE A NEW CALEDONIAN STORM PETREL! With my birding mate, Helen Yuille, I left early on Good Friday morning to fly to the Gold Coast. Helen had never done a pelagic and I had suggested that the Southport pelagic would be a nice easy one to start with. So we flew up early to get in a day's birding before our big adventure on Saturday. Of course, all I cared about was the chance to see my New Caledonian bird. I had been told that April was the most likely month. However, it seems to me that no month is very likely, and there is a very small chance in every summer month. Helen and I picked up a hire car and drove to Sandy Camp Road. My friend, Rae Clark, had taken me to this spot in January, when I'd made an earlier (failed) attempt to see a this special exciting but elusive storm petrel.

Sandy Camp Road is a lovely spot. We saw several Australasian Darters, lots of Brown Honeyeaters and a few Lewin's. I saw just one Mistletoebird. The highlight was, without doubt, the Little Heron which Helen spied. Until recently we called this bird a 'Striated Heron,' which, to me seems a much better name. Two very noisy and intimidating motor bikes ruined our peaceful wander, so we left and drove on to Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk, where we were greeted in the carpark by an Australasian Figbird. This, too, is a great birding spot, also introduced to me by Rae Clark. Thank you Rae!

For me, the best bird here was a Torresian Kingfisher. For Helen, it was the very prolific Mangrove Gerygones, a lifer for her. For a friendly birding local, it was Black Swans, which I gather are not common at this site. I added Spangled Drongo and Noisy Friarbird to my list. About this time, we realized that we hadn't had any lunch, and that breakfast had been a long time ago.

We were staying in Southport, and decided to check out which jetty the boat was scheduled to leave from at 5.30 tomorrow morning, giving me a chance to admire the friendly local Brushturkeys and Bush Stone-curlews. Then we booked into our accommodation, with only a minor altercation about whether or not I had pre-paid for my room. With that matter resolved, we set off to sort out tomorrow's breakfast. On previous trips to Southport, I'd bought something at the handy Safeway, so Helen and I set off with this in mind. Unfortunately, I hadn't allowed for shop closures on Good Friday! A very helpful woman in a local bar directed us to the IGA and the problem was solved. We were up bright and early on Saturday and managed to find the right jetty and the right boat. Cyclone Alfred has moved a lot of sand from Gold Coast beaches, and also apparently changed the water depth at the bar. Having told Helen this was an easy, flat pelagic, I was unhappy to hear our captain, Grinner, instructing us all to 'hang on!' He clearly meant it, and I hadn't heard him say this before. When we crossed the bar, we understood why. The boat was tossed around like a matchbox. Grinner told me that boats had been unable to cross the bar the day before. In my (admittedly limited) experience, Southport pelagics are the most comfortable, but they also provide the fewest birds. I had virtually promised Helen a Tahiti Petrel - a bird I thought was guaranteed on a Southport pelagic. Initially we saw Silver Gulls and Greater Crested Terns and not much else. After a while, there was a sprinkling of shearwaters (all Wedge-tailed I think). The Tahiti Petrel kept us waiting a long time, but we did eventually see one or two. Also Kermadec and Providence Petrels. The only storm petrels, I'm sorry to say, were Wilson's and White-faced. Not a hint of anything as exotic as a New Caledonian. The undoubted highlight of the trip was a Bulwer's Petrel. This photo was taken by Patrick Reed.

On the way back to port, we saw some Hutton's Shearwaters, and when we were almost home, we saw our first Australasian Gannet for the day, bringing the day's total species count to 13. I must say I enjoyed the day. Naturally, I would have enjoyed it more had I seen a New Caledonian Storm Petrel. However, now I have my excuse to return and I have booked a spot on the boat for next March.