Port MacDonnell (Part 2)

As promised, here are the photos of Black-browed Albatross. But I'll start with a Shy Albatross that got left off the last post by mistake. Black-browed are lovely birds, and here are a number of shots from the same Pelagic trip. This one has been "photoshopped" as the lower wingtip slipped out of frame so I magiced it back in. With this one I was panning with the back bird as it crossed behind the bird in front - I quite like the shot even though the front bird is not in focus.

Port MacDonnell

Staying with the seabird theme, a birders first albatross is one of those never to be forgotten moments. Now, I love seabirding, but I am one of the worlds worst sailors. In fact, the list of seas I have been seasick on is almost as long as my bird list!!

In South Australia we are very lucky as the continental shelf (the best spot, I am told, for pelagic birding) is relatively close to land. So, I thought, less time to get seasick. Well, let me tell you, they are right, the seabirding is fantastic, and I was wrong................

These shots were all taken on one trip. Almost as soon as we got to the shelf, the skipper spotted a trawler hauling in nets so we headed over. The boat was surrounded by seabirds.

As the boat passed by, we began to berley (chum) and some of the seabirds were attracted to our boat.

There were good numbers of albatross including Wandering, Black-browed, Bullers, Shy and also my favourite Yellow-nosed. Black-browed were by far the most common so I got a fair few photos, so I'll post them all together in my next post.

Wandering Albatross is an amazing bird. It has an odd "hump-backed" appearance making it pretty easy to identify.

A Buller's Albatross gave us a single flypast, but our berley was obviously not up to the required standard as it carried on towards the receding trawler. There ware also numbers of shearwaters and petrels feeding on our fishy, oily, slick, including Flesh-footed Shearwater.

Great-winged Petrel

and White-faced Storm-petrel (this shot is very highly cropped so apologies for the quality)

Finally a couple of shots of Yellow-nosed albatross - isn't it gorgeous?