The June long weekend saw twelve COG-ites descend on Green Cape, the northern headland of Disaster Bay south of Eden.
Geographically, this coastal feature sits on the bend, one might say, between the Victorian and NSW coastlines. It is also a point of contact for northerly migrants making contact with the east coast of the continent. Hence whales and oceanic birds were on the menu – for the feasting of the eyes.
Roughing it at Green Cape is a most pleasurable experience. The Cape is deep within the Ben Boyd National Park and sports a lighthouse dating from 1883. The lighthouse/park keeper lives in a lovely old home situated beside a duplex of houses previously occupied by the assistant lighthouse keepers. Each of these houses is fitted out to sleep six and provided accommodation for the dirty dozen from COG. The three houses, all of the same vintage as the lighthouse, are perched on the cliff overlooking the Tasman Sea. Breakfast on the verandah, under a warm morning sun, counting seabirds and whales, is pretty close to heaven.
The arrangements gave us three full days, plus the last morning, to drink in the ornithological and other delights. The first day was sunny but with sufficient wind to attract a good display of pelagic birds. The subsequent days were, in one sense, perfect and the envy of many a holiday-maker, but poor for sea-bird watching. Many albatross were seen, especially on the Friday and Saturday, with the large majority being Yellow-nosed Albatross. The estimated number seen on the Friday was 150, often sitting in rafts of 30 or more. These were supplemented by a sighting of one Shy Albatross and a small number of Black-browed Albatross sometimes sitting singly amongst a raft of Yellow-nosed Albatross.
Northern Giant-Petrels made several appearances, their dark heads labelling them as immature birds. The only other Procellariformes sighted were Fluttering Shearwaters seen on three occasions.
Shifting orders, amongst the Laridae family, were sighted: Pacific Gulls (two took up residence on the rocks below our “home” for the weekend), Silver Gulls, Crested Terns, a Common Tern and small number of Brown Skuas (if you are one of the unfortunates who call these fascinating birds “Great Skuas”, a weekend with Peter Fullagar will cure you forever). The incessant passer-by from dawn until dusk of every day was the beautiful Australasian Gannet.
The Pacific Gulls were close to their northern limit but were not merely incidental. On the last morning, before sunrise, as we watched the ocean from our regular vantage point on the very tip of the Cape, we saw a flock of 32 Pacific Gulls fly over travelling north. In the darkness of early morning, it appeared that all but three were immatures and two of the three adults peeled off the pack to land on the rocks below. They were our neighbours, arriving on the morning bus. They obviously roosted in a colony further south.
The Skuas also provided delightful entertainment, terrorising gannets and other foraging birds. On one occasion, a large pod of dolphins appeared to be herding a shoal of fish and the gannets, albatrosses and others engaged in a feeding frenzy. As is their wont, a Brown Skua was seen chasing a gannet, latching onto its tail and forcing it to drop its catch and to land on the water awaiting the departure of its tormentor.
Of the other coastal dwellers, the most interesting was a Black-faced Cormorant operating near the northern extreme of its range.
The final morning also brought our first whales. A “blow” on the horizon slowly turned into two pods of Humpback Whales moving northwards, blowing at about eight-minute intervals (according to one diligent observer) from the southern horizon to the northern.
Ground Parrot ( Pezoporus wallicus)
Photo courtesy Peter Fullager
Back on terra firma, the birding was far from mundane. Some of the more interesting sightings were a pair of Striated Grasswren, Southern Emu-wrens and a Ground Parrot.
The last-mentioned was, for many, the highlight of the trip. Far from living up to its reputation as a cryptic skulker, this bird gave us all prolonged and close-up viewings, revealing in detail its plumage and feeding habits. One evening after sunset, a collection of ten COG-ites could be seen (and I hope were photographed) standing in a circle of about 5 metres in radius at whose centre a Ground Parrot fed on grasses, seemingly quite unconcerned. A foreigner (to say nothing of locals) might have thought we were engaged in some religious ceremony.
This story concludes in praise of our group leader, Peter Fullagar. Peter was generous with his unparalleled knowledge and has the gift of a great teacher and story-teller.
David Rosalky