Sun-fronted. 20th October 2010

I made another return in the sun this time in order to get some better White-fronted shots, which I did. I couldn't help but feel the Crested Tern behind it was a little jealous.

 The Arctic was here too, so I am probably one of the only people who saw it on every day.

Re"tern" of the Arctic Tern...and a few more surprises 16-20th October 2010

As news of the Arctic Tern spread around, so did something else that caught my interest; the White-fronted Tern. I had yet to see this bird, and as far as I am aware they are pretty scarce around these parts, so I dedicated another trip to see it. It was an extremely dark and overcast day, with heavy rain threatening. When I arrived the waves offshore were splashing the top of the pier without any rest; it was the highest I had ever seen them here.

Two people were here, who informed me that A. the Arctic was not here and B. two White-fronted where. So I ended up stalking the large Crested Tern flock, in the midst of very heavy hail and wind (no understatement) with frustation at salt water blowing into my lens and not finding the bird. Soon, the two people returned, just as the Arctic passed by. They seemed convinced that I had flushed both the Arctic and White-fronted, and left with unappreciative looks; thus is the life of a photographer.

I met up with one other person here early on and we both walked down the beach, since neither terns were in sight. A few black birds offshore caught our eyes. Shearwater was my first thought; they didn't seem like cormorants to me, but it was too far away to tell.

Returning back, I noticed a few more birders had shown up. I believe I was the only person who wanted to see the White-fronted and not the Arctic! There was a lot of talk about people finding an Arctic only having it turn out to be a Common, and there were some people who had visited every day and not yet seen it.

A person by the name of Nick came by as I found a few stranded birds; shearwaters. Seeing the weather offshore it all tied up, and I further wondered if the birds before actually were shearwaters. Nick spent a while trying to work out whether the stranded birds were Short-tailed or Sooty, eventually coming to a decision on Short-tailed for them all. I turned around and I saw a dark bird flying offshore, chased by a Pacific Gull, and this bird left no doubt. After the Pacific left, it landed in the surf, only to be washed closer by the stormy waves.This bird, clearly quite exhausted from one event or another, came to rest in the waves and ended up washing up on the beach! It used its wings and beak to "walk" its way up the beach and it was a very unique encounter, once in a lifetime. Too bad none of the other birders actually cared.

                           

More people arrived and left, with a certain group having gone to check Rickett's Point, which seemed to be the other locale that the bird hung around. By this time I was still chasing the Shearwater on the beach. It actually pecked me at one point. Perhaps I got a bit too close.

Eventually a few more terns flew in and we all became stuck on the identity of them all. Terns are notorious for being similar and hard to separate...A dude with a field guide pointed out the Arctic, but fell back on the other two. I went on the belief they were white-fronted terns (which, considering the jagged white primary edge visible at rest makes them unmistakable as I found out recently), and ticked it off my life list for the time being.

And a young crested tern with some neat plumage going on.

It was time to go and I saw the shearwater being pecked to death by the Pacific Gulls. Thus seems to be the demise of all washed up and exhausted birds on such stormy days.

Tern of Fate

The family wanted to visit the beach today, and I made the decision to tag along. Beach outings, unless it's a decent shorebird beach, tend to fall flat. But as they say, "you never know", and that phrase could not have been more applicable today. The first sightings on the beach were, unsurprisingly, several flocks of silver gulls and crested terns. These are probably the staple species of the beaches around Port Phillip Bay.

I also spotted this decently close Australasian gannet cruising around the pier, probably the best views I've had of this species despite the poor lighting (and the photograph doesn't help).


While walking back along the beach I encountered an interesting small tern in a dusky immature looking plumage. Being an amateur birder and all I really knew nothing about terns, and tossed the possibility of "white-winged black tern" as besides crested that was really the only small tern I knew occurred in this part of Australia.

I took a few photos and left it there. I soon encountered a second small tern. This was a more adult-looking bird which clearly was not a white-winged black tern but something of a common tern or other Sterna. It only landed briefly and in bad lighting, so my best images were flight shots.

Returning home I had a flick through the terns, and eventually came to the ancient "commic" ballpark. Both common and Arctic tern were in my guide, with common listed as a regular passage bird, and Arctic as a rather rare accidental occurrence. I posted a few pics on Birdforum and immediately had suggestions that both birds were Arctic. I admit to being slightly skeptical at first because what were the chances of not only finding one rare accidental bird but two in the same place at the same time?

I then posted it on Eremaea a day later with a single photo and the tentative Arctic ID. That's when it all exploded. Several people were quite upset that I took so long to get the news in (noting that in the twitching world most bird news comes immediately in the hour of a bird being seen, not several days later). Mike Carter was able to confirm the ID, but was also not particularly pleased in my lack of swiftness in reporting the bird.

The bird was not seen in the initial days after the Eremaea sighting, but when it was found, people started flocking in to catch an eye of it.  Luckily it stuck around, and for several weeks. But the adult bird was a one-day show, and no one else had seen that one since.

An interesting event and I was glad to get at least a few hundred people a substantial rarity in these parts.

The bird generated several arcticles during its stay...I mean articles:

http://blip.tv/wildiaries/arctic-tern-mordialloc-beach-melbourne-4238092
http://www.bay-keeper.com/2010/10/arctic-blow-in-turns-up-at-mordi/
http://bird-o.com/2010/10/08/tern-flies-30000km-to-twitch-birders/