Elaine wanted to spend some time on the beach today, so in the afternoon we headed for Friendly beaches about 10 miles north of Coles Bay in Freycinet National Park. What a beautiful beach, forget Wineglass Bay beach, Friendly beaches are much nicer. So while Elaine relaxed on the beach and soaked up some rays, I had a walk down the beach, found a good viewpoint and did an impromptu seawatch.
Most birds were distant, but there were a few Australian gannets and fluttering shearwaters close in and occasional Caspian and crested terns flew past. I was hoping for Buller's albatross but had to be content with two reasonably close shy albatross. I never tire of seeing these birds but still, it was all a bit predictable.
After an hour I headed back to Elaine. When I got about halfway back I stopped and looked towards her with my binoculars to check that she was still there and BOOM, two white-throated needletails were flying right above her! Now I was hurrying back, because this was a species which I had been hoping to see in Australia ever since my very first visit in 2015. This is the holy grail species on the very rare occasions it turns up in the UK and the chances of me seeing one back home are very remote, so this was my opportunity to observe them. The needletails disappeared briefly inland but then suddenly reappeared over the beach, unfortunately a little too close to a group of bikini clad Chinese girls who were also enjoying the beach for me to feel comfortable in pointing my camera at them. Again they disappeared inland with incredible power and speed, they were like swifts on steroids. Eventually though they reappeared right over my head and allowed me to watch them for a few minutes before they disappeared for good.
Australian Pied Oystercatcher in the spray.
Friendly beaches. Beautiful but not so friendly actually, the 4km of gravel road to get to the car park was a bit more bumpy than most and the beach itself had some serious surf. I definitely would not want my kids going in there.
Seawatching southern ocean style.
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