And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him, In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended, And at night the wonderous glory of the everlasting stars.

Banjo Paterson (1889)

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Pelagic Birding




After my last pelagic birding trip about 16 years, which was a little like the picture (well maybe not quite that bad, but it felt like it), I'm booked in for one tomorrow. An all day sea-birding adventure beyond the continental shelf, the first ever autumn seabird trip off Perth.

A chance to see Arctic, Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas (Jaegers) which may be on the move, plus a whole host of wonderful albatross, petrels and shearwaters. Hopefully I'll be better than that last trip, where I spent the second part of the day staring at the floor, slowly nibbling my 2 foot bread stick with people throwing up all around me! For those who have seen the movie The Big Year, it's probably going to be like the scene where Bostick keeps saying 'Pitching and tossing, pitching and tossing'.

Oh well, must get my seabird numbers up, so I'm armed with my supply of sea sickness tablets, some salty chips and the good old trusty bread stick!

3 comments:

Choy Wai Mun said...

All the best to you, Richard!

Noushka said...

Good luck with your trip and bring back nice pics!!
Cheers!

Dave Wenning said...

Always enjoy your posts. This one proves that blogging is a pastime where you can both clear your cookies and toss your cookies at the same time. ;-) Have a safe trip.