Help needed here, seabirds not my strong point.
Taken 30kl South of Port MacDonald, SA
I'm thinking Flesh-footed Shearwater.
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Not flesh footed I don't think, they light feet and a light coloured bill too, I'm thinking Sooty Shearwater maybe? but I too am not an expert in seabirds :p
Tegan - Melbourne Vic.
Hello, I am currently in Sydney without my pics or birding books so not much help.
Suggest that not Flesh-footed as the pink feet would stand out in your pic but the underwing pattern is very similar; also that underwing pattern does not seem to be a Sooty
Peter
The dark bill rules out Flesh-Footed although the underwing markings look good for Flesh-footed.
The narrow tail looks more like a Wedge-tailed Shearwater (tail looks to be pointed in flight) but South Australia would make it a vagrant but we have had some unusual weather on the east coast of Australia recently.
I took the liberty of copying the photo and brightening the areas of shadow under the wing and now you can see the whitish underwing stripe. Both Sooty and Short-tailed have similar underwing markings but if it was a Short-tailed Shearwater it would have a lighter chin. I'm going with Sooty Shearwater.
Samford Valley Qld.
Thanks all,
John, Ihad ruled out Short-tailed fue to the feet stopping well
before the end of the tail. Will have a good look at Sooty.
In my opinion, the bill is relatively too short & chunky for any Shearwater. I think it's a nominate race Great-winged Petrel.
Thanks Steve.
I think you may be correct here, there were plenty of GW Petrels around on the day.
Have just had positive ID GW Petrel nominate race so you are indeed spot on Steve.
Well done Steve.
Samford Valley Qld.