Long weekend at Phillip Island

My wife and I are spending a long weekend at Phillip Island with some time for birding :-)

On my way there tonight, I was driving into San Remo as the sun was setting behind clouds so I decided to see if I could catch a shot or two looking over to Cape Woolamai.

...and I even managed to find some birds to put in a photo...

Silver Gull, San Remo

We are staying at a house right at the back of the dunes at the delightfully (but somewhat unimaginatively) named village of Surf Beach. These dunes are covered with Short-tailed Shearwater burrows so I went out at dusk to see the homecoming.

Just after sunset, the sky is filled with thousands of birds

Short-tailed Shearwater, Surf Beach, Phillip Island

all looking for their burrows, some of which require a little excavation 

Short-tailed Shearwater, Surf Beach, Phillip Island

Weekend at Phillip Island - Gulls

Phillip Island is one of the few locations in Victoria where you can reliably see Silver, Pacific and Kelp Gulls.

On an early morning walk along Surf Beach (gotta love the originality of some of the place names...), we spotted a Pacific Gull feeding on a Short-tailed Shearwater chick but it bit off more than it could swallow with this one

Pacific Gull, Surf Beach, Phillip Island

The Silver Gulls that were hanging around watching the feast were also happy to approach me very closely (this shot is full frame)

Silver Gull, Surf Beach, Phillip Island

In the late afternoon we went to The Nobbies and Seagull Rock to try for Kelp Gulls in flight. The lookout at Seagull Rock is a great place to see these gulls flying on the updraft along the cliffs.

Kelp Gull, Seagull Rock, Phillip Island