Last weekend after some of my friends had discovered a Cape Gannet at Point Danger, Portland Victoria I decided to head over there to see if I could find it. Thankfully I have a very obliging friend who also wanted to see it and generously provided me with accommodation and transport.
An early start on the Saturday saw us drive the 5 hrs from Melbourne to Portland arriving at the Gannet Colony at midday. We drove in, set up the scope and were immediately asked to leave by the local Rifle Club who were about to start shooting in our direction!
Sadly we then lost 3 hrs of Gannet searching time.
We wandered aimlessly along Crumpets and found a dead whale which we believe may be a juvenile Killer Whale.
At 3pm we returned to the Colony and searched with some other friends. At 4.30pm more birders arrived, luckily for us we were then allowed access closer to the birds making searching much easier.
Vik hard at work!
The guys searching....
The Gannet colony and nearby island
We searched until 8pm, sadly without success however we got excellent views of the Australasian Gannets.
A quick drive to Bendigo the next day before my flight back to SA rewarded us with great views of the Eastern Koel which is a rare visitor to Victoria. He was easy to locate - just follow his incessant calling!!!
