Ocean and Beach scenes

There was a Southerly Gale blowing today so I have been down to the sea a couple of times.  The first was to Fisherman's Point to look for pelagic birds being blown inshore.  The sea suggested this was a better idea than going out in a boat looking for the birds.

 With the help of my telescope I found a few birds and could identify about 6 Gannets of various ages, a Wedge-tailed Shearwater and about 6 Fairy Prions. No albatrosses.

In the afternoon we went for a walk at Bastion Point.  The wind was causing a strange sight by eroding sand around pebbles.

 The is Gannet's head was washed up and I originally took the photo to show its plumage.

 Then I looked more closely and noticed what looks like a strap around its neck so I think this is one more victim of plastic pollution.

Another member of the Mallacoota Birds Facebook group has since opined that this looked like it was skin colour with post mortem flexing of the neck causing the feathers to fall out.  On looking closely at the original image I think she is right.  A subsequent attempt to relocate the head failed.

As we got back to the the stairs we noticed a couple of former leatherjackets getting washed up.  Apart from the interest in the individual fish I thought this might foreshadow another massive kill of these fish as we found in April 2017.  I'll try to get a species ID shortly.

 The next two images are looking from the top of the steps at Bastion Point.  The seas appeared to have died down quote a bit in the hour we were there but still nice. well separated swells coming in