I went up to Nudgee Beach early this morning to see if any seabirds were in Moreton Bay sheltering from the remnants of Cyclone Gita. The cyclone passed south from New Caledonia to New Zealand, but we got substantial rainfall and easterly winds from the edge of it. I did a stationary count from the car park, and saw at least two Arctic Jaegers patrolling around quite some distance out, which was good. There are few records of this species from Brisbane, so I was pleased to see them. Lots of terns around, but they were overwhelmingly Little Terns, with quite a lot of Crested Terns, and a few Gull-billed and Caspian. So in the end I was not going to get a year tick here, but I enjoyed seeing the jaegers and the anticipation that something rarer might have been lurking out there.

Later in the afternoon at home, I heard the Noisy Miners giving their raptor alarm call. I grabbed by bins and dashed outside – a handsome Peregrine was circling around! I dashed back inside, grabbed the camera and got a few grainy pics – the bird was pretty far away. I was surprised how lacklustre the reponse was by the Noisy Miners to such a fearsome predator, and looking at the photos it was clear the Peregrine had a full crop. I wonder if somehow the birds knew it wasn’t in hunting mode.

With no year ticks today, my year list remained on 239 species. I spent 1 hour 16 minutes birding, walked 0 km (all of it was stationary counts) and drove 48.2 km.