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Message: <blockquote data-quote="podargus" data-source="post: 2937702" data-attributes="member: 109359">28/11/11-02/12/11 – Heron Island: Take 2My parents were keen to visit the GBR during their trip, so I was lucky enough to get to go to the beautiful Heron Island for a second time. Again, I’ll group sightings together in to one report.On the ferry journey over we had good looks at some Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphins riding the wake. Birds on the island were much the same as before, but some extremely graceful Bridled Terns were notable new arrivals. On the first day there was also an impressive female Great Frigatebird soaring overhead – I thought these might be a regular sight now that the breeding season was well under way, but this was the only one so it’s lucky I was looking up at the right moment. A few of the resident Black Noddys had chicks, and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters had also arrived back to breed on the island. Walking around the island by night you had to be careful not to step on the Shearwaters, and they were very entertaining to watch as they dashed around trying to find their burrows. At first I couldn’t see how anyone could find their coo-ing calls annoying, but they gradually get louder and more excitable as the evenings go on until they are making a real racket in the middle of the night. On the final day a good breeze came in, and we got to see a few Shearwaters scything across the lagoon by day as well as gliding over the big waves on the ferry journey back to Gladstone.Buff-banded Rails also had chicks, and the parents were fiercely protective – I saw them scare off Pacific Reef Egrets a few times, and one mother managed to rescue her chick even after a Silver Gull was halfway through swallowing it.Grey-tailed Tattlers, Pacific Golden Plovers and Lesser Sand Plovers were still present, but they had been joined by one Greater Sand Plover and one Sooty Oystercatcher among a group of Pieds. After a few brief glimpses, I was also able to confirm that the few Tattlers that would roost on the breakwater by the harbour were Wandering Tattlers.Other than that the usual birds were still around, including White-bellied Sea Eagle, Crested, Lesser Crested and Black-naped Tern, Brown Booby, ‘Capricorn Silvereye’, Bar-shouldered Dove and Sacred Kingfisher.A major bonus, and the highlight of this particular trip, was that Turtles had now returned to nest on the island. Walking the beaches in the evening it was possible, with care, to get amazing views of the huge female Green Turtles excavating their nests and laying eggs. By waking early, we were also able to see a number of Green Turtles, and one Loggerhead, making their way back down the beach in the morning. Due to the tides, most would make it just off the shore before sitting in the shallows until the water was deep enough for them to leave the lagoon. Snorkelling gave good views of both of these species, as well as one Hawksbill Turtle. Once again there was an exceptional diversity of other marine life too.It was quite late in the day when we started heading south from Gladstone on the 2nd, but I was pleased to get a brief view of a Blue-winged Kookaburra on a telephone wire by the road.Birds265. Bridled Tern266. Great Frigatebird267. Wedge-tailed Shearwater268. Greater Sand Plover269. Sooty Oystercatcher270. Wandering Tattler271. Blue-winged KookaburraReptiles & Amphibians17. Loggerhead Turtle18. Hawksbill Turtle</blockquote>

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