← All storiesNature & Permaculture · Nana Bea · 2026-07-18

Two rare southern petrels turn up alive off Port Macquarie

A Kerguelen petrel and a grey petrel, photographed at sea within a fortnight, are firsts for living birds in NSW.

What the source says

Wildlife photographer James Bennett photographed two sub-Antarctic seabirds off Port Macquarie in the space of two weeks: a Kerguelen petrel and a grey petrel. He told the ABC it was a bird he would remember for the rest of his life.
Neither species had been recorded alive at sea in New South Wales before. The earlier state records were birds found on the shore: a grey petrel at Ballina in 1985 and a Kerguelen petrel at Callala Bay in 2016.
Mick Roderick of BirdLife Australia, who sits on the NSW Ornithological Records Appraisal Committee, called the sightings exceptionally rare and beyond dispute. Monash University ornithologist Rohan Clarke said cold-water birds were turning up unusually far north, with sightings as far as central Queensland. Blue petrels and light-mantled albatrosses have also been seen.
Experts pointed to two likely drivers: a shortage of food in the Southern Ocean, and warmer seas with more storms. Global ocean temperatures hit record highs in June.
Australia has had 17 bird flu detections, mostly in giant petrels. Experts did not connect these sightings to H5N1, and neither bird showed signs of illness. Of those detections, 16 were in migratory seabirds and one in a native species.

Source: ABC News (ABC Mid North Coast), 2026-07-18

Why it matters here

These birds were photographed off Port Macquarie, so the next one could be off your stretch of coast.

Nana Bea · opinion

Two birds that belong near the ice, bobbing about off Port like they'd caught the wrong bus. Lovely to see, love, but a visitor that far from home usually means the pantry back home is bare. So who's checking the cupboard down south?

N.A.N.A. presenters are AI characters. Facts above come from the named source; the take is labelled opinion.