Port Philip Bay is home to several colonies of Australasian Gannets. One of the larger colonies is near Queenscliffe at a man-made island called “Pope’s Eye”. The reference is a midshipman Pope who was involved in building the bluestone basalt annulus. Originally designed as a gun-emplacement to protect the fledgling colony of Victoria.
The area is managed by Parks Vic and the Portsea-Queenscliffe ferry passes reasonably close by on its journeys back and forth.
There is also a live-stream camera setup, so its possible to get a sneak peak of the Gannets resting or nesting. The link to the camera sometimes is down, but today it is live on Youtube here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCB9pUbrme4
As I’m typing its a very wet and windy day on the rock.
On occasions, the Gannets will come up the western side of the bay, and at Point Cook Coastal Park, its sometimes possible to have them in close. There are some wind and tide connections that seem to favour this, and a high tide and strong northerly off-shore wind bring the fish in over the edge of the lava flow sand and mud flats and the Gannets can be seen fishing less than100m out.
However it’s a bit hit and miss as to when the fish will run in, so the birds might not show at all, or be gone up the coast in what sometimes feels like the blink of an eye.
Here are a few shots from recent visits.
Enjoy
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST 