Rare bird sighting excites twitchers

Twitchers have made their way to the coastal city of Geraldton in WA's Mid West after multiple sightings of a bird seen less than a dozen times in Australia.

The black-headed gull usually migrates between Europe and Asia but this one is believed to have been blown off course in rough weather.

Birdwatching friends Bill Betts and Daryl Jones were among dozens who travelled more than 400 kilometres from Perth to see it for themselves.

"There's only been eight to 10 records in Australia before and all of those have been in the northern part of Australia; this is the first one in the southern part," he said.

"It's probably been caught in a storm, got blown this way and now it's lost."

Mr Jones said the pair had previously travelled as far as Carnarvon and Onslow to see a rare bird.

"It's nice to say, 'We got it,'" he said.

"Sometimes we drive 500 to 600 kilometres and don't get anything."

The gull was first spotted on Wednesday and has been blending in with flocks of local seagulls.

Twitcher Tegan Douglas, who also works for Birdlife Australia, joined the avid birdwatchers making the drive north with her friend Maxine Peter.

"In the old days there used to be phone calls, phone trees for rare sightings," she said.

"Now of course it's all on social media and WhatsApp chat groups."

She said the sighting had caused a stir nationally.

"There have definitely been people that have flown in from the east coast and tried to arrange lifts up here with fellow birders to come and see it,"

she said.

Geraldton photographer Steve Pidgeon was one of the few who managed to capture the bird in flight.

He has been photographing birdlife for the past eight years and has not seen this level of interest before.

"It's surprising just to come and have a look at a bird. The amount of people from Perth and stuff that have travelled up, and Toodyay, all over the place, it's huge," he said.

Ms Douglas said birdwatching as a hobby was definitely growing.

"We've seen since COVID that a lot of people have been getting more interested in the natural spaces around where they live and work," she said.

"That has resulted in a lot of people becoming interested in birds … and then it also provides an opportunity to go to other places and enjoy the wonderful natural environment that's found there."

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