French Pass, D'Urville Island Wildlife report.

Seabirds; Gannets are starting to feed with our winter pods of dusky dolphins. Diving at speeds of up to 145km these magnificent birds can regularly be seen gracing the airwaves. Fluttering shearwaters are in good numbers and little diving petrels are being seen more regularly.

King shag one of the rarest seabirds in the world are passing by later in the morning and earlier in the evening as they fly to their feeding grounds.

Reef heron, spotted shag, white fronted and Caspian tern, oyster catcher and fluttering shearwater, along with blue penguin are all working the waterways for food.

The rarest sighting this year has been a white capped noddy fishing with gulls, terns and shearwater.

Birds; The New Zealand Falcon is common to Elmslie Bay French Pass. Three are regularly seen. Some locals had the good fortune of having one fly in front of their vehicle and land nearby where it stayed for over 15 minutes.

Yellow crowned parakeet, tui, South Island robin, bellbird, morepork and pigeon can all be seen at close quarters on the Chetwood Islands.

Dolphins; bottlenose are regularly passing through working back and forth through the French Pass. Shane Boulton drew six close to shore by tapping two stones together underwater. Several pods of winter dusky dolphins have been sighted along the east coast of d'Urville and on occasion on the outer Chetwood island.

Seals; are now swimming regularly in Elmslie Bay French pass and can be seen from the village as the young pups move to the local haulout areas.