Dear Birding-Ausers,
The report I sent last week on our November pelagic from Eaglehawk Neck was
very poorly formatted. My apologies. As I accidentally omitted an
interesting sighting (the unusual White-chinned Petrel) from this report, I
resubmit it including that record, hopefully, with a better format.
Chris
EAGLEHAWK NECK BOAT TRIP - 23 November 2003
GROUP:
Anne Booth, Peter and Hazel Britton, Geoff Bromfield, Barry Bucholtz,
Stuart Hull, Gil Langfield, Chris and Rosemary Lester, Frank O'Connor,
Allan Poynter, Colin Rogers, John Rogers, Bill Wakefield.
VESSEL/SKIPPER:
Pauletta / John Males with Michael Males.
WEATHER:
Cloudy, cool early with occasional very light rain in the afternoon. S
wind of 15-20 knots early reducing to 10-12 knots from the S in the
afternoon.
SEA:
Choppy sea of 1 m with initial swell of 1 m in the morning. In the
afternoon, only very slight chop with swell of 1 m.
ACTIVITY:
Sailed 07.25. Headed E from Pirates Bay a bit past the shelf. Very quiet
on the way out except for moderate numbers of Short-tailed Shearwaters.
Berleyed from 08.50 at the first stop about 14 nm out from Pirates Bay at
43(superscript: o) 01.7'S 148(superscript: o)14.0'E in 124 fathoms with
water temperature at 13.3(superscript: o) C. Lots of Short-tailed
Shearwaters here. The numbers of other birds steadily built up with many
White-chinned Petrels. Drifted 1.5 nm NE until 10.20 and all the
Pterodroma Petrels turned up here as we drifted. Then continued SE and
stopped at 11.50 in 350 fathoms (13.2(superscript: o) C) at 43(superscript:
o) 03.0'S 148(superscript: o) 14.6'E. Drifted another 1 and a bit nm N
until 13.00. We saw a possible conspicillata race of White-chinned Petrel
at the end of this drift. All the Pterodroma Petrels turned up here too as
well as the Black-bellied Storm-Petrel. Travelled in via the Hippolytes
and docked a bit after 15.30.
MAMMALS:
Australian Fur-Seals - at the Hippolytes.
BIRDS:
An excellent day with a large number of birds and exceptional diversity
after a quiet start. The highlights of the day were the good numbers of
Pterodroma petrels - MOTTLED, GOULD'S, WHITE-HEADED and Great-winged. The
BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL was also a highlight along with the LONG-TAILED
JAEGERS and the Great Skuas. Noteworthy was the possible record of the
conspicillata race of White-chinned Petrel. We had good views of all birds
except perhaps the Arctic Jaeger as all approached quite close to the boat
at one time or another. The species observed were very similar to last
November with a few additional ones.
Little Penguin 20 (20).
Southern Giant-Petrel 2 (1).
Northern Giant-Petrel 4 (2).
Cape Petrel 2 (1).
Great-winged Petrel 6 (2).
WHITE-HEADED PETREL 5 (1).
MOTTLED PETREL 4 (1).
GOULD'S PETREL 8 (1).
Fairy Prion 5 (3).
White-chinned Petrel 100 (30). 1 possible
conspicillata.
Sooty Shearwater 3 (1).
Short-tailed Shearwater 10,000 (2,000).
Wandering Albatross 10 (5).
Royal Albatross 2 (1). Both Southern RA.
Black browed Albatross 3 (2). 1 impavida
Shy Albatross 100 (25).
Yellow-nosed Albatross 6 (1).
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 10 (4).
Grey-backed Storm-Petrel 2 (1).
BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL 1.
Australasian Gannet 16. 10 pelagic and 6 at the
Hippolytes
Black-faced Cormorant 400. At the Hippolytes and
inshore.
Great Skua 2 (2).
Arctic Jaeger 1.
LONG-TAILED JAEGER 2 (1).
Pacific Gull 2. In Pirates Bay.
Kelp Gull 42. 20 at the Hippolytes and 22
inshore.
Silver Gull 60. 50 at the Hippolytes and 10
inshore.
Crested Tern 3 (2).
2004 Trips: 22 February, 19 September and 21 November.
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