A mate of mine is a regular participant on fishing charters out of out of
Huskisson and Jervis Bay NSW, and has been talking with me for years about the
regular quantity of Seabirds off shore. I took the opportunity to join him on
Friday 10-7-09 for a Tuna charter, as the goal was to get out into some
seriously deep water.
We were forced to get a “late start” due to the tides and weren’t able to cross
the marina sand bar until 7:15. The bay itself was bubbling with A. Gannets,
Crested Terns and a few small groups of Inshore Bottle-nosed Dolphins. Once
past the headlands we started to pick up Albatrosses and had singles and small
groups of Yellow-nosed and Shy. A few miles off shore we had two distant “all
dark” shearwaters, not Hutton’s or Fluttering. A few pod’s of Common Dolphins
rode the bow for a while, no Humpback’s were seen.
When we reached the shelf roughly 9 miles out the change was immediately
apparent with numbers of Prion’s and Pterodroma petrels showing up. As the
fisher people rigged up their trolling gear, a Sooty Albatross, flew right
across the stern of the boat. In complete disbelief I took a few photos and
expressed to the rest of the fishermen what a megga this was…besides my mate, I
think one other person possibly turned his head to look at it!
We trolled out to 22 miles off shore and saw birds the entire time, adding
Black-browed Albatross, Cape Petrel (australe), Providence Petrels and many
prions. After reaching “the spot”, the crew switched to cut bait and started
the cubing trail that would last for the next 6 or so hours. The birds never
stopped coming and the turnover and diversity was quite amazing. Throughout
the morning and until 3 PM we added…
White-headed Petrel, “Grey-faced Petrel”, Cape Petrel (capense) White-faced
Storm Petrel, Grey-backed Storm-Petrel, Cambell’s Albatross, Buller’s
Albatross, Wandering Albatross, Southern Giant Petrel (white form), Northern
Giant Petrel, Brown Skua, White-fronted Tern and a probable Arctic Tern. With
the large number of prions, I would not be surprised if there was more than one
flavour mixed in the lot, but I could not decipher one. A few definitely
carried a different jizz, but a subsequent review of my photos all favour Fairy.
With regards to the fishing, the boat did not even get a nibble. I was
definitely the only one on board thrilled with the day. The skipper likes the
idea of doing bird trips so should anyone want to try a Harvey Bay Pelagic, let
me know. BTW, the skipper called my mate on Sunday and let him know that they
went out to the 27 mile line where they actually caught some fish and that he
had a funny albatross sitting at the back of the boat on Saturday as they fed
it pilchards. He described it as all frosty grey with a dark head!
Pelagic species list and numbers below. Birds with a “P” were photographed
should anyone want to have a squiz. I expect I will need to submit the Sooty
to the records committee.
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross (T. c. bassi) – 22 (3) P
Buller’s Albatross (T. b. bulleri)– 2 (1) P
Black-browed Albatross (T. m. melanophris)– 11 (4) P
Cambell’s Albatross (T, m. impavida) – 2 (1) P
Sooty Albatross (P. fusca) - 1 (1) P
“Snowy” Wandering Albatross – (D. e. dabbenena) – 1 (1)
“Gibson’s Wandering Albatross – (D. e. gibsoni) - 5 (1)
Southern Giant-Petrel (M. giganteus) white form - 1 (1) P
Northern Giant-Petrel (M. halli) 1 (1) P
“Nelly” sp. 1 (1)
Cape Petrel (australis) – 9 (2) P
Cape Petrel (capense) – 2 (1)
Great-winged Petrel (P. n. neglecta) – 15 (3) P
“Grey-faced” Petrel (P. n. gouldi) – 3 (2) P
Providence Petrel (P. solandri) – 16 (2) P
White-headed Petrel (P. lessonii) – 1 (1)
Fairy Prion (P. turtur) – 68 (23) P
White-faced Storm-Petrel (P. marina ssp?) – 4 (2) P
Grey-backed Storm-Petrel (G. nereis) – 1 (1) P
Australian Gannet (M. serrator) 36 (11) P
White-fronted Tern (S s. ssp?) – 11 (7) P
Arctic Tern (S. paradisaea) – 1 (1) probable
Brown Skua (S. a. ssp?) – 3 (2) P
Cheers,
Roger McNeill
Samford Valley - QLD
0400 567 766
Cheers,
Roger
+61 (0)4 0056 7766 ===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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