Port
Stephens Pelagic Trip Report – Sun 24 November 2013
Boat:
M.V. Argonaut, skippered by Ray Horsefield
OBSERVERS
Bruce
Hosken, Dick Jenkin, Allan Richardson, Greg Pearson, Dan Williams, Michael
Kearns, Lorna Mee, Steve Edwards, Jean Tucker, Nick Weigner, Max Breckenridge,
Ashwin Rudder, Andy Frost and Mick Roderick (organiser).
CONDITIONS
A
stiff sou-wester maintaining at around 15 to 20 knots for the entire journey to
shelf combined with a relatively short wave period made for a bit of a bumpy
(and
wet) ride, particularly those manning the berley bucket at the port aft of the
boat! Winds turned and dropped slightly after about an hour at the shelf break
and moved slowly around to the sou-east. Water temperature was not noted, but
all of those at the back of the boat with wet feet concurred that it was on the
‘warm side’. Some of the birds seen, as well as the presence of a Manta Ray,
were
also suggestive of warm water.
HIGHLIGHTS
A
sub-adult Masked Booby was a definite highlight, being the first confirmed live
record for the Hunter Region and a new bird for many observers on board. 3
Sooty Terns and 3 Long-tailed Jaegers were also seen, with one Long-tailed
spending an extended amount of time in the slick. Any day with two sightings of
Gould’s Petrels is also a good one.
SUMMARY
Departed
Nelson Bay Public Wharf at 0710 returning at 1635.
Once
out of the heads the search was on to see if the flocks of inshore Short-tailed
Shearwaters were still in attendance. The first shearwaters seen were
Wedge-tailed,
though some Short-taileds did follow the boat soon after. However, these birds
were not in the numbers that had been reported during prior weeks, though those
that were present seemed quite hungry or at least interested in the berley. We
did encounter a flock of about 200 birds which upped the count of Short-taileds
for the day. Numbers of Wedge-tailed were perceivably lower than other
spring-summer pelagics, but there certainly wasn’t a dearth of these birds. The
first of only a handful of Fleshy-foots appeared about half an hour into the
trip. 3 Pomarine Jaegers came and went as well.
Two
interesting sightings were made on the trip out, one being in the form of a
single White-throated Needletail zooming south about half way out. But before
this there had been a bird with white underparts picked up by Dan Williams.
Although views were frustratingly brief, it was apparent that it was a
‘Cookilaria’ of some description and only 2 features could be discerned, being
a ‘pale-ish’ head and very white underwing. This points towards the bird having
been a Cook’s Petrel, but there could be no certainty in this, so it will be
recorded as a Pterodroma sp. in the
records.
After
a very bumpy and wet ride, we finally reached out drift start at 32 54 58s 152
35 10e. Two jaegers seen flying to the north were identified as Long-tailed but
the views were frustratingly distant for those who had not seen one before. We
were barely 15 minutes into the drift when someone asked “is that a gannet
coming in?”. Having heard that a Masked Booby had been seen on the Wollongong
pelagic
the day before*, we all swung around for a better look. Sure enough, it was a
sub-adult Masked Booby and it came right into the boat and held into the
breeze, floating barely 2m above our heads. At one stage it moved towards the
canopy and shaped to put the landing gear down as if it wanted to have a rest
for a while. It actually then flew south for a short distance and landed on the
water. At that moment a pair of Sooty Terns flew in from the north and as they
continued south the booby joined them before all three disappeared out of
sight.
The
first Pterodroma able to be
identified arrived in the form of a late Solander’s Petrel and a lone
Melon-headed
Whale was picked up breaking the surface by one lucky punter. A White-faced
Storm-petrel arrived to join the small throng of Wilson’s that had now gathered
in the slick. The next major excitement however, was when a cry of “Tahiti
Petrel!” came from somewhere. Alas there was no Tahiti, but a very dark-headed
Gould’s Petrel flying around the rear of the boat. In terms of Cookilarias,
this bird was quite confiding, doing a couple of passes of the boat, enabling
all on board reasonably good views.
A
third Sooty Tern arrived before a very obliging Long-tailed Jaeger came in and
fed in the slick. This bird stayed for well over an hour and enable prolonged
views and numerous photographs to be taken. An albatross appeared on the
southern horizon, soon becoming evidently an adult Shy-type. Not surprisingly,
this generated much discussion about the identification of Shy-type
Albatrosses, taxonomy and all things related. The third (and probably fourth)
petrel species of the day was seen when a Great-winged (Grey-faced) Petrel
missing some flight feathers arrived at the boat. This was expected to be the
first petrel seen! This bird actually returned later on the day, easily
recognisable by the state of the wing. A second bird was seen later in the day
just before leaving the shelf.
More
Shy-types came in to the boat over the course of the day and we ended up
counting 5 distinct birds, which is interesting for Port Stephens in November,
particularly in the company of things like Masked Booby and Sooty Terns. A
second Gould’s Petrel was much less obliging than the first and scooted north
of the boat at a good distance. Having drifted along the edge of the shelf for
the entire three-and-a-bit hours, we finished the drift at 33 0 8s 152 31 0e
and started the trip journey back to port. There was to be one more bit of
excitement however, just before the engines were started. A huge, elongated
diamond-shaped
shadow was seen just below the surface, with ‘wings’ flapping. On size and
shape it was identified as a Manta Ray as it swam under the boat.
The
return leg was possibly the quietest of any Port Stephens pelagic, with all
attendant birds at the shelf choosing to ignore the trail of berley left behind
as the Argonaut made its way back to inshore waters. It was virtually 2 hours
with no birds following the boat before we hit the inshore shearwater flocks,
where we found several more Fleshy-foots than we’d had out wide. Three distant
immature Black-browed Albatross were seen before we were approached by the only
Arctic Jaeger for the day, being a dark bird not far out of the heads.
All
in all it was a very entertaining pelagic with a good mix of winter and summer
birds.
*
Comparison with images of the Wollongong bird reveals that the two were
different birds, with the Port Stephens bird having a paler head and some darker
underwing coverts.
Cheers,
Mick
Roderick
BIRDS
Species:
Total (maximum number visible from the boat at one time) – note that many are
approximations.
White-faced
Storm-Petrel: 1
Wilson’s
Storm-Petrel: 10 (7)
Black-browed
Albatross: 3 (1)
Shy
Albatross: 5 (2)
Short-tailed
Shearwater: 400 (200)
Flesh-footed
Shearwater: 20 (8)
Wedge-tailed
Shearwater: 150 (50)
Solander’s
Petrel: 1
Great-winged
Petrel: 2 (1) – both gouldi
Gould’s
Petrel: 2 (1)
Unidentified
‘Cookilaria-type’ Petrel: 1
MASKED
BOOBY: 1 (sub-adult)
Crested
Tern: 4 (2)
Pomarine
Jaeger: 6 (4)
Arctic
Jaeger: 1
Long-tailed
Jaeger: 3 (2)
Silver
Gull: 5 (5)
White-throated
Needletail: 1
MAMMALS
Short-beaked
Common Dolphin: 5
Melon-headed
Whale: 1
FISH
Manta
Ray: 1
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