Port
Stephens Pelagic Trip Report – Sun 23 February 2014
Boat:
M.V. Argonaut, skippered by Ray Horsfield
OBSERVERS
Jon
Spicer Bell, Lorna Mee, Alan Stuart, Dick Jenkin, Shoshana Rapley, Shaun Rapley,
Allan Richardson, Michael Kearns, Steve Edwards, Richard and Jodi Webber,
J.J. Harrison, Steve Roderick and Mick Roderick (organiser).
CONDITIONS
A
stiff southerly wind persisted for most of the day with a solid ground swell of
2 to 2.5m. The 11 to 12 wave period forecast on all of the models turned out in
reality to be closer to 4, which combined with the 15-20 knot southerlies made
for a very lumpy and bumpy ride to the shelf. The downhill current near the
shelf break did not help any, making some waves stand up somewhat, leaving at
least 6 punters on board seasick. Water temperature at the shelf was predicted
to be around 22.8 degrees.
HIGHLIGHTS
Whilst
diversity was generally, seeing 4 species of Pterodroma, includingan
intermediate phase Kermadec, a White-necked and at least 5 Gould’s Petrels (the
most numerous petrel) were the highlights for today.
SUMMARY
Departed
Nelson Bay Public Wharf at 0706 returning at 1615.
Flanked
by a small flotilla of game-fishing boats competing in the Port Stephens
inter-club game fishing contest, the Argonaut headed into a very lumpy sea
driven by steady southerly winds. Occasional rain
cloud fronts would cause stronger squalls bringing white-capping conditions. As
has been the case for the past few summer trips, there wasn’t a great deal of
interest shown by the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters in the boat and berley offerings
and only 3 or 4 Fleshy-foots were seen on the way out. A distant Gould’s Petrel
was seen by 3 observers only 5 miles from the heads.
Approaching
the shelf the downhill current was making the waves stand up a little bit,
adding to the pitch of the boat. We set up a drift at -32 55 37 / 152 33 36 and
it took only a few minutes before the first Great-winged (Grey-faced) Petrel
flew in.
It
also wasn’t long before the first Gould’s Petrel flew in and gave several
passes close to the boat as it circled the vessel and then disappeared down the
slick. 7 minutes later a Gould’s Petrel came back up the slick and at the time
we all assumed it was the same bird. Closer inspection of images has revealed
that it was a different individual. This illustrates the difficulty in counting
seabirds at sea and sometimes assumptions like Gould’s Petrel sightings only
minutes apart being the same bird can be very wrong.
As
a large rain front from south gradually engulfed us, so too did the interest
from the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters gradually grow, but still there was no sign
of Fleshy-foots in numbers (only an occasional bird would fly into the slick). A
second Great-winged with an ‘interesting’ underwing (approaching that of a
Solander’s also joined the fray). The lumpy sea was taking its toll on some of
the punters, with 6 people now feeling the pinch. One person in particular was
quite ill and made the mistake of going into the toilet and refusing to come
out. While all this was going on, another 2 Gould’s came in, both visible at
the same time. Minutes after, a beautiful intermediate phase Kermadec Petrel
flew in from the north, but didn't show any interest in the boat apart from
making a few distant turns, enabling all aboard (that weren't behind a door!)
good views of the upper and underparts of this unique seabird.
With
the state of the person in the toilet seemingly deteriorating the skipper made
the decision to head back to port. We still had nearly full hours at the shelf
and having seen 3 Pterodromas we had been lucky anyway. Literally a mile or two
from where we left our drift endpoint (-32 58 40 / 152 33 25) we encountered a
feeding flock of brown shearwaters and lo and behold it was full of
Fleshy-foots, most of which joined us for the return leg.
The
journey back was a lot more comfortable than the trip out, with the southerly
backing off to under 10 knots. Two observers reported seeing 2 ‘small grey
birds’ flying close to the surface that could have been White-faced Stormies
but they weren't able to be confirmed. With no albatross or confirmed
storm-petrels
(for the 2nd consecutive pelagic for the latter) the day certainly belonged to
the petrels. This was driven home when about half way back a call came out from
Steve, “possible Streaked Shearwater!” which he made without binoculars. Once
onto the bird though, we realised it was a White-necked Petrel, much to the
delight
of everyone except one regular that still hasn’t managed a Streaked Shear.
Unfortunately
this bird stayed very aloof and views were quite distant.
A
Hutton’s Shearwater was photographed well not long after the White-necked,
being the lone small shearwater confirmed for the day.
A
great pelagic enjoyed by most on
board. Not high on diversity but a memorable day at sea. Thanks go to Steve
Roderick for taking care of the berleying duties whilst I’m nursing an ailment
of sorts.
Cheers,
Mick
Roderick
BIRDS
Species:
Total (maximum number visible from the boat at one time) – note that many are
approximations.
Short-tailed
Shearwater: 20 (4)
Flesh-footed
Shearwater: 60 (30)
Wedge-tailed
Shearwater: 750 (250)
Hutton’s
Shearwater: 1
Fluttering
(type) Shearwater: 1
Great-winged
(Grey-faced) Petrel: 3 (1)
Gould’s
Petrel: 5 (2)
KERMADEC
PETREL: 1
WHITE-NECKED
PETREL: 1
Crested
Tern: 8 (6)
Pomarine
Jaeger: 7 (3)
Silver
Gull: 6 (6)
Little
Black Cormorant: 1
MAMMALS
Offshore
Bottlenose Dolphin: 15+
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