Eaglehawk Neck Pelagic Trip Report – 7th
July 2019
Participants:
Ruth Brozek, Jo Colahan, Rob Hamilton, Michael
Hyland, Scott Linnane, Mona Loofs-Samorzewski, Paul Newman, Marcus Salton,
Carolyn Upston, Els Wakefield. (Paul Brooks, the trip organiser, was unable to
attend, with Mona managing the trip on the day and compiling the report.)
Boat:
The Pauletta, skippered by John Males, with
deckhand Adam Mackintosh.
Notes:
An extremely pleasant day out on the water, with the weather
and sea conditions benign and a slow but steady trickle of new birds to keep our
attention. We had an interesting selection of large albatross visit us, at one
time there were 3 Gibson’s and 2 Wandering Albatross all in view on the water
behind the boat. Two of the birds were banded, one of them was Orange-214 R-46923, which we reported to the ABBBS. They
were able to tell us it was a male Gibson’s Albatross banded on 20/12/96 as a
chick at Adams Island (part of the Auckland Islands Group), and seen twice by
the banding team since then as a non-breeding bird
– on 23/2/04 and 21/2/07. The most notable
sightings for the first part of the trip were the high count of Common
Diving-petrel, and brief views of White-headed and Providence Petrel. These
were all trumped at the end of the trip by two Blue Petrel seen very distantly
once we left our second berley stop and were heading home. We had to stop
several times to try to ID the far-off birds, finally achieving a positive ID
by checking photos. A total of 29 species was the result of an excellent day on
the water.
Activity:
We left port at 0745 and took our usual route south to Cheverton Rock
and the Hippoloytes, then struck east to set our first berley trail at 0945
over 330 fathoms. We drifted south all of 25 m so decided to head further east
at 1107, stopping at 1130 over 642 fathoms for our second berley. This time we
drifted 200 m south-southwest to a depth of 660 fathoms by 1230, after which we
headed back to port via the Hippolytes, docking at 1505 hours.
Conditions:
Conditions were calm when we left port, no seas to speak of , very light
wind and thin high cloud. Once past the Hippolytes, we had 0.5 m seas on a low
northerly swell, with a light northeasterly wind to 5 knots. Conditions were
similar at both of the berley stops, with the wind picking up a bit to 10 kn
around 0925 and the sun breaking through the high cloud. On our return the
skies clouded over and the temperature dropped, but by the time we docked at
port the skies had cleared again. Water temperature was 13˚C. None seasick.
Mammals:
Australian/NZ Fur Seal: 21 on and around the
Hippolytes.
Birds
(IOC v 8.1 – max at one time in brackets):
Wilson’s Storm Petrel: 1 pelagic.
Grey-backed Storm Petrel: 2 (1) pelagic.
Wandering Albatross: 2 (2) pelagic. One young brown
bird, the other adult.
Antipodean Albatross: 6 (4) ssp gibsoni pelagic.
Southern Royal Albatross: 1 older bird pelagic.
Black-browed Albatross: 1 pelagic.
Campbell Albatross: 1 adult pelagic.
Black-browed/Campbell Albatross: 1 offshore.
Shy Albatross: 35 (17): 1 inshore, 11 offshore, 21
pelagic and 2 inshore in the afternoon.
Buller’s Albatross: 6 (2): 4 offshore, 2 pelagic.
Southern Giant Petrel: 1 inshore.
Northern Giant Petrel: 4 (4) pelagic.
Cape Petrel: 7 (7): 6 capense 1 australe, all
pelagic.
BLUE PETREL: 2 (2): 2 pelagic/offshore, seen just
as we had started to return.
Great-winged Petrel: 3 (1) all pelagic.
Grey-faced Petrel: 16 (4): pelagic.
Great-winged/Grey-faced: 6 offshore, too fast
and/or distant to identify.
WHITE-HEADED PETREL: 2 (1): pelagic.
Providence Petrel: 3 (1) all pelagic.
Sooty Shearwater: 1 offshore.
Common Diving-petrel: 56 (4): 49 offshore in the
morning, 5 pelagic, 1 offshore and 1 inshore in the afternoon.
White-faced Heron: 1 on the Hippolytes.
Australasian Gannet: 22 (15): 4 inshore in the
morning, 18 inshore in the afternoon.
Black-faced Cormorant: 34 (19): 9 inshore in the morning
and 25 inshore in the afternoon.
Silver Gull: 15 (6) inshore in the morning and
afternoon.
Pacific Gull: 4 (2): 2 on the Hippolytes in the
morning, then likely the same 2 on the Hippolytes and another pair on Cheverton
Rock in the afternoon.
Kelp Gull: 40 (17): 22 inshore in the morning and
18 inshore in the afternoon (several juv).
Greater Crested Tern: ~140 (~100): 40 inshore in
the morning and 100 inshore in the afternoon.
Brown Skua: 1 pelagic.
Peregrine Falcon: 1 over Hippolytes in the morning.
Forest Raven: 2 (2): 2 on Hippoloytes in the
afternoon.
MLS
