Sydney Pelagic Trip Report 11th October 1997
Locality and Conditions
Sydney experienced its hottest October day in 9 years (35.0 C) producing
less than ideal conditions at sea particularly with the strong mostly
North-Westerly winds. As with other trips in such conditions we found the
seabird numbers dissappointing. We had difficulty keeping even
Wedge-tailed Shearwaters behind the boat. There were however a few
Wandering Albatross, Cape Petrel and Providence Petrels around to keep the
visitors happy. The skipper managed to glimpse a large cetacean as it
dived. Generally though species numbers and number of birds was in
complete contrast to this time last year. Interestingly the water
temperature was noted to be as cool
as 16.9 C once over the shelf, this too could be a record for this time of
year. Having reached our local sea mount known as "Brown's Mountain" we
drifted behind a fishing vessel with an impressive count of 30-40 Wilson's
Storm Petrel feeding in their burley trail, unfortunately though we could
not reach them on the radio to determine what burley they were using. Must
have been something with a high concentrate of DMS (Dimethyl Sulphide).
34.08'S / 151.37'E, 34.06' / 151.42' being the primary chuming locations.
Those on board
Steve Anyon-Smith, James Brown, Laurie Deighton, Ross Druit, Peggy
Druit,Rod Gardner, Mark Goodson, Alison Guthrie, Ron Guthrie, Sue Kearns,
David Kuehn, Woody Kuehn, Bill McLean, Roger McGovern, Tony Palliser,
Martin Pennell, Paul Prior, David Siems, Andrew Stafford, Ross Tzannes, Bob
Way and Jo Weineke.
Birds
Thanks to Roger McGovern for helping out with the numbers
Those in brackets = highest count at any one time.
Wandering Albatross 5(3) All considered to be gibsoni
Black-browed Albatross 10(3) All Juvenile / sub-adult
Cape Petrel 4(1)
Providence Petrel 35(3)
Great-winged Petrel 2(2)
Wilson's Storm-petrel 38(30)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 120(20)
Short-tailed Shearwater 130(50)
Fluttering Shearwater 60(8)
Hutton's Shearwater 5(2)May have been more
Crested Tern 10(3)
Aust. Gannet 35(11)
Silver Gull 20(6)
Skua sp 1 unidentified
Mammals
unidentified 1
Regards
Tony Palliser
Phone.....+61 2 9900 1678 or Home +61 2 9427 7563
Fax.......+61 2 9900 1669
http://www.zip.com.au/~palliser
|
