Howdy,
A quick report from a pelagic off Wollongong Wednesday
October 20...
The Sandra K was chartered especially by the famed
Phoebe Snetsinger (she who has ticked more than 8000
birds, however one chooses to define the term). Phoebe
was hoping to lay eyes on one of the possible
Amsterdam Albatrosses that have been reported over the
last few weeks. We were out of luck on that score -
although many Diomedea were present, not one looked
remotely like this enigmatic species. Still,
anticipation was high on account of the continuing
southerly influence, the hundreds of Short-tailed
Shearwaters passing through and the several
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross reported beachwashed in
south-east Queensland in the last few weeks. As it
turned out, things were somewhat slow, with highlights
being a single late White-headed Petrel and an
extremely confiding Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, which
stooged around the boat for up to 20 minutes, on
several occasions providing great views of the
all-important trailing feet. A good day for banding,
with more than a dozen Wandering-type Albatross and
one rather temperamental Southern Giant-Petrel being
captured and measured. Among the birds caught was one
thought to be the controversial Tristan's Albatross
(Diomedea dabbenena) from Gough Island.
Conditions: southerly winds to 20 knots, seas 1.5-2.5
metres, abating in the afternoon.
Arrival and departure: 0700-1645 hrs.
Those on board: Phoebe Snetsinger, Tony Clarke,
Lindsay and Harry, Andrew Stafford, skipper Carl Loves
and a decky whose name I didn't catch. Sorry.
List of species:
Wandering Albatross 15-20
.....gibsoni 12
.....antipodensis 3
.....dabbenena? 1
.....exulans 1
Black-browed Albatross 20
(mostly impavida, a few juv. melanophrys)
Shy Albatross 4-5 (D. cauta cauta)
Southern Giant-Petrel 2
Cape Petrel 15
Great-winged Petrel 10
Providence Petrel 7-8
White-headed Petrel 1
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 20-30
Short-tailed Shearwater >500
Sooty Shearwater 10
Fluttering Shearwater 1
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 5
White-faced Storm-Petrel 1
BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL 1
Australasian Gannet 1
Australian Pelican 1
Pomarine Jaeger 1
Silver Gull 50
Kelp Gull 15
Common Tern 2
Crested Tern 20
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