Sydney, NSW Pelagic Trip Report 8th April 2000

[Tony Palliser <>]

Sydney, NSW Pelagic Trip Report 8th April 2000

Conditions,
Departed at 7.15 am and returned at approx. 3.30 pm.
Sea Conditions: Mainly Calm.
Weather: Fine
Wind: Light winds to 10 Knots mainly from E
Water temperature 23.0 degrees C on the shelf
Stopped at 34 00' x 151 40'

Those on board,
Steve Anyon-Smith, Pierre Charbonneau, Russ Eynon, Keith Fisher, Rod
Gardner, Roger Hilton, Tania Ireton, Bill McLean, Roger McGovern, Tony
Palliser & Trevor Quested.

Summary,
Another very memorable trip with lots of rarities, no doubt
influenced by the recent cyclones in Queensland. First goodie to come
along was a juvenile White-tailed Tropicbird followed by a distant White
Tern.  The biggest surprise of the trip though was an untimely
Westland Petrel - a most unexpected bird for this time of the year. 
It was first called as a Black Petrel mainly because it was thought to be
the most likely contender, but  the large size (about 10-15% larger
than Flesh-footed Shearwater), the very bulky heavy body, particularly
the chest and the entirely dark maxillary unguis safely identifies this
bird (in my opinion) to be a Westland Petrel.  The rarities
continued with 5 sightings of White-necked Petrel (involving at least 3
individuals) and at least 5 sightings of White Tern (involving up to 5
individuals).  And to top the list for the day an Intermediate
Kermadec Petrel was seen by most on board.  


Birds,
(Note: numbers in brackets = highest count at any one time)

005 Little Penguin 1 (in the harbour)
073 Great-winged Petrel 6 (2)
971 Providence Petrel 7 (1)
774 White-necked Petrel 3-5 (1)
922 KERMADEC PETREL 1 Intermediate phase
920 WESTLAND PETREL 1
--- Fluttering types? 2
913 Hutton's Shearwater 3 (2)
000 Flesh-footed Shearwater 50-70+
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater 300+
071 Short-tailed Shearwater 7 (1)
063 Wilson's Storm Petrel 30-50 (20)
115 Crested Tern 15+ (5)
972 WHITE TERN 3-5 (1)
108 White-tailed Tropicbird 1 Juvenile
104 Australasian Gannet 8 (2)
125 Silver Gull 100+
981 Kelp Gull 1
129 Pomarine Jaeger 8 (3)
--- Skua Sp 1

In the harbour
953 Common Tern 10 (10) 
099 Little Black Cormorant 2 
106 Australian Pelican 6 

Mammals,
None Identified

Future Trips,
The MAY trip from Sydney will be held on the
3rd SATURDAY of the month (instead of the 2nd) 20th MAY 2000.

Sydney Pelagics normally depart on the 2nd Saturday of each month,
Wollongong Pelagics depart on the 4th Saturday and Eden trips on the 5th
Sunday (4 times per year). Please contact either Tony Palliser Phil
Hansbro or Pete Milburn to make a booking for Sydney or Wollongong and
Barbara Jones to make a booking for the Eden trips.

Tony Palliser: Ph; 02-99001678, 02-94115272 or 0416-095875.
Pete Milburn: Ph; 02-62551313 or 02-62494326 or 0416-249506. 
Phil Hansbro: Ph; 02-49236819 or 02-49271808
Barbara Jones: Ph; 02-64957390.  

Tony Palliser
http://www.zip.com.au/~palliser

Tony Palliser