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Here follows a brief summary of last Saturday's
Wollongong Pelagic:
Trip Summary:
Very brisk south-easterlies made this a trip for
the strong-hearted (and strong-stomached) and thanks must go to Milburn for
standing at the stern in very rough, wet conditions and keeping the chumming
going for the entire trip. Certainly the birds appreciated it - as Chris Brandis
mentionned, the Short-tailed Shearwaters which will rarely follow a boat, were
absolutely ravenous and were on to every morsel of food as soon as it hit the
water. The trip was a really good one from a birding standpoint and the many US
and British visitors on board had a memorable day.
Highlights of the day included a Common
Diving-petrel, a Black-bellied Storm-petrel and an astonishing two
Buller's Albatrosses, one a first-year bird (well picked out by
Milburn) and the other a second-year bird. Late White-fronted Tern and
Yellow-nosed Albatross were noteworthy, as was the total absence of any
Pterodroma's which was a first for the regulars on board.
Of great interest was a prion which remained around
the boat for about 15-20 minutes and which showed the field characteristics of
Fairy Prion but which was noticably paler and appeared to have a significantly
shorter and thicker bill than a Fairy Prion. The feeling was that it may well
have been a Fulmar Prion, and attempts were made to photograph the bird, albeit
unsuccessfully.
Conditions:
Cloudy and cool with a 25-30 knot
south-easterly.
Departed at 07.05 and returned at
15.45.
Swell around 3.5-4.0 metres, sea about 2
metres.
Those on Board:
I do not have a passenger list. Regulars that I
know were Pete Milburn, Chris Brandis, Rod Gardner and myself. Apologies to
others that I have omitted.
Bird List:
Wandering
Albatross 8 (4)
Yellow-nosed Albatross 2
(1)
Black-browed Albatross 20 (8)
Shy
Albatross
16 (6)
BULLER'S ALBATROSS 2
(1)
Fairy
Prion
3 (1)
Prion
sp.
5 (1)
FULMAR PRION
??
{1}
Cape
Petrel
5 (1)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 25 (5)
Short-tailed Shearwater
1000+
Sooty
Shearwater
3 (1)
Fluttering
Shearwater 30 (5)
Hutton's
Shearwater
2 (1)
COMMON DIVING PETREL 1 (1)
Wilson's
Storm-petrel 12
(3)
White-facedStorm-petrel 18
(3)
BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL 1
(1)
Australasian
Gannet 20
(4)
Silver
Gull
100+
Kelp
Gull
7 (3)
Crested
Tern
14 (3)
Common
Tern 12
(5)
White-fronted
Tern
1 (1)
Pomarine
Jaeger
1 (1)
Mammals:
One pod of Common Dolphins - numbers difficult to
estimate in the conditions.
Cheers,
Roger McGovern
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