Mike Carter posted a report s of the second Ashmore Reef trip that
detailed what we saw. I’ll attempt to flesh out some of the details that were
relevant to me.
1/ The sea did not make the trip pleasant . If you think 4 hours back from
the shelf at Wollongong is a long time, try 3 days back from Ashmore Reef,
belting into the southerly. Neither my brother, Rob nor myself were seasick but
we took Travelcalm most of the time as we were not willing to take the risk.
While the sea was only a 1 metre of wind chop ie a good day out of Wollongong,
it made things difficult. Sleeping was interesting, like being on a roller
coaster, accelerating towards the bottom of the bunk and getting airborne over
the bigger swells. However, one tended to get used to it and we slept well most
nights.
2/ The southerly wind meant the key pelagic species we wanted would have
tended to move north. Nevertheless, all the key species were seen- Bulwer’s,
Tahiti and Joanin Petrels , Matsudaria’s, Leach’s and Swinhoe’s Storm Petrels
and Streaked Shearwater However, these were seen in much lower numbers than
usual . I didn’t see either of the Matsudaria’s, or any of the Streaked
Shearwaters.
3/ There was a lot of water between birds and it was absolutely critical to
be on the front deck when the birds were called otherwise you had Buckley’s. Its
hard enough of Wollongong at 20-30 metres when the birds come to the back of the
boat but at 50-200 metres when the birds have no attraction to the boat, ID
becomes very problematical. Standing on the foredeck travelling south was not
popular as spray and water were coming over the bow.
4/ Ultimate ID was made by Mike Carter and if Mike didn’t see the bird (eg
the Joanin’s) it became a possible or probable. It would have been useful to
have another person on board who some experience with these species eg people
like Tony Palliser, Phil Hansbro, Pete Milburn etc. "Jizz" is vital in ID’ing
these birds and you cannot learn jizz from a fieldguide.
5/ The Jodie Anne is a sensational boat. Mick the cook produced some terrific
meals and the boat is very comfortable with hot showers, proper toilets, even
air conditioning on the lower deck. The cabins are a bit cramped to say the
least so that minimising baggage would be a good idea. The crew fished
continually and hooked a beautiful, biggish Blue Marlin (which they released), a
good sized Spanish Mackerel (which we ate) some tuna and a couple of
Dolphinfish
6/ What a buzz seeing a new bird for Australia on West Island at Ashmore
Reef. We got such sustained and close views that I could just about describe
every feather. The Grasshopper –Warbler proved to be extremely elusive. I never
saw it at all and nobody saw the entire bird.
7/ Middle Island at Ashmore was just mind blowing. There were 1000+ Ruddy
Turnstones on the beach plus 1000’s of other waders. 1000’s of Common Noddy,
1000’s of Brown Booby, maybe 20 or so Red-footed Booby., 100’s of Frigatebirds
in a thermal above the island- you just didn’t know where to look.
7/ The skipper indicated the Jodie Anne will be available next year. If you
have any interest in this trip, I would register my interest with George Swann
at
