This was a great trip. Thirteen birders hung on while the Halicat pushed
through a lumpy two metre swell with little to look at until we reached the
200 metre depth 17 nautical miles east of Sydney. As soon as we stopped for
the first chum a Grey Ternlet appeared beside us and gave excellent views at
close range. David Mitford put the observers onto a group of 12 Pygmy Killer
Whales which breached on several occasions giving excellent views. The first
of four Long-tailed Jaegers of the day stooged around us as Hal worked on
his first slick.
David picked up a distant White Tern which kept its distance before it
frustratingly evaporated against the cloud line. A feeding flock of mixed
birds was located and distant views revealed trademark white underparts of
rarities but they were determined to keep their distance. Perseverance by
Cam brought them in range and when I had two White-necked Petrels in view
with a Streaked Shearwater and two Grey Ternlets we thought it does not get
much better than this. After half an hour where everyone enjoyed excellent
views of all of these birds we stopped again. Then a Tahiti Petrel made a
fly past at close range. A Kermadec Petrel (intermediate) was seen by
several observers ( I dipped ) in a very credible claim. For the
international birders the icing on the cake came when a recently fledged
Wandering Albatross decided to follow us for a while. The last of the
Long-tailed Jaegers was an adult with complete fresh tail streamers. With
the swell behind us we surfed into Sydney.
Wandering Albatross 1juvenile
Tahiti Petrel 1
Kermadec Petrel 1
Great-winged Petrel 10-all gouldi
White-necked Petrel 2- both showing uniformally dark under primaries, 33
59.364 S, 151 34.708 E, depth 217m, temp 22.7 C.
Streaked Shearwater 1
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 100 plus
Fluttering Shearwater 10
Short-tailed Shearwater 5
Flesh-footed Shearwater 100 plus
White-faced Storm-petrel 1
Pomarine Jaeger 20 plus
Arctic Jaeger 5
Long-tailed Jaeger 4
Grey Ternlet 3
White Tern 1
Pygmy Killer Whales 12, 34 00.907 S 151 33.525 E, depth 217m, temp 22.7C
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