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A very good turn-out of 34 birders attended the
October Sydney pelagic trip on the MV Zane Grey (the MV Halicat currently
visiting northern Queensland on a fishing trip). Unfortunately, only five local
birdo's were among the big group on board - where are all the Sydney birders
these days?
Conditions were ideal with a light south-easterly,
freshening and turning north-east in the afternoon. Water temperature was
between 18.0 and 18.5degC, and sea state was about a half metre sea on a one
metre swell. We left Rose Bay Wharf at 07.05 and motored out to the shelf with
three berleying stops, one about a nautical mile west of Brown's Mountain, the
second on Brown's Mountain and the third about three nautical miles east of
Brown's. A leisurely 10knot cruise back into Sydney had us at Rose Bay at
15.50.
The Birds
A very good day in terms of both bird and species
numbers, with a species count of 22. However, despite the constant feeling that
something really good was about to turn up, the only minor rarity was a
White-headed Petrel which did not stick around and was seen by only half the
people on the boat. A couple of Brown Skuas were unusual this late in the year
and the large numbers of Wandering Albatross feeding within a metre of the
transom was a memorable experience for overseas birders who had not seen
albatross before. Having seen Michael Hunter's comments on the Newcastle pelagic
which was out on the same day but which went much further offshore, it once
again raises the question of whether we should be venturing out further for more
pterodromas!
Southern Giant
Petrel 1
(1)
Cape
Petrel
16 (6)
Great-winged
Petrel
35 (5)
Providence
Petrel
20 (3)
White-headed
Petrel
1 (1)
Fairy
Prion
8 (1)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 1500+
(750)
Short-tailed
Shearwater 100 (15)
Flesh-footed
Shearwater 25 (4)
Fluttering
Shearwater 70
(20)
Hutton's
Shearwater
30 (5)
Fluttering
type
200+
Wandering
Albatross 22
(9)
Black-browed
Albatross 18 (6)
Yellow-nosed
Albatross 6
(1)
Shy Albatross
(cauta)
1 (1)
Wilson's
Storm-petrel
14 (5)
Australasian
Gannet
12 (3)
Brown
Skua
2 (1)
Arctic
Jaeger
1 (1)
Pomarine
Jaeger 1
(1)
Silver
Gull
50 (10)
Crested
Tern
1 (1)
The next Sydney pelagic will be on November 9th -
contact Tony Palliser to book.
cheers
Roger McGovern
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