Pelagic trip SUNDAY 13th October

[Phil Hansbro <>]

Swansea Pelagic Trip Sunday 13th of October

WOW WHAT A WEEKEND!! This report follows on from Richard Baxter's report on our treip the day before on Saturday the 12th of October. We have been planning these trips for ages going out further (40-45 nautical miles, 80-90 Kms) in October to see what we could find and it has paid off BIG TIME!! The prime targets were Cookilaria's and we saw 2 Saturday. We managed to get out 43 nautical miles, 86 Kms on Sunday and were again surrounded by rarities, Petrels and Storm-Petrels - FANTASTIC!!

We actually set off 30 mins late (6.30am) but were soon steaming out on a bit of a swell and soon found a trawler just a few Kms out surrounded by Wedge-tailed and the odd Fluttering Shearwater. Suddenly John Reidy picked out a BULLER'S SHEARWATER and everyone managed to see this most stunning of shearwaters.

We didn't stay long with the flock wanting to push further out after Saturday's success and the only other things of note on the way out to the edge of shelf were Flesh-footed Shearwaters and the odd Hutton's Shearwater in with the Flutterings. As we passed the edge of the shelf on a 1M swell the first Great-winged and Solander's Petrels were picked up along with 1 or 2 Wilson's Storm-Petrels and Black-browed Albatrosses the excitement mounted as we got further and further out.

Eventually we slowed down to 10 knots for a few Kms and we started chumming and soon attracted a flock massing some distance from the back of the boat and soon after we stopped. Chumming continued and the flock soon caught us up and consisted of Great-winged and Solander's Petrels, Wedge-tailed, Flesh-footed and the odd Short-tailed Shearwaters. The real fun was just beginning. Lots of Wilson's Storm-Petrels arrived from nowhere and shortly after the first Cape Petrel arrived. Not long after I picked up a BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL the bird flew in nicely and at least 2 remained with us for the rest of the stop. These represent the first records off the Swansea boat. I picked up another fregretta storm-petrel flying straight towards us unlike the Black-bellies it had a dark throat, it came in close to the boat banked showing it's white-belly and underwings, hung in the air for a couple of seconds showing the smallest small foot projection and the disappeared into the abyss. Put together these features ID the bird as a WHITE-BELLIED STORM-PETREL. It hung around long enough for Richard Baxter to get a few photos, which confirm the claim. This is also our first record off Swansea and will require a BARC submission, which is in preparation. We continued to be entertained during our 3 hour stop during which we drifted for 3 miles - which I am sure increased our bird list. New birds appeared at regular intervals and included several Gibsoni Wandering Albatrosses a 1st year Southern Giant Petrel and a Fairy Prion in heavy moult. The Wilson's Storm-Petrels continued to increase in number and gave stunning views down to a few feet, a few White-faced Storm-Petrels also joined them. The Black-bellied Storm-Petrels were almost continually on show, although not as close as the Wilson's and the White-bellied refused to show itself again - apparently typical behaviour for White-bellied Storm-Petrels.

All too quickly our time was up and we headed slowly back to the edge of the shelf although this wasn't to be the end of the excitement. After a while at 10 knots I picked up a small petrel with white underparts and head and uniform pale grey upperparts characteristic of a COOK'S PETREL, we stopped the boat and chummed for some time but the bird wouldn't come in - could this have been the same bird as the previous day - it's friend was soon to turn up!! This was going to be the tale of the way in. We started again and after another few miles I picked up another cookilaria, this time with a dark head and the call of GOULD'S PETREL went out. The bird remained distant and again didn't come in and flew off East but the situation was repeated soon a few miles later. This time I picked up another GOULD'S PETREL which again came in from the West and gave reasonable views for some time. I lost track a bit but sometime amongst all of this excitement I picked out a SOOTY TERN giving distant views in the wake.

We returned to the edge of the shelf and heading back in for 5.00pm after a most memorable trip - simply stunning although some of the views could have been longer or better. It is most notable to point out that similar trip on Saturday out of Sydney found no rarities and we believe that this is solely due to the distance that we travelled out. A huge thanks you to Richard Baxter for his outstanding organisational skills without which this trip would not have been the same. We now intend to try and get this far out on all of our trip (weather allowing).

We have another trip this Saturday the 19th of August which has a few places left. Again we will try and get 80-90 Kms off-shore. There are a few places left so if you are interested in seeing a stack of fantastic seabirds with the high possibility of rarities please contact Richard on:
It will be awesome???.

Those on board: Phil Hansbro, Richard and Damian Baxter, Rob Quinan, Graeme O'Conor, Lynn Tolhurst, Colin Goodenough, Jenny Norton, Sean Dooley, John Reidy, Sally Roddon and partner and Bruce McKay.

Departed 6.30am returned 4.45pm.
1-2M swell.

Wandering Albatross 5
Black-browed Albatross 5
Southern Giant Petrel 1
Cape Petrel 10
Solanders Petrel 75
Great-winged Petrel 30
COOK'S PETREL 1
GOULD'S PETREL 2
Fairy Prion 1
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 100
White-faced Storm-Petrel 5
BLACK-BELLIED STORM-PETREL 2+
WHITE-BELLIED STORM-PETREL 1
Flesh-footed Shearwater 75
Short-tailed Shearwater 100
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 1200
BULLER'S SHEARWATER 1
Fluttering Shearwater 100
Hutton's Shearwater 5
Australasian Gannet 10
Southern Skua 1
Arctic Skua 2
Silver Gull
Crested Tern 10
Common Tern 1
SOOTY TERN 1

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Dr Phil Hansbro
Discipline of Immunology & Microbiology
Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
University of Newcastle
Newcastle NSW 2308
Australia
Tel: +61 2 49236819 or 49522201
Fax: +61 2 49236814
Email:
http://www.birdingtours.com.au/
http://www.tandayapa.com/
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