|
Conditions overcast and sultry to begin with, the
cloud cover breaking up out wide to reveal a glorious Qld. summers day. Wind,
light to moderate E-SE, seas moderate on a gentle, up to 1.5 metre swell.
Southerly current at up to 3.5 knots out wide. Water temp. not recorded as the
measurement device was indicating ridiculously high temps. Frankly, instead of
the sea 'boiling with boids', it would have been 'boiling the boids'. 'Nuff
said.
We haven't conducted many December trips over the
years due to the proximity to Christmas and many of the locals finding more
family orientated stuff to do. With 8 'new chums' from as far afield as the U.S.
and Sweden providing us with a total of 17 pax. the trip went
ahead.
On leaving the Seaway it was soon evident that
there was a lot of surface fish activity, with the Mack Tuna getting stuck into
the small baitfish and with several large rafts of mainly Wedge-tailed
Shearwaters present. Although fairly early into the season, the scenario looked
ripe for Streaked Shearwater and sure enough a big baldy faced bird stuck out
like a sore thumb in the second large raft we headed for. Good views were had by
most both on the water and in flight. Not wishing to waste more precious drift
time inshore, we headed out south east to the usual drift site approx. 55
kilometres offshore.
Little encountered on the Shelf with a few
shearwaters, Sooty Terns & Pomarine Jaegers sighted. We reached the drift
point in Slope waters at 1120 hrs drifted at various spots until 1230 hrs,
arriving back at the Seaway at 1545 hrs. As usual 'out wide' provided the most
excitement for the day.
The deckie had barely started throwing the chum
over when the 2nd Tahiti Petrel for the day - a lovely fresh plumaged bird
(uniformly dark upper tail coverts & only a thin greyish line up the
centre of the underwing) - flew majestically over the stern of the vessel
(bins not needed)! Much to the delight of all on board it landed and with wings
held constantly aloft tucked into the chum. (OK Tony R. say
it).
In short time a few Wedge-tails appeared followed
by the cry of Kermadec Petrel, a well marked dark morph. This bird stayed around
for some time giving everyone good views of the (in this bird) prominent
upperwing primary flashes, both in flight and on the water when wings held
aloft. With a couple more Tahiti Petrels appearing the next pleasant suprise was
Gould's Petrel which hung around long enough for most to get good views. The
Kermadec by the way, was the 8th sighting for the year - chooks!
Full list;
Tahiti Petrel - 5
Kermadec Petrel - 1
Gould's Petrel - 1
Streaked Shearwater - 1
Wedge-tailed Shearwater - 890
Flesh-footed Shearwater - 2
Short-tailed Shearwater - 3
Brown Booby - 1
Pied Cormorant - 1
Pomarine Jaeger - 7
Crested Tern - 41
Sooty Tern - 18
Sharks;
Thresher Shark, Black-tipped Reef
Shark
Mammals;
Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Common Dolphin.
All in all a great way to finish the year 2002, a
year that saw all 12 pelagics proceed, although Nov. ended up being a half day
due to weather. The first trip planned for 2003 is January 18th with several
spots still available. I'll be posting the full itinerary soon. Have a pleasant
and safe Xmas & New Year. Cheers - Paul Walbridge.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the
message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject
line)
to
| 