25th January, 2003 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, WOLLONGONG, NSW, AUSTRALIA.
Report prepared by: P.J. Milburn.
Departed: 07:15 returned at approx. 16:00.
Sea conditions: NE to 0.5m at first and to 2.0m NE during the day.
Swell: NE 1 to 2m.
Weather: Brilliant sunshine.
Temperature range: 22.8 to 27.5°C.
Barometric pressure: 1021 HPa falling.
Wind: E 7 to 10kts at first, rising to NE 20 to 30 kts later.
Sea surface temperature: 21.8 to 24.0°C.
Primary chumming location: None, several brief stops were made at different
locations.
Summary:
A pleasant albeit breezy summer day and, although there were plenty of
white caps by mid afternoon, the sea was not too uncomfortable. For those
who keep an annual bird list and visitors from overseas January is always a
great trip, while for others it is always something of a mystery package.
A high pressure system was located in the Tasman Sea that had generated
north easterly onshore breezes for several days so we were hoping for a
good day.
We encountered reasonable numbers of shearwaters and a few jaegers inshore,
with Short-tailed Shearwaters being present in unusually high numbers for
the season. However, much of the cruise to the continental slope was
fairly uneventful.
As expected, seabird numbers increased markedly at the 100-fathom line.
The threat of a strong northeasterly wind later in the day made us
reluctant to venture too far east into deeper water so we headed northeast
instead. The weather did not allow us to drift and berley as we would have
liked to. During this part of the trip we observed an adult SOOTY TERN and
2 LONG-TAILED JAEGERS.
As we commenced our trip back to port we came upon a lone White-faced Storm
Petrel. A large smoke plume drifting down the coast from Kurnell, to the
south of Sydney, reminding us of the tribulations of drought and the
bushfire awaiting us back on land.
Highlights:
An adult SOOTY TERN and 2 LONG-TAILED JEAGERS were identified amidst large
numbers of the usual summer seabird species.
Birds recorded according to the latest Environment Australia Reporting
Schedule:
Species code: Species name: Numbers:
(Note: numbers in parenthesis = highest count at any one time)
073 Great-winged Petrel Pterodroma macroptera gouldi 56 (35)
068 Fluttering Shearwater Puffinus gavia 13 (3)
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater P. pacificus 220+ (120+)
071 Short-tailed Shearwater P. tenuirostris 130+ (40+)
072 Flesh-footed Shearwater P. carneipes 45+ (20+)
065 White-faced Storm-Petrel Pelagodroma marina 1
104 Australasian Gannet Morus serrator 3 (1)
106 Australian Pelican Pelicanus conspicillatus 5 (2)
128 Arctic Jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus 2 (2)
933 LONG-TAILED JAEGER S. longicauda 2 (1)
945 Pomarine Jaeger S. pomarinus 10 (3)
981 Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus 1
125 Silver Gull L. novaehollandiae 27 (26)
115 Crested Tern Sterna bergii 6 (2)
120 SOOTY TERN S. fuscata 1
In the harbour:
005 Little Penguin Eudyptula minor 1
096 Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 1
097 Little Black Cormorant P. sulcirostris 2
106 Australian Pelican Pelicanus conspicillatus 3
115 Crested Tern Sterna bergii 3
15 species of seabird identified outside the breakwater.
Mammals
None
For details of previous trips please visit http://www.sossa-international.org/
Future Trips
All Pelagic Trips from NSW are operated at no profit to the organisers
being operated as group boat charters for the benefit of all who wish
to join us. If you would like to join one of these trips please contact us
as below:
Pelagic Trips from Wollongong depart on the 4th Saturday of each month and
additional trips are organised at popular times of the year.
To make a booking on the SOSSA Wollongong Pelagics contact
SOSSA: Phone 02 4271 6004.
Email:
Carl Loves Phone: 0427 423 500
Pete Milburn: Mobile 0428 249 506, 02 6255 1313 (AH) or 02 6125 4173 (BH)
To make a booking for Sydney Pelagics, which depart on the 2nd Saturday of
each month contact
Tony Palliser Ph; 02-99001678 (w), 02-94115272 (h) or 0416 095875 (mobile)
http://users.bigpond.net.au/palliser/pelagic/
To make a booking for Eden Pelagics which are run on the 5th
Sunday of each month it occurs.
Barbara Jones or Ph (02) 6495 7390
Note: SOSSA = Southern Oceans Seabird Study Association
Dr P.J. Milburn
Biomolecular Resource Facility
Australian National University
GPO Box 334
Canberra
ACT 0200
+61 2 6125 4173 'Phone
+61 2 6125 4326 FAX
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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