Seabirds seen on pelagics off Merimbula 15 and 16 Jan 2005

["Rohan Clarke" <>]

MERIMBULA  PELAGIC TRIP REPORTS for 15 and 16 January 2005

 

These two days were organised primarily to observe cetaceans off the NSW coast in the vicinity of Merimbula. Simon Mustoe who organised both trips will no doubt post a link to his web page when the full trip report is placed there. It would be worth checking out, especially given some interesting cetaceans were seen. In the mean time here are the bird sightings for the two days.

 

15^th January 2005

A fairly quiet day with only 16 species of seabird observed beyond the bar. Highlights were a Kermadec Petrel, which was unfortunately only seen by a few as it crossed the bow, and 1 or 2 Buller’s Shearwaters. Unless noted otherwise, those listed below were near or beyond the shelf break (i.e. pelagic).

 

KERMADEC PETREL: 1 dark phase

Great-winged Petrel: c. 150 (20)

White-faced Storm-Petrel: 10 (5)

Flesh-footed Shearwater: 5 (2)

Wedge-tailed Shearwater 250 (30)

Sooty Shearwater: 5 (1).

Short-tailed Shearwater: 550 (500) mostly inshore

Fluttering Shearwater: 2 (1).

Hutton’s Shearwater: 2 (1)

BULLER’S SHEARWATER: 2 (1)

Shy/White-capped Albatross 5 (1). 4 adults and 1 imm.

Australasian Gannet: 7 (3)  4 inshore, 3 pelagic

Arctic Jaeger: 10 (6) 4 inshore, 6 pelagic

Pomarine Jaeger: 2 (2) both inshore

Silver Gull: 35 (30) all inshore

Crested Tern: 10 (3), all inshore.

 

16^th January 2005

A better day for birds with a bit more wind. The trade-off was that cetacean spotting was severely hampered with whitecaps all day. In contrast to Saturday 20 species of seabird were observed beyond the bar. Highlights were a White-necked Petrel, which was seen well by most, exceptional numbers of Buller’s Shearwaters with up to 5 together at one time and an immature Buller’s Albatross.

 

WHITE-NECKED PETREL: 1

Great-winged Petrel: c. 390 (120)

White-faced Storm-Petrel: 6 (2)

Flesh-footed Shearwater: 35 (10) 2 inshore

Wedge-tailed Shearwater 150 (50) 35 inshore

Sooty Shearwater: 2 (1)

Short-tailed Shearwater: 600 (500) mostly inshore

Fluttering Shearwater: 4 (2) all inshore

Hutton’s Shearwater: 7 (2) 1 inshore 6 pelagic

BULLER’S SHEARWATER: 14 (5)

Shy/White-capped Albatross 14 (4). 13 adults and 1 imm. 4 inshore remainder pelagic

Black-browed Albatross 3 (1) all immature thus difficult to rule impavida out

Yellow-nosed Albatross 2 (1) both adults pelagic

BULLER’S ALBATROSS 1 imm

Wandering Albatross 2. Both appeared to be gibsoni

Australasian Gannet: 3 (2)  2 inshore, 1 pelagic

Arctic Jaeger: 4 (2) 3 inshore, 1 pelagic

Pomarine Jaeger: 1 inshore

Silver Gull: 4 (4) all inshore

Crested Tern: 16 (10), all inshore.

 

Cheers

Rohan

 

Dr Rohan Clarke
Threatened Mallee Bird Project
Zoology Department
La Trobe University
Bundoora 3086
Ph: 03 9479 1672 Mobile 0408 947001