Eaglehawk Pelagic SATURDAY 25th June 2005

[richard baxter <>]

Eaglehawk Pelagic SATURDAY 25^TH June 2005 Trip Report

Location: Eaglehawk, Tasmania, Australia.

Conditions

Sea: 1.0-2m

Weather: Overcast morning clearing to sunshine all afternoon

Wind: 15-20knots

Time: Depart Eaglehawk jetty about 7.10pm return 4.30pm.

Boat: Tasman Sea Charters

 

This report covers day 1 (Saturday) of two sperate days at sea on the weekend of the 25/26^th June 2005.

Ten interstate seabirders met Damian, the owner of Tasman Sea Charters at the Jetty at 7am and we departed under cloudy skies.  A large high pressure system had positioned itself over southern Tasmania so we were expecting two days of sunshine at sea over the weekend.

                       

We headed directly east and soon the Kelp and Pacific Gulls were replaced with a lone Black-browed Albatross and Australasian Gannet.  The first Buller?s Albatross cruised past the back of the boat after only 10 minutes at sea and Shy Albatross could be seen in the distance.  Closer to the boat, several Common Diving Petrels darted away as we continued east, eventually stopping over the shelf 40minutes after departing.

We commenced to burley and we soon had 5 Buller?s Albatross around the boat and the numbers of Shy Albatross grew to over 10 during the following couple of hours.  We remained at this location for about 5hrs but bird numbers were generally very low and they were not interested in our boat or the slick we had created.

Whilst at this location we were visited by both Southern and Northern Giant Petrel, Cape Petrel, Wandering Albatross, Short-tailed Shearwater, Great-winged Petrel, Yellow-nosed Albatross and a distant probable Grey-backed Storm Petrel.

 

About 2pm we saw a trawler on the horizon and travelled out to meet it, hoping to find some more birds but bird numbers behind the trawler were also low with only about 30 birds following.

 

After arriving, the first bird to fly over to our boat was a Northern Royal Albatross, followed by several Yellow-nosed, Buller?s and Shy.  There were 4 Wandering Albatross around the trawler, 4 Cape Petrel and a Southern Royal Albatross later flew past giving all on board excellent views and some great photos were taken.

 

We stayed near the trawler for an hour before making our way to shore.  Within minutes of departing we had brief views of our only Fairy Prion of the weekend.  Common Diving Petrels were numerous on the way back and we took the time to stop at three groups of Australian Fur Seals feeding in open water before arriving back to the jetty about 4.30pm.

 

Regards

Richard Baxter

Newcastle

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