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["Frank O'Connor" <>]

Perth Western Australia Pelagic Trip
Report Sunday 26th June 2005

Participants (27) :

Frank O'Connor (organiser), Margaret Armstrong, David Bennett, Irene
Benson, John Brooke, Alan Collins, Hazel Darnell, John Darnell, Alison
Gye, Joan Gye, William Gye, Judith Hoyle (Qld), Merrian Kuerschner, Mel
Lintern, Paul Marty, Dusty Millar, Clive Nealon, Claus Nielsen (Denmark),
Sally O'Loughlin, Peter O,Meara (Qld), Annette Park, Robyn Pickering, Jon
Pridham, Ruth Reichenberg, Wendy Spencer, Kristel Wenziker, Peter
Wilkins

Conditions :

Departed Hillarys Boat Harbour at 7.10am. Returned at 3.55pm. 
The forecast was for a fine day with a 1 metre sea and a 2 metre
swell.  Clouds were forecast for the morning with a maximum of 19°C.
The winds were forecast to be light 10 to 15 knots NE in the morning
swinging to NW in the afternoon.  There was little cloud, and the
wind in the afternoon seemed to have strengthened to maybe 15 to 18 knots
still from the north east.  The wind from the north caused a little
roll, but generally the conditions were excellent.

Description :

A trip that will be remembered for the large feeding flock of
Australasian Gannets and
Yellow-nosed Albatross interspersed with
small scattered numbers of dolphins. 
Humpback Whales gave close views including a
breech.  There were very high numbers of Soft-plumaged Petrels but
the diversity of species was comparatively low despite the best burley
trail that we have created.

 From Hillarys we headed roughly WSW heading for the trench NW of
Rottnest Island.  Australasian Gannets
were fairly common in small numbers, then the first
Yellow-nosed Albatross was sighted, followed
by a distant view of a Southern Giant-Petrel
seen by a few people on the bow, a brief view of a Shy Albatross, the
first Great-winged Petrel and a
Black-browed Albatross.  Then a group
of three Humpback Whales (two adults and a
calf) were sighted.  We approached and had good views including one
breeching level with the boat.  In this period we saw our first
Soft-plumaged Petrel and
Great Skua.

We continued, briefly detouring for another
Humpback Whale.  The first
Cape Petrels appeared.  In the distance
we could see a large flock of birds and we headed over to them.  As
we approached two Pantropical Spotted
Dolphins leapt from the water.  The flock was comprised of
Yellow-nosed Albatross and
Australasian Gannets.  The latter could
often be seen plunge diving.  A few petrels were also present. 
Dolphins could be seen spread throughout the
area.  Bottlenose Dolphins gave
excellent views often swimming next to the boat.  A couple of
Common Dolphins appeared very briefly near
the stern.  A school of about 20 Long-beaked
Bottlenose Dolphins were seen a few times.  The
Soft-plumaged Petrels teased the
photographers with many close fly bys.

We moved deeper stopping as we approached the 250 metre mark.  The
slick created by suet, pollard, popcorn, dog food and fish oil was very
effective and the first Wilson's
Storm-Petrel appeared almost immediately. 
Soft-plumaged Petrels came to the slick in
large numbers.  We moved the boat a couple of times so that we could
drift back through the slick.  Nothing new appeared so we moved
deeper stopping again at about the 320 metre mark.  The slick again
was very effective but a Black-browed
Albatross was the most interesting sighting.

We finally headed for home, stopping for good views of two more
Humpback Whales.

Thanks to the skipper Steve and deck hand Tenil.  Special thanks to
John Darnell for mixing most of the suet, pollard and oil prior to the
trip.

Time/Latitude/Longitude/Depth/Distance/Bearing from Hillarys of most
stoppages:

07:10 S31° 49' 34", E115° 44' 16", 5m, 0.0km, 0° (Hillarys
Wharf)
08:30 S31° 55' 18", E115° 23' 45", 45m, 34.0km, 252°
(Humpback Whales)
08:55 S31° 55' 09", E115° 21' 51", ??m, 36.7km, 254°
(Humpback Whale)
09:25 S31° 57' 26", E115° 14' 55", 155m, 48.4km, 252° (flock,
dolphins, stopped until 10:15)
10:45 S32° 00' 31", E115° 11' 45", 240m, 55.0km, 248° (stopped
until 11:50)
12:15 S32° 02' 07", E115° 10' 26", 325m, 58.0km, 246° (stopped
until 13:00)
14:30 S31° 54' 55", E115° 23' 09", ??m, 34.9km, 243°
(Humpback Whales)

Bird List (Christidis & Boles order) Total Number (Maximum at Same
Time) :

Southern Giant-Petrel 1 (1)
Cape Petrel 13 (3)
Great-winged Petrel 25 (7)
Soft-plumaged Petrel 90 (30+)
Black-browed Albatross (race
melanophrys) 2 (1) (immatures)
Shy Albatross (race cauta) 1
(immature)
Yellow-nosed Albatross (race bassi)
130 (60) mixed adults / immatures
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 15 (7)
Australasian Gannet 130 (80) (5
immature)
Great Skua 7 (3)
Silver Gull 4 (2)
Crested Tern 15 (3)

Mammal List :

Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (Stenella
attenuata) 2 (2)
Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) 2
(2)
Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops
truncatus) 30+ (30+)
Long-beaked Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops
aduncus) 20+ (20+)
Humpback Whale (Megaptera
novaeangliae) 7 (3)

Next Trip :

The next trip from Hillarys will be on Sunday 31st July 2005. 
For details contact Frank O'Connor on 08 9386 5694 or email

_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor           Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694              Email : -------------------------------------------- Birding-Aus is now on the Web at www.birding-aus.org -------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message 'unsubscribe birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line) to