Hi,
Spent the weekend in Eden mainly on a charter for offshore cetacean. We saw
surprisingly little on that front - some oceanic bottlenose dolphins being
the highlight. I didn't keep a specific seabird score but saw some good
birds including two new species for me...it has been some time since I've
scored any new seabird on one of these trips, so the weekend was very
worthwhile.
Highlights were KERMADEC PETREL, BLACK-WINGED PETREL and LITTLE SHEARWATER.
All were seen well. The Kermadec was dark phase, notable was the underwing
patterning and the white primary shafts on the upperwing, as well as narrow
wings, high arching flight and general slim appearance compared to
providence and great-winged petrels. The black-winged petrel was seen very
well. A small, compact and relatively short-billed bird with very thick
black edges to the underwings and a wide dark 'M' mark on the back, not
distinctly differentiated from the grey on the mantle and flight feathers.
Facial markings were grey with dark around the eye but lacked any
significant intrusion of colour into the neck area. The little shearwaters
were both seen over very deep water. They were in fresh plumage with pale
'panels' in the secondaries and distinctly slaty (almost silvery) grey
plumage. The underwings were white with narrow dark margins. Undertail
coverts were white and there was some white over the eye, indicating birds
from Lord Howe island. Flight was not typical in the first bird but the
second exhibited the flutter and intermittent glide (reminiscent of common
sandpiper) characteristic of this species. Size and shape was distinctly
different from fluttering, being small and slim of build, rather like a very
diminutive Buller's Shearwater. Interestingly, the only time I have
previously seen this species in Australia was in very deep water (>2000m) in
far eastern Bass Strait, not far south of this location.
The oceanography is currently dominated by the Tasman front which is just
offshore. A warm core eddy is creating substantial upwelling. There were
huge numbers of sunfish and many of the normally offshore species of
seabird, such as Gibson's Albatross, were well inshore. Both these and
sunfish were inside Twofold Bay, which is quite unusual. Water temperature
was 17 degrees in the Bay and up to 20.6 degrees at the shelf. On both
Saturday and Sunday, we travelled more or less eastwards and cruised a few
miles up and down the shelf pursuing reported sperm whales, but to no avail.
We transited the shelf into depths probably exceeding 2000m.
The following is a list of species seen during the weekend:
Little Penguin Eudyptula minor (several heard and seen offshore)
Great-winged Petrel Pterodroma macroptera
Providence Petrel Pterodroma solandri (occasional offshore)
KERMADEC PETREL Pterodroma neglecta (1 seen about 15 miles offshore)
BLAC-WINGED PETREL Pterodroma nigripennis (1 seen about 15 miles offshore)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater Puffinus pacificus
Sooty Shearwater Puffinus griseus (1 seen on 6th)
Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris
Fluttering Shearwater Puffinis gavia
Hutton's Shearwater Puffinus huttoni (one flock of about 15 birds, a few
individuals)
LITTLE SHEARWATER Puffinus assimilis (two very far offshore on 5th)
Gibson's Albatross Diomedea gibsoni (most abundant albatross sp. of
weekend; mainly inshore)
Black-browed / Campbell Albatross Thalassarche impavida / melanophrys
Shy / White-capped Albatross Thalassarche cauta / steadi
Wilson's Storm-Petrel Oceanites oceanicus
Australasian Gannet Morus serrator
Black-faced Cormorant Phalacrocorax fuscescens (1 in Twofold Bay)
Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo
Australian Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus
Eastern Reef Egret Egretta sacra (1 dark phase flying along rocks adjacent
to coast)
Brown Skua Catharacta lonnbergi
Pacific Gull Larus pacificus
Crested Tern Sterna bergii
Common Dolphin (>1000)
Humpback Whale (several pods, some feeding)
Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphin (two pods beyond the shelf)
Onshore Bottlenose Dolphin (a small pod within Twofold Bay)
Australian Fur Seal
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