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BA-VIC Pelagics: PORT FAIRY, VIC Pelagic Report for 5 March 2006

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Subject: BA-VIC Pelagics: PORT FAIRY, VIC Pelagic Report for 5 March 2006
From: "Mike Carter" <>
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 13:24:52 +1100
 

SUMMARY: Given a rather daunting forecast, we had an unexpectedly pleasant day. Albatrosses were abundant but some petrels and shearwaters were strangely scarce and there were no real rarities. A special highlight was the opportunity to compare at least 4 taxa (in my opinion, 5) of Great Albatrosses together at close range. We also had several BULLER?S ALBATROSS and a Pomarine Jaeger in excellent conditions for photography.

 

OBSERVERS:  Chris Lester (organiser), Rob Berry, Rohan Clarke, Gail D?Alton, Rob Farnes, Peter Kyne, Peter Lansley, Rebecca Lester, Frank Pierce, Howard Plowright, Simon Starr, Sue Taylor & Mike Carter (leader & reporter).

           

WEATHER: A ridge of high pressure extended from the Bight through Bass Strait. Full overcast gradually cleared to full sunshine by late morning. Warm, humid and a little hazy. Despite a forecast of 10/15 Kt wind rising to 20 Kts in p.m. we were blessed with a very light SE breeze of ~3 Kts all day!

 

SEA:  The sea was slight (<0.5 m) on a low (~1.0 m) SW swell. So it was very comfortable and no one was sick.

 

ACTIVITY: Sailed from Port Fairy (PF) (38º23?18?S 142º14?30?E) at 07.05 EDST. We went out on our usual course of 202º at 13.5 Kts crossing the shelf break at 09.40 having paused enroute to check on high flying Silver Gulls masquerading as Jaegers, observe a Fluttering Shearwater inshore and a Pomarine Jaeger near the shelf break. Our first berley stop was from 09.45 to 10.30 in 260 fathoms @ 38º49.1?S 141º53.6?E. Although our shark-liver and fish berley had attracted a fair range of birds, we saw that over 200 albatrosses accompanied an approaching trawler, so at 10.30 we moved 2 Nm to the east to meet it. We stopped and berleyed in its wake until 11.10 while it continued on its way. Then we headed westwards to the ~700 fathom canyon at 38º52.3?S 141º49.1?E and berleyed from 11.35 to 12.25. We?d seen only one Great-winged Petrel before reaching this spot but we had 6 here. As the trawler was now fishing a course some 3 Nm to the south of us we again moved to approach it and berleyed nearby from 12.35 to 13.00 when we headed in. Here we encountered most of the Flesh-footed Shearwaters seen today. Enroute back to PF, we cruised portions of the western and northern shores of Lady Julia Percy Island (LJPI) and then investigated a small congregation of seabirds, which included Hutton?s Shearwaters, feeding on krill. Docked at 16.30.

 

MAMMALS:

Australian Fur Seals: At least 6 inshore & 4 offshore away from LJPI where there were thousands.

 

BIRDS: 25 species [30 taxa] of seabird observed beyond the river mouth indicated good diversity. Albatross?s and White-chinned Petrels were numerous due to the presence of a trawler. Unless noted otherwise, all listed below were near or beyond the shelf break (i.e. pelagic). Highlights are in capitals.

Little Penguin: 8 (2), 3 inshore coming in & 5 ashore on LJPI.

Great-winged Petrel: 12 (6). 5 were the more ragged-looking, larger, heavier billed,

conspicuously white-faced gouldi form & 7 were neat nominate-race birds.

Fairy Prion: 9 (2), 2 inshore, 3 offshore & 4 pelagic.

WHITE-CHINNED PETREL: 30 (25).

Flesh-footed Shearwater: 18 (15), 3 offshore & 15 pelagic.

Sooty Shearwater: 3 (1).

Short-tailed Shearwater: 360 (200). 320 inshore, 10 offshore & 30 pelagic.

Fluttering Shearwater: 2 (1) inshore.

Hutton?s Shearwater: 6 (4) inshore coming in.

Wilson?s Storm-Petrel: 1.

GREY-BACKED STORM-PETREL: 1.

White-faced Storm-Petrel: 35 (10). 15 offshore & 20 pelagic.

WANDERING ALBATROSS: 11 (6). 6 exulans (similar in size to S. Royal) of most

plumage stages from 1 to 6, 3 gibsoni (smaller, about size of N. Royal),

stages 3 & 4 and 2 [antipodensis] smaller still, stage 3 plumage.

S. ROYAL ALBATROSS: 1 adult.

N. ROYAL ALBATROSS: 2, 1 adult, 1 juv.

Black-browed Albatross: 102 (80), 1 inshore, 1 offshore & 100 pelagic.

Melanophrys: 80. 40 ads. & 20 sub-ads. Impavida: 20, 12 ads. & 8 sub-adults.

Shy Albatross cauta: 210 (160), 10 offshore & 200 pelagic. 160 adults, 50 sub-ads.

Yellow-nosed Albatross: 30 (15); 15 ads. & 15 sub-ads. 1 inshore, 3 off & 28 pelagic.

BULLER?S ALBATROSS: 8 (3) adults.

Australasian Gannet: 145 (50). 80 inshore, 60 offshore & 5, (incl. 1 ad.) pelagic.

Black-faced Cormorant: 14 on LJPI.

POMARINE JAEGER: 1 alone on water near shelf break.

Arctic Jaeger: 3 (1) inshore.

Kelp Gull: 15 on LJPI incl. > 4 juvs.

Silver Gull: 180. 130 inshore (100 feeding on a krill swarm in p.m.), & 50 on LJPI.

            Before sunrise, a flock of 21 just off PF, flying at great height (making ID

difficult), appeared to be heading south as if migrating. But as they didn?t

make much progress, we later surmised they?d been searching for krill.   

Crested Tern: 175. 130 on LJPI, 15 inshore, 20 offshore & 10 pelagic.

 
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mt Eliza    VIC     3930
Ph:  (03) 9787 7136
Email:
m("bigpond.com","pterodroma");"> 
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