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.
