SYDNEY PELAGIC TRIP REPORT
February 10, 2007
Observers
Participants were:
Roger McGovern
Phil Maher
Peter Madvig
Adrian O'Neill
Derek Porteous
Antoine Joly
Dianne Lucas and partner
Marguerite Cousins
Jon Irvine
Charlie Andrews
Peter Marsh
It was good to have Phil Maher on board having a 'busman's holiday' from
Deniliquin where, he tells us, the drought is digging deep.
Conditions
A very pleasant Sydney summer day with mostly sunny conditions throughout and
air temperatures offshore reaching a maximum of 27degC
Water temperature inshore was around 21.4degC and reached as high as 23.1degC
at the shelf break
Departed at 0730hrs and returned at 1545hrs
Zero sea on a 0.5m swell (if that!), with a very late south-easterly breeze
causing the only ripples seen all day. Needless to say, we had an extremely
comfortable ride with no sufferers from sea-sickness
Winds were light and variable all day, never reaching more than 5knots
Trip Summary
As we left Sydney Heads, it was apparent that we were going to have a very
benign day in terms of sea conditions which is never a good portent for seeing
birds since they prefer to float on the surface, rather than fly, when there is
no wind. Motoring through the inshore section of our journey, we had reasonable
numbers of the birds that we would expect at this time of the year including
Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, Short-tailed Shearwaters, Pomarine Jaegers, Crested
Terns, Australasian Gannets and Fluttering Shearwaters.
As we continued across the 'Abyssmal Plain' out towards the shelf break, bird
numbers dropped right off and the sea conditions became more and more calm.
When we reached Brown's Mountain at the shelf, the sea was oily smooth without
a ripple to be seen. It was quite eerie and put me in mind of the line from the
Rime of the Ancient Mariner - "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean".
Mind you, he copped that because he had shot an albatross with his crossbow but
I don't know where we had transgressed. We commenced berleying operations with
not a lot of optimism but, as always, some birds began to appear with
Flesh-footed Shearwaters and Great-winged Petrels making up most of the
numbers. Suddenly, a call of 'albatross' went up and a young Stage 3 Wandering
Albatross (gibsoni) came flying close by and continued on, never to be seen
again. Another brief fly-by, this time a Long-tailed Jaeger was a lifer for
several birders on board and then, some time later, a visit by two Sooty Terns
(an adult and a juvenile) caused some excitement.
With things fairly quiet, we gave up berleying and motored slowly northwards
for several kilometres hoping to come across something different. However, in
all the parties of Flesh-footed Shearwaters and Great-winged Petrels sitting on
the water, we could not find a single Procellaria or, indeed, anything to raise
the pulse.
On the way back to the heads, we encountered a large pod of Oceanic Common
Dolphins which amused themselves (and us) by riding on our bow wave in good
numbers and, in some cases, with some very small calves in tow.
Bird List
(Note that numbers in parenthesises represent the maximum numbers seen at any
one time)
Great-winged Petrel 60 (10)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 140 (20)
Short-tailed Shearwater 25 (8)
Flesh-footed Shearwater 100 (20)
Fluttering Shearwater 6 (2)
Wandering Albatross 1 (1)
Australasian Gannet 2 (1)
Long-tailed Jaeger 1 (1)
Arctic Jaeger 1 (1)
Pomarine Jaeger 12 (4)
Silver Gull 30 (10)
Sooty Tern 2 (2)
Crested Tern 6 (2)
Cetaceans
Oceanic Common Dolphins 200
Next Sydney pelagic trip will be on Saturday 10 March, 2007 departing Mosman
Ferry Wharf at 0645 and from Rose Bay Public Wharf at 0700. Call Hal on 0411
311 236 to make a reservation
Cheers
Roger McGovern
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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