Dear Birders,
A 3 day series of pelagic voyages from Southport in Tasmania to Pedra Blanca
and the shelf edge beyond were undertaken on 28, 29 and 30 July by 12 intrepid
birders. BA readers were advised of "The Ultimate Pelagic" on 29 Feb and the
trip was filled within 24 hours.
The highlight was seeing all of the Australian (non-vagrant) albatrosses apart
from Yellow-nosed over the 3 days (using C&B nomenclature). Sightings included
1.. A number of Wanderers including some large very white birds and some
smaller birds with various degrees of brown in the plumage.
2.. Royal Albatross of both the Northern and Southern sub-species.
3.. Black Browed Albatross including the sub-species melanophris and impavida.
4.. Shy Albatross including sub-species cauta, steadi and salvini.
5.. Buller's Albatross.
6.. Grey-headed Albatross. At least 3 were seen on the 30th.
7.. Sooty Albatross was seen by a few observers on the 28th south of Pedra
Blanca.
8.. Light-mantled Sooty Albatross. 1 seen close to the boat on the 29th and
at least 3 seen more distantly on the 30th
Common Diving-petrel were seen in large numbers on each trip out to the shelf.
Large numbers of Gannets were nesting on Pedra Blanca along with a colony of
black-faced Cormorants and Shy Albatross. Northern and Southern Giant-petrel;
Brown Skua: White-fronted Tern; Cape Petrel; Great-winged Petrel; White-headed
Petrel; Sooty Shearwater and Fairy Prion were seen in small numbers. Somewhat
surprisingly there were no Storm Petrels at all nor any of the other exotics so
hoped for by the organiser!
The views obtained on the 28th of Pedra Blanca and the nearby sea stack
Eddystone Rock were stunningly spectacular but otherwise the trip on the 28th
was quite quiet except for the brief view enjoyed by a few of a Sooty
Albatross. On this day we only just reached the initial stages of the shelf
edge. On the 29th we followed a track to the east of Pedra Blanca heading for a
series of canyons on the edge of the shelf. Burleying with shark liver and fish
carcasses from an hour in from the beginning of the drop off from the shelf
produced large numbers of albatross by the time we reached the shelf. Drifting
in water about 500 m deep produced a very close fly by of the first
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross to the delight of the participants and the relief
of the organiser. On the 30th we left Southport just a bit after 6:00 am and
repeated the track of the 29th but with enough time to get out to 1000 m depth.
The first of the days Grey-headed Albatross passed by at about the 500 m depth
point and a couple more were seen further out. More Light-mantled Sooties and
Grey-headed Albies were seen in the area between the 500 and 1000 m contours.
The lesson learned from our experiences, and the anecdotal evidence from our
skipper, Morrie Wolf, point to an expectation that to get interesting birds one
needs to go beyond the shelf edge unless there is a significant fish feeding
event occurring on the shelf that will strongly attract birds. The problem from
Southport is the distance to the shelf edge which was around 4 to 5 hours in La
Golondrina. The trip produced a group of seemingly very happy birders, for most
of whom both the Light-mantled and the Grey-headed were new birds. The
organiser was consoled by a Grey Petrel and a Sooty Albatross seen at point
blank range on the St Helens pelagics well organised by Ian May the previous
week.
This could become a classic pelagic trip if a faster boat or a kick-off point
close to the shelf edge could be found. A full report is being prepared by
Simon Musto and BA readers will be advised when this is available on-line.
Many thanks to Dr Bill Wakefield for suggesting the trip and to the trusting
souls who rallied to the call and made it financially possible.
Regards
Peter Marsh
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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