Eaglehawk Tasmania Pelagic Trip Report Sat/Sun 13th & 14th September 2008
We arrived in a very windy Hobart on Friday night with forecasts for Saturday
being for 30knot winds and 3-4m seas. Our group departed Dootown jetty at 7am
in conditions unlike anything I had experienced on an Eaglehawk pelagic trip
previously with strong but warm NW winds, making for very mild temperatures.
The NW winds combined with a southerly swell and strong tides created two days
of confused seas but these remained slight at about 1.5m.
This was the first pelagic birding trip for which our boat had been used. It
was designed for rough weather and over the weekend handled the conditions with
ease. The other advantage was that this boat was fast, capable of doing over
100khr and recently setting the record time for crossing Bass Strait.
As is often the case, those pelagic trips in mild, calm and sunny conditions
often fail to produce good birds, with wild weather often producing a better
range of species. This weekend certainly supported this theory with the
constant strong winds blowing in a range of outstanding southern ocean
seabirds.
Saturday 13th September 2008
After 45min we stopped in 4000ft directly east of Eaglehawk and began to
burley. Within minutes we had both SOUTHERN & NORTHERN ROYAL ALBATROSS as well
as BULLERS, WANDERING, YELLOW-NOSED, BLACK-BROWED AND SHY ALBATROSS visiting
the boat. FAIRY PRION was present all day as were passing COMMON DIVING
PETRELS and the occasional GREY-BACKED STORM PETREL was sighted, attracted to
the burley slick.
GREAT-WINGED PETRELS were abundant with over 200 passing during the day as were
CAPE PETRELS. After an hour or so we had the first of about 5 WHITE-HEADED
PETRELS and not long after that the call went out “GREY PETREL” with a lone
bird cruising in from the north and making a brief but close pass of the boat.
Fortunately another two Grey Petrels visited during the day both staying long
enough for those with cameras to get a couple of good pics. An awesome and very
difficult seabird to see.
With the strong winds, 90% of birds flew in from the north with the wind at
their backs. Many birds raced past the boat giving us only brief views as they
continued out of site over the horizon. Our only SALVIN’S ALBATROSS of the day
was one of these, as was our first WHITE-CHINNED PETREL. Fortunately another
White-chinned arrived a couple of hours later and stayed long enough for all to
see.
Other birds seen during the day were, NORTHERN GIANT PETREL, BLACK-FACED
CORMORANT, SOOTY SHEARWATER & SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER.
The highlight for many was coming across an enormous flock of several hundred
Common Diving Petrels on the way home. Many photos were obtained of this very
hard to photograph species. Amongst these were a couple of LITTLE PEGUIN.
The only cetaceans seen were a pod of LONG-FINNED PILOT WHALE.
Sunday 14th September 2008
Saturday’s weather conditions continued through to Sunday bringing even
stronger winds and an expected S/W front passing through around midday. We
made the decision to travel south to Tasman Island and then south east from
there, eventually stopping in 5000ft of water, positioning ourselves in the
path of the approaching cold front.
Again SOUTHERN ROYAL ALBATROSS was the first bird to visit the boat followed by
GREAT-WINGED PETREL, FAIRY PRION & our first SOUTHERN GIANT PETREL of the
weekend. Another SALVIN’S ALBATROSS briefly visited the boat as did 2-3
GREY-BACKED STORM PETREL AND 4-5 BULLERS ALBATROSS (all adults).
WANDERING, NORTHERN ROYAL, YELLOW-NOSED & BLACK-BROWED ALBATROSS were in lesser
numbers than the previous day but SHY ALBATROSS remained abundant all weekend,
as did CAPE PETREL and FAIRY PRION.
Around midday the S/Westerly front passed over the boat bringing stronger wind
gusts and a constant stream of GREAT-WINGED PETRELS with it. Up to 10
WHITE-HEADED PETRELS were seen with most coming close to the boat.. In amongst
these was the bird of the day: SOFT-PLUMAGED PETREL.
Other birds seen during the day were, NORTHERN GIANT PETREL, BLACK-FACED
CORMORANT, SOOTY SHEARWATER & SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATER.
As we returned to shore we came across a huge flock of 200 FAIRY PRION feeding
above a pod of LONG-FINNED PILOT WHALES.
CheersRichard Baxter
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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