SYDNEY PELAGIC TRIP REPORT
April 11, 2009
Conditions
Anyone perusing the bird list for this pelagic trip might assume that it was
perhaps a boring and uneventful day, but nothing could be further from the
truth. Firstly it must be said that pelagic trips are never boring (quiet
sometimes, but not boring!) but this one was a cracker of a day on the
water. The ocean was a flat calm all day which does keep the birds from
flying to an extent but, on the other hand, you get great looks and
photographs of birds in perfect conditions. We had a White-faced
Storm-Petrel 'dibbling' the surface 10 meters ahead of the Halicat while we
travelled almost a kilometre - the bird being totally unconcerned with our
presence and unaware that at least 200 photographs were being taken! We had
great cetaceans at close quarters, we had loads of flying fish taking off
close to the boat and planning for great distances, and we even had a
beautiful 90kg blue marlin caught and released by our skipper Craig.
The weather was warm for the time of year reaching about 24degC, with a
mixture of cloud and sun all day. Water temperature inshore was 19.2degC
but, when we reached the shelf break, the water was a deep cobalt blue and,
at 24.4degC, was as warm as we have ever encountered. We departed Rose Bay
wharf at 07.10am and returned at 3.40pm travelling in calm sea conditions
throughout the trip with perhaps a 0.5metre swell. Winds were very light and
variable mostly from the north.
Trip Summary
Since the conditions were benign and we suspected that berleying at our
usual location on Brown's Mountain might be unproductive, we decided to take
a different path to the shelf by heading north to Long Reef, east to the
shelf and then south to Brown's Mountain travelling at reasonably slow
speeds to enable good looks at any avian life en route. We had a small
contingent of birders on board but the low numbers were compensated for by
the high level of enthusiasm. As we headed north along the shoreline, we
encountered reasonable numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, a few
Australasian Gannets recently returned from their breeding activities in the
south, and then a stunning view of a Hutton's Shearwater which planed across
the back of the boat and landed in the wake. Shortly after turning east into
deeper water, we came across a lone adult Black-browed Albatross resting on
the water and a close approach gave excellent views to all. A Fluttering
Shearwater flew past at close range providing a good opportunity to clearly
see the plumage differences between our two small shearwaters. The journey
across the Abysmal Plain was more interesting than usual in that there were
steady sightings of birds all the way to the shelf break. A few Flesh-footed
Shearwaters were picked out amongst the more numerous Wedge-taileds, our
first Wilson's Storm-Petrel came past close to the boat and then we
encountered our first cetaceans of the day, a pod of about 10 Risso's
Dolphins which allowed us to approach close enough to get excellent views.
Flying fishes began to appear on a regular basis and we marveled at how far
these fish can 'fly' - an estimated 100 metres in some cases.
As we approached the shelf break, we had our greatest surprise of the day
when an early Fairy Prion came by just after we had seen a flying fish - it
seemed an unlikely combination! However, three more Fairy Prions shortly
afterwards confirmed that the first one was not just a lost individual. As
we turned south along the edge of the shelf break, we found a group of about
40 Short-finned Pilot Whales which were consorting with some 20 lounging
Oceanic Bottle-nosed Dolphins. A few Providence Petrels began to appear and
we then flushed a group of five Wilson's Storm-Petrels from the water. As we
approached Brown's Mountain, we came across our first White-faced
Storm-Petrel of the day, another lone Black-browed Albatross (an immature
bird this time) and our only Great-winged Petrel for the trip. A frustrating
long range rear view of a pale grey pterodroma with a 'V' pattern across its
back indicated that we had probably seen a Kermadec Petrel but the view was
not good enough to record it on the trip list.
After a fruitless half hour of berleying at Brown's Mountain, we decided to
motor slowly back towards Sydney with some trolling lures out the back. One
of these was hit hard shortly afterwards and after a 10 minute struggle,
Craig was able to unhook and release a beautiful 90kg blue marlin. Two
separate groups of Short-beaked Common Dolphins rode on our bow wave on the
way back but no new bird species were added to the list. It was remarkable
to find that large numbers of Austrasian Gannets had gathered outside Sydney
Heads since our departure in the morning with one single group on the water
numbering 33 individuals. After dropping off the Rose Bay passengers, those
travelling across to Mosman had a further treat when we came across five
Little Penguins just resting on the water and ignoring passing ferries and
our close approach. We had remarkable views of these lovely little birds and
it capped off a great day.
Bird List
(Note that numbers in parenthesises represent the maximum numbers seen at
any one time)
Little Penguin 5 (5)
Providence Petrel 14 (2)
Great-winged Petrel 1 (1)
Fairy Prion 4 (1)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 280 (50)
Flesh-footed Shearwater 60 (4)
Fluttering Shearwater 1 (1)
Hutton's Shearwater 3 (1)
Black-browed Albatross 3 (1)
Yellow-nosed Albatross 1 (1)
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 14 (5)
White-faced Storm-Petrel 4 (2)
Australasian Gannet 60 (33)
Silver Gull 120 (40)
Crested Tern 8 (2)
Other Sightings
Short-beaked Common Dolphin 40
Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphin 20
Risso's Dolphin 10
Short-finned Pilot Whale 40
Flying fish 30
Next Sydney pelagic trip will be on Saturday 9 May, 2009 departing Mosman
Ferry Wharf at 0645 and Rose Bay Public Wharf at 0700. Call Hal on 0411 311
236 to make a reservation.
Cheers
Roger McGovern
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www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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