Hi all,
Last Sunday (30/08) we had another varied and enjoyable pelagic trip out of
Eden. We did not manage to get all the way out to the shelf because of the
wind but there was some compensation in the sea-life seen. The boat *
Connemara* is very sea-kindly and no one was seasick. Helen's yummy home
made muffins were also very welcome, as always, especially when they are
served hot from the boat's oven by the deck hand with cups of tea or coffee.
The weather report for the south coast was for gale force winds from the
west, swinging to the south-west in the afternoon. The local conditions out
of Eden were somewhat better. As we arrived at the dock it was a sunny
morning with calm weather in Disaster Bay and winds increasing to about 20
knots as we got away from the coast. The sea had a distinct chop over a
swell of about a metre making for quite a lumpy ride. We left Eden and
headed south-east and by the time we were about 13 kilometres off shore the
sea conditions had increased to about 1 metre choppy waves on top of a one
to two metre swell from the south. The edge of the shelf is some 37
kilometres out from Eden.
We were late leaving the dock as two passengers failed to show up or contact
the skipper and could not be reached on their mobiles. We were sure there
was a good reason for their no-show but it is a shame they had not rung.
Despite our late departure the day improved by the minute as we headed out
of the bay.
We did one quick berley stop about 7 kilometres from shore where there were
some Shy Albatross and then moved out to 13 kilometres where we did a longer
berley stop. From here we headed back in toward Greencape lighthouse and
calmer water. There were very few birds at the cape so we headed back toward
Eden in the lee of the shore.
The bird distribution for the day was different to what I have experienced
on an Eden pelagic in the past. Dock to dock we had 20 species, 12 of which
were seen more than 10 kilometres from shore. The first interesting sighting
was in Disaster Bay where there were 3 rafts of Yellow-nosed Albatross, each
of about 50 birds, sitting on the water on the south side of the bay. The
next interesting point was at the 13 kilometre point, our main berley stop,
where we were surrounded by many hundred Shy Albatross, both sitting on the
water and flying for as far as we could see. The vast majority of these Shy
Albatross had a large number of white feathers showing on the upper wing.
These white feathers had no particular pattern but were distinct and showed
as white patching against the black of the wing.
During the day Fluttering Shearwater were quite common but there were no
prions or storm petrels and only 1 pterodroma petrel. There were also very
few Black-browed Albatross with just 4 or 5 seen inshore and 1 or 2
offshore.
While within 5 kilometres of the shore we could constantly see Humpback
Whales blowing and came close to one pod of 4 of these magnificent animals.
The skipper, Richard, commented that many of the whales seemed quite small
and were probably young. In total we saw 15 to 20 whales and “blows”.
As we were returning to harbour we came across a feeding frenzy of birds,
seals and Common Dolphins (*Delphinus delphis*). We arrived at the spot to
find a true “David Attenborough” event. The Seals and dolphins had rounded
up a ball of “slimy mackerel”, a local bait fish, each about 20 – 25
centimetres long. This ball was about 3 metres in diameter and as the seals
fed from the bottom the gannets and mollymawk fed from the top. We sat here
for some 15 minutes or so with the ball of fish alongside and watched as
birds and seals caught the luckless fish, most being swallowed whole.
As usual we finished the day with a check of the mooring buoys and docks in
the bay and found a good selection of cormorants. Unfortunately there was no
Pied Cormorant seen so we missed getting a full set this time.
Because of the wind making it too uncomfortable to get out to the shelf the
bird count was down on normal but the fishy and mammalian experiences
certainly made up for the comparative paucity.
*Bird list, offshore*:
Northern Giant Petrel, *Macronectes halli* 3
Cape Petrel, *Daption capense* 2
Great-winged Petrel, *Pterodroma macroptera* 3 (one bird
probably *P. m. gouldi*)
Fluttering Shearwater, *Puffinus gavia* 20 +
Hutton’s Shearwater, *Puffinus huttoni* 1 +
Black-browed Albatross, *Diomedea melanophris* 2+ (+ 4 inshore)
Shy Albatross, *Diomedea cauta* 200 + (at
least 4 *D. c. salvins*)
Yellow-nosed Albatross, *Diomedia chlororhynchos* 20 + (+ 170
inshore)
Australasian Gannet, *Morus serrator* 2+ (100
+ seen inshore)
Brown Skua, *Stercorarius antarcticus* 2
*Seen in Disaster Bay*:
Darter, *Anhinga melanogaster* 1
Little Pied Cormorant, *Phalacrocorax melanoleucos* 1
Black-faced Cormorant, *Phalacrocorax fuscescens* 20+
Little Black Cormorant, *Phalacrocorax sulcirostris * 4
Great Cormorant, *Phalacrocorax carbo* 6
Australian Pelican, *Pelecanus conspicillatus* 2
White-bellied Sea Eagle, *Haliaeetus leucogaster* 1
Pacific Gull, *Larus pacificus* 3
Silver Gull, *Larus novaehollandiae* 20 +
(+ 1 offshore)
Crested Tern, *Sterna bergii* 20
+ ( +5 offshore)
cheers
Jen
ps: I apologise for not including a list of those on board but I totally
forgot to get one.
pps: There is talk that the next Eden pelagic, at the end of November, will
be two trips on Saturday and Sunday with a full package including
accommodation and lunch for any one interested. Please contact Helen at
Freedom Charters for details if you are interested.
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