Port Stephens Pelagic Trip Report - Sun 10th October 2010
Boat: M.V.Argonaut, skippered by Ray Horsefield
OBSERVERS
Michael Kearns, Dan Mantle, Kristy Peters, Ann Lindsey, Dick Jenkin, Craig
Arms,
Alan Morris, Tim Morris, Mike Kuhl, Allan Richardson, Mike Newman, Alan Stuart,
Steve Roderick and Mick Roderick (leader and organiser).
CONDITIONS
A stiff east-sou-east wind greeted us at the heads and despite the meagre swell
the windy conditions made for a very wet trip to the shelf as we punched into
the choppy sea. Fortunately there were no sea-sick casualties though most
punters were pleased to arrive at the shelf break to get a good chance to dry
off a bit. Water temperature was about 19 degrees at the shelf.
HIGHLIGHTS
A great pelagic with a good variety of birds; some in good numbers. 23 species
were recorded outside of the heads, the highlights being 2 Black Petrels, a
White-headed Petrel, 6 Black-bellied Storm-petrels and the sheer spectacle of
the Short-tailed Shearwater migration. A Little Tern was an interesting
sighting
at sea and witnessing a White-bellied Sea-eagle take a Short-tailed Shearwater
was a sight you don't see every day.
SUMMARY
DepartedNelson Bay Public Wharfat 0700, returning at 1640.
Having read Roger McGovern’s post to Birdline the night before (re: 2 Little
Shearwaters but which also mentioned the Short-tailed Shearwater migration),
the
anticipation for today went sky-high. Persistent on-shore winds combined with
migrating birds was a good recipe for a great day at sea. Within minutes of
leaving the heads we could see the streams of Short-taileds flying southwards
(albeit through quite a lot of spray as we forged our way into the chop). These
birds were seen in continuous streams of groups of several hundred and
estimating their numbers is very difficult.
After beginning to berley we were followed only by a few Wedge-tailed
Shearwaters before a pair of young Wandering Albatross was seen to the south. A
Little Tern was also seen flying south over the wake. Soon after, about 10
miles
from the heads, a White-headed Petrel joined the frey and to the delight of all
on-board, followed the boat for about 15 minutes, dropping to the water to feed
and giving several very obliging passes of the stern. This was followed soon
after by 2 or 3 Wilson’s Storm-petrels. Seeing birds like these so far from the
shelf boded well.
The first Great-winged Petrels showed not far from the shelf break and a
distant
Cookilaria got away from us without any hope of an ID. Once at the shelf it was
clear that there was a hive of activity waiting. Before the engines were even
cut we had our first Black-bellied Storm-petrel beside the boat. Setting up a
drift at 32 55 18 / 152 34 59 things heated up very quickly. Within the first 5
minutes after we stopped we had 3 species of Storm-petrel (a White-faced had
joined the Black-bellied and small group of Wilson’s), two Black Petrels and
the
first Solander’s Petrel. Great-winged Petrels soon outnumbered Wedgies at the
rear of the boat as the hordes of Short-taileds passed-by. I cast my mind back
to the trip reports I’d read about the Wollongong pelagics in October 1996 when
the Mottled Petrels moved through close to the coast. I was quickly awoken from
my daydream by a Long-tailed Jaeger, a Cape Petrel, numerous more Wilson’s and
a
few more Black-bellied Stormies. As a Yellow-nosed Albatross circled the boat
the place was a-buzz and it was difficult to decide where to focus the bins as
there were literally birds everywhere you looked.
Unfortunately things did plane-out after this initial flurry and even more
unfortunate was 2 more “misses” on Cookilarias passing by. The only bird that
was seen reasonably well appeared to be obviously pale-headed, thus ruling out
Gould's and opening up some other possibilities that will only remain as such.
We started our comfortable journey back to port with a peak count of 13
Wanderers at the rear of the boat. Just over half-way back to port we were
joined by our first Flesh-footed Shearwaters for the day, which soon swelled to
about 40 birds. A lone Hutton’s Shearwater was the only other tubenose addition
to the list. Not far from the heads the numbers of Shearwaters had dwindled,
but
this didn’t deter a White-bellied Sea-eagle from swooping at speed onto a small
group of birds about 100m behind the boat. The raptor was successful in taking
a
Short-tailed Shearwater and it triumphantly flew back to shore with its catch.
Another one flew out soon after to investigate the menu but didn’t attempt a
kill.
A fantastic day at sea.
Cheers,
Mick Roderick
BIRDS
Species: Total (maximum number around the boat at one time)
White-faced Storm-petrel: 7 (3)
Wilson’s Storm-petrel: 150 (40)
Black-bellied Storm-petrel: 6 (4)
Yellow-nosed Albatross: 1
Shy Albatross: 1
Wandering Albatross: 20 (13)
Hutton’s Shearwater: 1
Fluttering-type Shearwater: 4 (1)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 150 (40)
Flesh-footed Shearwater: 40 (40)
Short-tailed Shearwater: ?up to 10000 (500)
Cape Petrel: 5 (2)
BLACK PETREL 2 (2)
Solanders (Providence) Petrel: 4 (1)
Great-winged (Grey-faced) Petrel: 25 (8)
WHITE-HEADED PETREL: 1
Cookilaria-type Petrel (Pterodroma spp.): 3 (1)
Little Penguin: 1
Australasian Gannet: 6 (1)
White-bellied Sea-eagle: 2 (1)
Crested Tern: 5 (2)
Little Tern: 1
Long-tailed Jaeger: 3 (2)
Brown Skua: 1
Silver Gull: 10 (5)
MAMMALS
Humpback Whale: 1
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