Sydney Pelagic Trip Report - Saturday 14 May 2011
In the tail of the cold southerly fronts across south-eastern Australia over
the preceding week, we were hoping to see good numbers of southern cold water
species. Winds were 25-35 knots SW; swell 2-3 m S; seas 2-4 m, SW. The choppy
conditions of late had likely mixed the surface waters and dropped the sea
surface temperature well below 20 deg C. The Halicat handled the conditions
very well and provided a remarkably stable and almost dry platform.
The first Australasian Gannet and Black-browed Albatross of the day were
encountered just inside Sydney Heads. Outside, the heavy conditions forced us
to proceed at a moderate pace. Hal did an outstanding job with the berley in
Roger’s absence and growing numbers of albatrosses and a few prions were soon
following us. We dragged these out with us and numbers rapidly swelled to about
80 albatrosses by the time we reached the shelf break. Among them was an adult
Buller’s Albatross that followed for half the day. Two Southern Giant Petrels
in fresh juvenile plumage and an adult Brown Skua followed for much of the day,
but the single adult Northern Giant Petrel lost interest quickly. Prions were
around all day, but the big waves and rocking boat (one hand for the bins, one
for the boat) meant that they were hard to see well. The Great-winged Petrels
and shearwaters did not appear until we reached the shelf-break, although the
sooties and short-taileds
followed us back in a fair way. Two adult Wandering Albatrosses joined us on
the way back. When we slowed about 5 km off the Heads for some Common Dolphins
we found two more adult Buller’s Albatrosses sitting on the water with some
gannets. All of the Buller’s were fairly pale-headed and white-capped,
indicating the nominate subspecies, if indeed there is any real difference. The
biggest surprises may have been the conspicuous absence of Providence Petrel
and smaller forms of Wandering Albatross.
BIRDS
Wandering Albatross (exulans) 2
Black-browed Albatross (melanophris) 40
Black-browed Albatross (impavida) 20
Buller’s Albatross 3 (2)
Shy Albatross (cauta) 10
Yellow-nosed Albatross (bassi) 25
Southern Giant Petrel 2
Northern Giant Petrel 1
Fairy Prion 10
Prion sp. 20
Great-winged Petrel (macroptera) 5 (3)
Sooty Shearwater 3 (2)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 1
Shearwater sp. (fluttering type) 2 (1)
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel 3 (2)
Australasian Gannet 50 (20)
Brown Skua 1
Silver Gull 1 offshore
Crested Tern 20 (10)
MAMMALS
Short-beaked Common Dolphin 10+
Inshore Bottlenose Dolphin 2 in Rose Bay
The next Sydney pelagic trip will be on Saturday 11 June 2011 departing Mosman
Ferry Wharf at 6.45am and Rose Bay Ferry Wharf at 7.00am.
To book call Hal at 0411 311 236 or visit http://www.halicat.com.au/
Happy seabirding
David James,
Sydney
==============================
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
