Birdswing Birding & Wildlife Tours Pelagic trip off Port Fairy, Victoria
Sunday 28th October 2012
Observers: Neil Macumber (organiser and report writer), Ena and Sean
Bradley, Simon Brown, Jane Mason, John Stirling, Ian and Jill Wilson,
Arthur and Denise Carew, Ian Smissen, John Van Doorn, Marlene Lyell, Bernie
O’Keefe and Alan Steven.
Conditions: Morning 100% cloud cover, no wind swell to 2 metres. Afternoon
sunny with some cloud swell had dropped to approximately ½ metre.
Overview: Left the Port Fairy wharf at 0719 EDST along the Moyne River out
to sea heading at 207˚.
On leaving the river we started to see low numbers of Albatross, terns,
shearwaters and gannets. We also saw a small pod of common dolphins and
then saw a Great-Winged Petrel. It wasn’t until we got out on the
continental shelf that we saw greater number of birds. Only a small number
of birds actually landed on our burley line making it more difficult to
obtain good photographs, really testing the Birdlife Australia photography
group.
At our first and second stops on the continental shelf we saw at least four
White-chinned Petrels, Great-winged Petrel, Wilson’s and Grey-backed Storm
Petrels and an adult Wandering Albatross. Almost back into the river we
saw a Northern Giant Petrel.
We docked at 1610 hours. Everyone enjoyed themselves with most people
adding pelagic species to their life list.
Birds: 27 species of birds with 21 species off shore
Pelagic Species: - Little Penguin, Wandering Albatross, White-capped
(Shy)Albatross, Black-browed Albatross, Campbell Island Albatross,
Albatross species, Northern Giant Petrel, Fairy Prion, Great-Winged Petrel,
White-chinned Petrel, Flesh-Footed Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater,
Grey-Backed Storm-Petrel, White-Faced Storm Petrel, Wilson’s Storm Petrel,
Storm-Petrel Species, Common Diving-Petrel, Australasian Gannet, Black-
faced Shag, Skua Species, Crested Tern
Species seen in the River Moyne: - Masked Lapwing, Ruddy Turnstone, Little
Black Cormorant, Kelp Gull, Silver Gull, and Straw-necked Ibis.
Mammals: Pod of Common dolphins and a small number of Australian Fur Seals.
Proposed Dates for remainder of 2012 Trips: Sunday 18th November and Sunday
2nd December. Trips will go if there are enough numbers and the weather is
suitable. There are plenty of spaces available at the moment for all
trips. First in gets a spot allocated. See our website for more details
<http://www.birdingwildlifetours.com.au/>
http://www.birdingwildlifetours.com.au/
Cheers
Neil Macumber
Neil Macumber
Manager
white choughs
Birdswing Birding & Wildlife Tours
C/- PO
POMONAL VIC 3381
PH. 03 5356 6274
MOB. 0413 628 306
www.birdingwildlifetours.com.au
===============================
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
===============================
|
