Thanks Roger!
I may be a Man City tragic but I've now seen a Barau's Petrel (and I have
lifted my WFSP curse!)
Cheers for the report - what an excellent day it was...
Ed
Ed Williams
On 13/02/2013, at 2:41 PM, "Roger McGovern" <> wrote:
> SYDNEY PELAGIC TRIP REPORT - SATURDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2013
>
> OVERVIEW
> As most of the readers of birding-aus will know by now from Nikolas Haass'
> postings on Eremaea and birding-aus, this pelagic trip brought one of the
> major sightings since Sydney pelagic trips have been in operation in the
> form of the first-ever Australian east coast record of BARAU'S PETREL.
> Certainly, there hasn't been such a major rarity since Tony Palliser's
> Tristram's Storm-Petrel seen on a private charter back on October 9,
> 2000.The circumstances of the sighting were that we were motoring slowly
> eastwards in deep water after an initial drift at Brown's Mountain and,
> after sighting at least two Gould's Petrels earlier, another superficially
> similar pterodroma appeared. It was first spotted at some distance off the
> starboard side and travelled diagonally across the starboard beam of the
> Halicat and continued out of view directly behind the boat. This did not
> provide a lot of opportunity to study the bird as it was in sight for quite
> a brief period, but it did allow excellent photographic opportunities as it
> passed by at quite close range of maybe 30 metres. Raja Stephenson obtained
> some fantastic images (as she always does!), see
> http://www.adarman.com/Pelagics/New-South-Wales-Pelagics/2013-February-09-Sy
> dney/27944290_xW68HX#!i=2358692013&k=FncTxpd and there were plenty of other
> pictures taken by others on board. Although the consensus was that it was a
> bigger longer winged bird than Gould's Petrel, thoughts turned towards
> Black-winged Petrel even though there were some inconsistencies with that
> species. With Barau's Petrel being a new bird for everyone on the boat (as
> far as I am aware), this possibility was not immediately considered, even
> though the initial call of White-necked Petrel may, in retrospect, have
> given a strong clue as to the size of the bird. However, later scrutiny of
> the photographs confirmed that the bird was indeed a BARAU'S PETREL, subject
> of course to acceptance by BARC
>
> In addition to the human passengers on board the Halicat, we had an avian
> passenger in the form of a Great-winged Petrel (New Zealand race gouldi)
> which was found at Circular Quay by Joan Dawes on January 23, 2013 and was
> taken to the Taronga Wildlife Hospital coated in fine oil. Libby Hall and
> her team cared for the bird for two weeks and Nikolas and Raja collected it
> on the Friday afternoon for release offshore from the Halicat.
>
> With the recent spate of tropical vagrants brought in by Cyclone Oswald,
> there was an expectation that the day would bring a lot of northern birds
> but, despite the very warm water temperatures, this proved not to be the
> case. The day was bright, sunny and warm all day and the wind, which was a
> constant 15knot northeaster, created a slightly bumpy 1 to 2 metres chop.
> Surface water temperature ranged from just over 21degC inshore to as high as
> 26degC beyond the shelf break. We left Rose Bay at 7.35am and returned at
> 3.45pm.
>
>
> TRIP SUMMARY
>
> We headed out of the harbour with some 25 birders on board, most of them
> regular local sea-birders along with a few overseas visitors. With David
> James off on an Antarctic expedition, I returned to my old job on the berley
> table and began a berley trail from the harbour which continued out to the
> shelf. (Note that, being thus occupied and wearing rubber gloves covered in
> smelly fish scraps, I was not able to take notes en route and hence some of
> the sequencing in this report may not be exactly correct. However, the bird
> numbers and species were cross checked with several people on board on
> return to Sydney and should be accurate.) As we left the heads, the
> screaming mass of Silver Gulls following the boat were soon joined by good
> numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters along with the odd Crested Tern,
> Pomerine Jaeger and Short-tailed Shearwater. As we continued offshore, we
> encountered the odd Fluttering Shearwater, a single adult Australasian
> Gannet, an Arctic Jaeger and a Long-tailed Jaeger - also the first
> Flesh-footed Shearwaters of the day joined the Wedge-taileds in the large
> flock following the boat. A group of about 20 Short-beaked Common Dolphins
> came along for a ride on our bow but only an intrepid few braved the spray
> at the bow to have a close look.
>
> As we approached the shelf break, a Hutton's Shearwater flew around the boat
> at close quarters giving everyone excellent views, another small pod of
> Short-beaked Common dolphins appeared, and our first Great-winged Petrels
> began to feed around the boat. A juvenile Sooty Tern passed over at some
> height and continued westwards. As soon as we began our first drift Nikolas
> took the Great-winged Petrel from its carry case and gave it a couple of
> minutes to take in its surroundings, during which time it gave Nikolas a
> gentle bite on the finger drawing plenty of blood! When released, the bird
> flew very briefly down onto the water and then quickly took off strongly to
> applause from all. The first bird of note during the first drift was a
> Gould's Petrel followed by one or two more - analysis of the photographs
> suggest that only two individuals were seen. Melbourne refugee and
> Manchester City football tragic Ed Williams finally nailed his bogey seabird
> when a single White-faced Storm-Petrel passed close by the boat, our only
> stormy of the trip.
>
> With no new birds showing, we set off on a slow motor eastwards into deeper
> water encountering two Southern Ocean Sunfish and a pod of about 60 Oceanic
> Bottlenose Dolphins. Shortly thereafter came the epic moment when the
> BARAU'S PETREL came past the boat although of course, the real euphoria came
> later when the identification was established. An adult Sooty Tern and a
> single Sooty Shearwater, the latter seen by only a few but photographed by
> Raja, were our last new birds of the day. After the trip, I heard that one
> observer thought they may have seen a beaked whale on the return journey but
> no call was made which was a great pity. Needless to say, the day will stay
> in the memory of all on board as the day of the Barau's Petrel.
>
> BIRD LIST
>
> (Note that the numbers in parentheses represent the maximum number of that
> species in view at one time)
>
> Great-winged Petrel 15 (5) all race gouldi
> BARAU'S PETREL 1 (1)
> GOULD'S PETREL 2-3 (1)
> Wedge-tailed Shearwater 300 (200)
> Sooty Shearwater 1 (1)
> Short-tailed Shearwater 10 (2)
> Flesh-footed Shearwater 40 (10)
> Fluttering Shearwater 5 (1)
> Hutton's Shearwater 2 (1)
> White-faced Storm-Petrel 1 (1)
> Australasian Gannet 1 (1)
> Arctic Jaeger 2 (1)
> Pomarine Jaeger 12 (4)
> Long-tailed Jaeger 2 (1)
> Silver Gull 200 (150)
> Crested Tern 3 (1)
> Sooty Tern 2 (1) one juvenile and one
> adult
>
>
> OTHER
>
>
> Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphin 60
> Short-beaked Common Dolphin 30
> Southern Ocean Sunfish 2
>
> The next Sydney pelagic trip will be on Saturday 9 March, 2013 departing
> Mosman Ferry Wharf at 6.45am and Rose Bay Public Wharf at 7.00am. Call Hal
> at 0411 311 236 to make a booking.
>
> Cheers
> Roger McGovern
>
>
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