After the number of Pelagics I have been on and not seen one I was considering
ticking it from the display cabinet at the Australian Museum :)
Ed
Ed Williams
On 13/02/2013, at 4:46 PM, "Nikolas Haass" <> wrote:
> Thanks, Roger, for your very nice report!
> Ed, we only saw half a WFSP (at least if you count the surface area of its
> feathers!) - are you seriously counting it as a full one?
>
> ;-)
>
> Nikolas
>
> ----------------
> Nikolas Haass
>
> Sydney, NSW
> From: Ed Williams <>
> To: Roger McGovern <>
> Cc: birding-aus <>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 3:21 PM
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Sydney Pelagic Trip Report - Saturday 9 February,
> 2013
>
> 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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