Port
Stephens Pelagic Trip Report – Sat 23rd March 2013
Boat:
M.V.Argonaut, skippered by Ray Horsefield
OBSERVERS
Ann
Lindsey, Norm and June Harris, Michael Kearns, Dick Jenkin, Mike Kuhl, Trevor
Murray, John Cockerell, Shaun Corry, Lorna Mee, Jim Smart, Adam Fawcett, Steve
Roderick
and Mick Roderick (organiser).
CONDITIONS
Following
consecutive cancellations, conditions were probably “too good” for the March
double-header weekend. Whilst a stiff northerly was forecast (and seas to 3m by
BOM), it was Willyweather who once again got it right, and there was barely a
breath of wind as we left the heads. For the entire day the combined sea and
swell was <1m. Winds were gentle for the most part, generally from the
south, picking up in short bursts out at the shelf to just under 10 knots.
HIGHLIGHTS
You
know it’s a quiet day when the highlight is a Bar-tailed Godwit! But read on
and it will be easy to see why.
SUMMARY
Departed
Nelson Bay Public Wharf at 0705 returning at 1645.
Some
large feeding flocks of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were encountered just beyond
Boondelbah Island and we picked up a handful of customers from these. But soon
enough some Fleshy-footed Shearwaters started arriving and for the remainder of
the day (until we returned back to greet the inshore feeding birds again), this
was the most common bird around the boat, in contrast to most of the season
where we struggled to find Fleshies. A Wilson’s Storm-petrel was seen about 5nm
out and a few Pomarine Jaegers joined the Fleshies for the trip out.
We
cut the motors at 32 55.893 / 152 35.742 and drifted south. The oily rag went
overboard and it wasn’t long before double-figures of Wilson’s Stormies were
dancing around in the slick. An occasional Fluttering Shearwater, and 2
Hutton’s Shearwaters provided some excitement as the only “flashes of white”
seen at the shelf.
But
overall, it was by far the most quiet day we have had off Port Stephens and at
one point I took to the bow and scanned the horizon for about 15 minutes.
During that time I did not see a single bird flying apart from the birds we had
around the stern. Quite literally, apart from the Wilson’s Stormies the only
birds we had around the boat were birds that we brought with us! I had noticed
that the water colour was a green colour, completely different to the deep,
cobalt blue that you can see the sun’s rays penetrate to metres below the
surface. This, combined with the general lack of wind may have accounted for
why we saw so few birds.
The
most excitement occurred when an unusual looking bird flew from the west,
heading south-east. It threw all of us that got brief views and it wasn’t until
Michael Kearns checked the rear of his camera that we realised it was a
Bar-tailed Godwit!
After
a couple of hours I wondered if we could possibly not see a Pterodroma of any
sort for the day. This
was indeed to be the case and a decision was made to head back to the inshore
feeding flocks to look for a “different” type of Shearwater. We did this and
despite finding a reasonable number of ‘brown’ birds we could only add a few
Short-tailed Shearwaters, Crested Tern and a Little Penguin to the day’s list.
Cheers,
Mick
Roderick
BIRDS
Species:
Total (maximum number visible from the boat at one time)
Wilson’s
Storm-petrel: 30 (22)
Fluttering
Shearwater: 20 (4)
Hutton’s
Shearwater: 3 (1)
Fluttering-type
Shearwater: 20
Wedge-tailed
Shearwater: 550 (500)
Flesh-footed
Shearwater: 70 (30)
Short-tailed
Shearwater: 3 (1)
Little
Penguin: 1
Australasian
Gannet: 2 (1)
Crested
Tern: 3 (2)
Arctic
Jaeger: 6 (2)
Pomarine
Jaeger: 20 (13)
Silver
Gull: 4 (4)
Bar-tailed
Godwit: 1
MAMMALS
Risso’s
Dolphin: 30
Oceanic
Bottlenose Dolphin: 10
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