Hi all,
Yesterday's pelagic report from Swansea (NSW) below. I find that the formatting
of these things changes every time I post to Birding-aus, so apologies if it
doesn't come through 'cleanly'.
Mick
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Swansea
Pelagic Trip Report – Sun 14th April 2013
Boat:
45ft Randell, skippered by Brad Minors
OBSERVERS
Mike
Kuhl, Alan Morris, Tim Morris, Bruce Hosken, John Weigel, Obi Gabriel, Allan
Richardson, Carl Clifford, Ann Lindsey, Allan Benson, Nick Carson, Steve
Edwards, Darryl Eggins, Michael Kearns, Dick Jenkin and Mick Roderick
(organiser).
CONDITIONS
Another
very calm day at sea with barely a breath of wind for the entire day, apart
from a hint of a nor-easter in the late afternoon. Swell 1-2m with no sea to
talk of. Sea surface temp inshore 24 degrees and about 23 at the shelf.
HIGHLIGHTS
On
an otherwise very quiet day at sea there was a lone show-stopper in the form of
a NEW ZEALAND STORM-PETREL seen not long before heading back to port.
SUMMARY
Departed
Swansea Wharf at 0610 returning at 1645.
On
the 4th attempt to get a boat out of Swansea we finally succeeded,
but from the extreme weather events that had cancelled the first 3, today was
the antithesis. The ocean was literally a rolling series of glassy waves as
there was literally not a breath of wind for the majority of the day. This made
for very comfortable conditions but placed us in a position where we were
expecting much the same in the bird-diversity stakes that we’d experienced on
the
Port Stephens double-header recently.
It
was a good 15 minutes before the first shearwater (Wedge-tailed) was seen. This
was eventually followed by Fleshy-footed Shearwaters, who again dominated the
shearwater attendance for the journey out. A couple of Australian Fur Seals
were seen loafing at a distance on the rudders of one of the parked coal ships
and a White-faced Heron was picked up flying north at about 5 miles from the
heads. The only jaeger for the day, a dark bird, was seen about an hour out
from the heads and a small number of Wilson’s Storm-Petrels were noted on the
outward leg.
Otherwise
it was a long and reasonably uneventful journey to the shelf break at a
location called The Canyons (33 14 23 / 152 14 53). The customary Wedge-tailed
and Fleshy-footed Shearwaters were now with us, but with the complete lack of
wind, even they seemed too lazy to fly to the stationary boat. As the slick
built nicely, the numbers of Wilson’s Storm-petrels grew and these birds were
checked thoroughly. After about an hour of drifting Michael Kearns alerted us
to a storm-petrel with white underparts. The bird was quite distant and no one
else got onto the bird but he was certain that it was a Fregetta-type bird.
Several
pods of Risso’s Dolphins swam by and we too noticed the interesting “living
debris” that the Sydney pelagic described (though none of us went overboard to
inspect it!). Then, after about 8 consecutive hours of time spent eastward of
the continental shelf in 3 pelagic trips, we finally managed a Pterdroma petrel
as a wonderfully
fresh-plumaged Solander’s Petrel flew by.
Nothing
new came to the boat except for a continued increase in Wilson’s SP numbers and
one more fly-by by a second Solander’s Petrel and by about 1245 there was a
general feeling in the boat that once again (for the 3rd consecutive
pelagic) it might be more fruitful to look for inshore feeding shearwaters.
Just as the skipper suggested we head for port Mike Kuhl called a “storm-petrel
with white belly!”. This bird was within 20m of the starboard side of the boat
and everyone that wasn’t on the bow got reasonable views as it flew towards the
bow.
I
alerted those on the bow to the bird and I could hear the rapid fire of camera
shutters going ballistic. It was obvious from how the bird blended in with the
Wilson’s that it wasn’t a Fregetta-type
bird. It was soon lost and a scouring of the stormies in the slick failed to
relocate it immediately but about 5 minutes later it was called once again. The
way that this bird was just so hard to pick out amongst the Wilson’s was very
reminiscent of the NZSP we’d seen off Port Stephens in 2010 and when things
settled down a bit Allan Richardson and I had a look at the back of his camera.
He gave me a grin as if to suggest it was what I was suspecting it might be.
Both of us were 90% certain it was a New Zealand Storm-Petrel but without the
ability to lighten and crop images on-board we had to wait until later that
night to confirm what the bird was.
A
single Fluttering Shearwater was the only new bird for the return leg but much
entertainment was to be had by the shearwaters flying right up the wake and
nearly into the boat on a few occasions. A group of about a dozen Wilson’s
Stormies also followed the boat to about 8 miles from the heads.
Later
that night when a few of us were able to look more closely at the images of the
stormy, it was confirmed that it was indeed a New Zealand. A rather quiet (but
enjoyable) day with a last minute special find – another great day at sea.
Cheers,
Mick
Roderick
BIRDS
Species:
Total (maximum number visible from the boat at one time)
Wilson’s
Storm-Petrel: 100 (40)
NEW
ZEALAND STORM-PETREL: 1
Fregetta-type Storm-Petrel: 1
Fluttering
Shearwater: 1
Fluttering-type
Shearwater: 2 (1)
Wedge-tailed
Shearwater: 80 (35)
Flesh-footed
Shearwater: 60 (25)
Solander’s
Petrel: 2 (1)
Australasian
Gannet: 15 (4)
Crested
Tern: 8 (3)
Pomarine
Jaeger: 1
Silver
Gull: 11 (5)
White-faced
Heron: 1
MAMMALS
Risso’s
Dolphin: 20+
Australian
Fur Seal: 2
FISH
Marlin
sp.: 1
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