Birdswing Birding & Wildlife Tours Pelagic trip off Port Fairy, Victoria
Sunday 17th November 2013
Observers: Neil Macumber (organiser and report writer), Kev Lobotomi, Val
La May, Geoff Glare, Anne Looney, Lyn Brown, Steve Chandler, Phil Dix, Gina
Hopkins, Brian Hendrickson, Damien Hendrickson, Helen Ives, Beryl Hazlet,
Neil Duncan, Claire Duncan.
Conditions: When we left port and headed out of the river the sea was
quite choppy, there was 80% cloud cover and the sun was trying to poke
through. There was a half to one metre swell with a fairly stiff breeze.
Later in the day seas moderated even further and it was mostly sunny.
Overview: Departed the Port Fairy wharf at 0711hrs EDST along the Moyne
River out to sea heading at 210˚and boat speed of 12 knots.
Few birds were seen in any numbers except for Short-tailed Shearwaters
which have wrecked along the entire East & South Coasts, these birds seemed
very hungry.
Also on our way out to the shelf we saw Shy Albatross, Silver Gull (unusual
as it was about 40 minutes from departure) Crested Tern, Fairy Prion, an
unidentified Giant Petrel, Australasian Gannet, White-chinned and Great-
winged Petrel.
At our one and only stop we had around 80 Fairy Prions, 20 Shy Albatross, 4
Crested Terns, 20 Great-winged and 5 White-chinned Petrels, 500 Short-
tailed Shearwaters, one Sooty Shearwater, 2 Australasian Gannet, 3 White-
faced Storm-petrels, one Long-tailed Jaeger and one White-headed Petrel.
Mammals Seen: 1 Australian Fur Seal, Common Dolphins (in very low numbers
sighted on 3 occasions) and an unidentified whale seen by only one
passenger who stated it had a very high spout.
On our return journey we had many birds follow the boat and a second Long-
tailed Jaeger was sighted. We docked at 1626hours.
Birds: 12 species off shore
Pelagic Species: - Shy Albatross, Unidentified Giant Petrel, Fairy Prion,
Great-winged Petrel, White-chinned Petrel, White-headed Petrel, Short-
tailed Shearwater, Australasian Gannet, Crested Tern, Silver Gull, White-
faced Storm-petrel and Long-tailed Jaeger.
Mammals: Australian Fur Seal, Common Dolphin and an unidentified Whale.
The final Trip for 2013: Sunday 15 December. Proposed dates to June 2014
trips: - Sunday 12 January, 9 February, 16 March, 13 April, 11 May, 15
June.
Cheers
Neil
Neil Macumber
Manager
Albatross logo
Birdswing Birding & Wildlife Tours
C/- PO
POMONAL VIC 3381
PH. 03 5356 6274
Mob. 0413 628 306
www.birdingwildlifetours.com.au
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