BirdLife Victoria Pelagic off Portland, Victoria, Sunday 2 February 2014
Participants: Scott Baker, Tim Bawden, Mark Buckby, Anne-Maree Burgoine,
David Burren, Iian Denham, Paul Dodd, Trevor Hunt, Brian Johnston,
Rosemary Lester, Ruth Woodrow, Chris Lester (organiser).
Crew: Neville and Darren.
Activity: Departed Portland harbour aboard the Southern Pride boat at
06.55 heading just west of south to the shelf past Lawrence Rocks. Went
straight past the shelf except for a brief stop to try and see the Fin
Whale. Our first stop was at 38°43.459'S, 141°20.874'E in 250 fathoms of
water, where we berleyed from 9.30 till 11.20. We moved to the
north-west to 38°42.021'S, 141°15.618'E in 310 fathoms and stayed there
from 11.50 until 12.30. We moved further north-west and berleyed at
38°38.921'S, 141°13.141'E in 200 fathoms from 12.50 until 13.40. Headed
back in, passing Lawrence Rocks, where we had a good look, before
returning and docking at 16.40.
Conditions: Initially, there was a very light wind of about 5 knots from
the NE. There was no sea to speak of but a swell of 0.5m. There was no
cloud cover at all and it was quite warm. During the day, the swell
stayed about the same with no sea. The wind went down to a slight
breeze. It was very warm to hot but the clouds built up to about 50%
although they were very high.
Summary: Below average diversity with 21 identified species of seabird
recorded during the trip and with the numbers of most regular species
fairly low. The highlights were the Fin Whale and the very warm weather.
It is not often at Portland where you can wear a T-shirt all day.
Mammals:
Fin Whale: one spotted spouting then diving from a fair distance. We
were not able to find it subsequently.
Common Dolphin: about 100 on the way in.
Bottlenose Dolphin: about 6 on the way in.
Australian Fur Seal: the normal numbers (about 50) loafing at Lawrence
Rocks.
Birds:
Grey-backed Storm-Petrel: 3 (2). Pelagic. We had one quite unusual one
which had a grey rump but no other grey. It had worn plumage but was
not in moult.
White-faced Storm-Petrel: 10 (3). Pelagic.
Black-browed Albatross: 10 (3). All that were identified were race
melanophrys with 2 or 3 juveniles. Pelagic.
Shy Albatross: 70 (40). All race cauta. Pelagic with quite a few inshore.
Yellow-nosed Albatross: 4 (2). Pelagic.
Wandering Albatross: 1. Pelagic. Race gibsoni.
Fairy Prion: 1. Pelagic.
White-chinned Petrel: 1. On the way out.
Flesh-footed Shearwater: 100 (40). Mostly pelagic.
Sooty Shearwater: 1. Pelagic.
Short-tailed Shearwater: 20 (10). Pelagic and on the way out and in.
Fluttering Shearwater: 1. On the way out.
Great-winged Petrel: 12 (4). Both race macroptera and race gouldi. Pelagic.
Little Penguin: 1. At harbour entrance on the way in.
Australasian Gannet: 100 + 1000. 100 on the way out, at the shelf and on
the way in with about 1000 on or near Lawrence Rocks.
Black-faced Cormorant: 50, all on or near Lawrence Rocks.
Arctic Jaeger: 2. On the way in and out.
Crested Tern: 30 + 400. 30 on the trip with 400 on Lawrence Rocks.
Pacific Gull: 3. 1 at Lawrence Rocks and 2 in Portland Harbour.
Kelp Gull: 2. 1 at Lawrence Rocks and 1 in Portland Harbour.
Silver Gull: 20 at Lawrence Rocks and a few more in Portland Harbour.
There was also a White-faced Heron and a Sooty Oystercatcher on Lawrence
Rocks with an unidentified Raven (Little?).
For details of future Portland trips, go to the BirdLife Australia web
site at the bottom of the page on
http://www.birdlife.org.au/locations/all-victoria-statewide/activities-vic
For reports of past BA-Vic and BirdLife Australia trips from Portland
and Port Fairy, search the Birding-Aus archives for the trip reports at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/birding-aus/
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