Port
Stephens Pelagic Trip Report – Sun 30 March 2014
Boat:
M.V. Argonaut, skippered by John Querns
OBSERVERS
Greg Little, Judy Little, Mark Ley, John French, Fiona
Lumsden, Dick Cooper, Mandy Wright, Dick Jenkin, Ann Lindsey, Allan Richardson,
Mike Kuhl, Steve Edwards, Michael Kearns and Mick Roderick (organiser).
CONDITIONS
Seas
very slight with light to moderate at times winds from the SSE on a 1.5-2m
swell. Wind squalls ahead of a rain front at the shelf were the strongest
experienced for the day, but it was by no means a millpond. A strong downhill
current made some waves stand up sharply against the southerly winds, creating
quite a bit of pitching. Water was forecast to be 26 degrees at the shelf
break.
HIGHLIGHTS
A
somewhat disappointing day for the more experienced sea birders on board. As
far as seabirds go the two highlights would have to be the Gould’s and Black
Petrels, both seen very early on in the piece (the Gould’s seen frustratingly
briefly a few miles short of the shelf break). The most ‘unusual’ sightings
were of singles of Rufous and Grey Fantails, seen about 90 minutes apart – both
completely unexpected and both firsts for the Argonaut.
SUMMARY
Departed
Nelson Bay Public Wharf at 0705 returning at 1705.
Once
clearing the heads an almost carbon copy of last month’s trip occurred with
just a few generally disinterested Wedge-tailed Shearwaters early on, replaced
about 5 miles out by a gang of more attentive Fleshy-foots. However, the
Fleshies never even close reached the numbers seen on the last two trips. A
couple of Fluttering Shearwaters flew alongside the boat at a speed that
enabled reasonable views, along with a single Short-tailed seen by only a
couple of observers.
A
small band of predominantly Wedge-taileds followed us to the shelf but jaegers
were notably scarce. Some distance from deep water (perhaps 5 miles) the first
Pterodroma for the day, in the form of a nice freshly plumaged Solander’s
Petrel gave reasonable but brief views. Not too long after a white-bellied bird
was picked up a long way back initially called as a Fluttering-type Shearwater,
but it was soon evident that it was in fact a Gould’s Petrel. Unfortunately by
the time that this had gelled the bird had made a typical Cookilaria rapid and
deliberate departure.
We
cut the engines about a mile past the shelf break (-32.92262 / 152.597) and
started drifting south, feeling quite happy with the fact that we’d already
notched up two petrel species. It didn’t take long before the first of a few
Wilson’s Storm-petrels came in, much to my relief as we’d gone 3 pelagics with
just a single stormy between them. The first Great-winged (Grey-faced) Petrel
also flew in without much time having been spent drifting.
After
having “missed” a Black Petrel on the previous trip I was scrutinising all
“suspect” looking Fleshies and one bird in particular caught my eye and after
making sure people’s attention were drawn to this individual it indeed turned
out to be a Black. In another piece of utter frustration, once we’d gotten onto
the bird properly, it decided to head away from the boat and not return.
A
small “animal” flew past the boat and initially I wasn’t even sure if it was a
bird. It soon gelled and with the long-tailed appearance I shouted that a
“fantail
or something” had just flown past. The bird actually came back towards the boat
and was shaping to potentially come and land on board. It made a couple of
passes at the rear of the boat before flying north. From images taken it was
immediately identified as a Rufous Fantail which had all on board in
bemusement.
From
this point, things really planed out, with only the occasional visit from
Pomarine Jaegers and Great-winged/Solander’s Petrels to break the monotony of
brown shearwaters and Wilson’s Stormies. This was thrown on its head though
when yet another Passerine flew past, this one appearing more drab and with
white edges to the tail feathers. From images studied later combined with the
brief views at sea, this bird was identified as a Grey Fantail. We couldn't
manage a single species of albatross wide of the continental shelf, but we
managed 2 species of fantail!
Nothing
much was seen in addition for the day on the return leg (from the end of the
druft at -33.00272 / 152.56032) apart from a few different (and up to 4 dark)
Pomarine Jaegers. All in all a good day, if a little disappointing in
comparison to other trips this year so far.
Cheers,
Mick
Roderick
BIRDS
Species
seen outside the heads: Total (maximum number visible from the boat at one
time) – note that some are approximations.
Wilson’s
Storm-petrel: 40 (25)
Short-tailed
Shearwater: 1
Flesh-footed
Shearwater: 20 (7)
Wedge-tailed
Shearwater: 400 (150)
Fluttering
Shearwater: 4 (1)
Great-winged
(Grey-faced) Petrel: 4 (2)
Solander’s
(Providence) Petrel: 3 (1)
Gould’s
Petrel: 1
BLACK
PETREL: 1
Australasian
Gannet: 15 (5)
Crested
Tern: 7 (3)
Caspian
Tern: 2 (1)
Pomarine
Jaeger: 14 (3)
Silver
Gull: 6 (3)
Great
Cormorant: 2 (1)
RUFOUS
FANTAIL: 1
GREY
FANTAIL: 1 (both fantails wide of the shelf break)
MAMMALS
Offshore
Bottlenose Dolphin: 12
Pan-tropical
Spotted Dolphin: 5
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