• Thursday, 17th June 2010, Port Stephens, NSW, Australia

    Last Thursday (17th) Alan Stuart and I joined the local Marine Parks Authority for another seabird survey off Port Stephens, NSW.

    It was an interesting day, with a fairly low diversity of species seen on the shelf. For 90% of our time there we were watching 3 species, with brief visits by others. Only 2 species of Albatross seen, despite the good variety enjoyed off Sydney just 5 days earlier and the reasonable numbers of Fairy Prions. The highlight was a single WHITE-HEADED PETREL that graced us briefly before
    continuing north.

    Birds observed - Total (max. number around boat at one time):

    Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 6 (4)
    White-faced Storm-Petrel - 2 (2)
    Black-browed Albatross (all but 1 melanophrys) - 4 (1)
    Yellow-nosed Albatross - 50 (8)
    Hutton's Shearwater - 1
    Fairy Prion - 80 (15)
    Solander's Petrel - 20 (5)
    WHITE-HEADED PETREL - 1
    Australasian Gannet 130 (70)
    Crested Tern 10 (8)
    Silver Gull 30 (20)

    Cheers,

    Mick Roderick