• Saturday 25th AUGUST 2012 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, WOLLONGONG, NSW, AUSTRALIA

    SOSSA pelagic off Wollongong, 25th August 2012
    Report prepared by Nikolas Haass

    Highlight: 12 Humpback Whales played with the Sandra K for an hour! They were all around and under the boat. Very exciting!

    Birds:

    White-faced Storm-petrel: 1(1)
    Wandering Albatross (exulans): 1 (1)
    Black-browed Albatross: many (not a single Campbell Albatross)
    Shy/White-capped Albatross: many (some were very fresh juveniles, possibly steadi)
    Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross: 6 (2)
    Fairy Prion: 2 (1)
    Wedge-tailed Shearwater: many
    Sooty Shearwater: 1 (1)
    Fluttering Shearwater: many (10-20% of all Fluttering-types, in contrast to the Newcastle sightings the same weekend)
    Hutton’s Shearwater: hundreds (80-90% of all Fluttering-types, in contrast to the Newcastle sightings the same weekend)
    Australasian Gannet: 10 +
    Australian Pelican: present
    White-fronted Tern: 8
    Crested Tern: many
    Silver Gull: hundreds
    Little Black Cormorant: 10

    15 species sighted outside the harbour

    Mammals:

    Fur-seal spec.: 6 (2) (based on head shape, one likely an Australian, another likely a New Zealand Fur-seal; the remaining four unclear)
    Humpback Whale: 12
    Short-beaked Common Dolphin: many
    Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphin: one pod

    Fish:

    Marlin: 1 (seen by only one observer)