• Saturday 22nd SEPTEMBER 2012 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, WOLLONGONG, NSW, AUSTRALIA

    SOSSA pelagic off Wollongong, 22nd September 2012
    Report by Nikolas Haass

    Highlight: juvenile Grey-headed Albatross, swarming krill causing large red patches on the ocean surface.

    Seabirds:
    Wilson’s Storm-petrel: 1(1)
    Wandering Albatross (exulans): 1 (1 caught)
    Gibson’s Albatross (antipodensis gibsoni): 4 (4; 1 caught)
    Black-browed Albatross: 100 (1 caught)
    Campbell Albatross: 1 (2nd year with amber eye)
    Shy/White-capped Albatross: 15 (some were very fresh juveniles, possibly steadi)
    GREY-HEADED ALBATROSS: 1 juv.
    Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross: 6 (4; 1 caught)
    Southern Giant-Petrel: 2 (1)
    Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 1,000 (huge feeding frenzy)
    Sooty Shearwater: 3 (2)
    Short-tailed Shearwater: 100 (several flocks migrating south)
    Fluttering Shearwater: 100 (with the Wedge-tailed Shearwater frenzy)
    Hutton’s Shearwater: 2
    Providence Petrel: 10+
    Little Penguin: 8
    Australasian Gannet: 60
    Brown Skua: 3 (2, 2 caught)
    White-fronted Tern: 4 (2 adult, 2 first summer)
    Common Tern: 10 (all first winter)
    Crested Tern: many
    Kelp Gull: 6
    Silver Gull: hundreds

    Other birds:
    Australasian Darter: 1 (in the harbor)
    Little Pied Cormorant: 6 (on the islands)
    Great Cormorant: 50 (on the islands)
    Little Black Cormorant: 20
    Australian Pelican: many on the islands
    Australian White Ibis: 20 (on the islands)
    White-bellied Sea-Eagle: 1 (on the islands)
    Nankeen Kestrel: 1 pair (mating in the harbor)
    Sooty Oystercatcher: 2 (on the islands)

    Mammals:
    Fur-seal spec.: 10 (most likely all Australian)
    Humpback Whale: 3
    Short-beaked Common Dolphin: 30
    Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphin: 2

    Crustaceans:
    Krill: swarming krill causing large red patches on the ocean surface