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