• Sunday 7th July 2013 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, WOLLONGONG, NSW, AUSTRALIA.

    Here's a list of what we saw on the boat outside the harbour on Sunday. I’ve used the IOC Checklist (v3.3) for taxonomy, nomenclature & order of species and give my usual fairly conservative estimates of numbers.


    We travelled out to 34° 37' 27" S; 151° 14' 04" E, 36.9 km SE of Wollongong harbour in 300m+ pelagic waters, where we stopped, chummed and drifted 1.2 km further SE to 34° 37' 48" S; 151° 14' 44" E, 10.49-12.08 hrs, then turned back, stopping at 34° 36' 59" S; 151° 13' 15" E, 36.1 km SE of the harbour in 270m+ shelf break waters, where we chummed & drifted, 12.25-12.36 hrs, catching 1 Yellow-nosed Albatross (which got itself badly entangled in the net), then continued in to 34° 34' 24" S; 151° 09' 19" E, 28.4 km SE of the harbour in 150m+ shelf waters, where we stopped, chummed & drifted, 13.24-13.40 hrs, then continued back in without further stops. Seas fairly bumpy with moderate W-SW wind. Water temperature 19° inshore and 20° at the shelf.
    I've attached a .jpg file from Google Earth showing our route.


    086 Wandering Albatross 3 at least 1 a likely female
    Wandering Albatross type 2 both brown birds one with white face & cheeks, brown cap and brown patches in centre of inner underwing
    088 Black-browed Albatross 13+ min. 9 adults & 4 near adults; 1 adult with red band on right leg and metal band on left
    859 Campbell Albatross 1 adult & 1 immature with its eye just starting to lighten
    Black-browed Albatross type a number of immatures and juveniles not distinguishable to species
    091 Shy Albatross 5+
    862 Salvin's Albatross 1 immature which might have been this species (dark tips to underwings & traces of hood)
    864 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosss 6+
    931 Buller's Albatross 3 (3)
    083 Fairy Prion 50+
    075 Great-winged Petrel 1 I'm not sure whether this was macroptera or gouldi
    971 Providence Petrel 1
    071 Short-tailed Shearwater 1
    068 Fluttering Shearwater 100+
    065 White-faced Storm-Petrel 2
    106 Australian Pelican 2
    104 Australasian Gannet 25+ ad. & imm.
    125 Silver Gull 200+
    000 Kelp Gull 2 (2 ad. & 1 imm.)
    115 Greater Crested Tern 6+
    980 Brown Skua 3

    084 Antarctic Prion 1 bird possibly this species



    We also saw 5+ Humpback Whales.


    Cheers


    Graham