• 8th April 2000, Sydney, Pelagic Trip Report, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Sydney, NSW Pelagic Trip Report 8th April 2000

    Conditions,
    Departed at 7.15 am and returned at approx. 3.30 pm.
    Sea Conditions: Mainly Calm.
    Weather: Fine
    Wind: Light winds to 10 Knots mainly from E
    Water temperature 23.0 degrees C on the shelf
    Stopped at 34 00' x 151 40'

    Summary,
    Another very memorable trip with lots of rarities, no doubt influenced by the recent cyclones in Queensland. First goodie to come along was a juvenile White-tailed Tropicbird followed by a distant White Tern. The biggest surprise of the trip though was an untimely Westland Petrel - a most unexpected bird for this time of the year. It was first called as a Black Petrel mainly because it was thought to be the most likely contender, but the large size (about 10-15% larger than Flesh-footed Shearwater), the very bulky heavy body, particularly the chest and the entirely dark maxillary unguis safely identifies this bird (in my opinion) to be a Westland Petrel. The rarities continued with 5 sightings of White-necked Petrel (involving at least 3 individuals) and at least 5 sightings of White Tern (involving up to 5 individuals). And to top the list for the day an Intermediate Kermadec Petrel was seen by most on board.


    Birds,
    (Note: numbers in brackets = highest count at any one time)

    005 Little Penguin 1 (in the harbour)
    073 Great-winged Petrel 6 (2)
    971 Providence Petrel 7 (1)
    774 White-necked Petrel 3-5 (1)
    922 KERMADEC PETREL 1 Intermediate phase
    920 WESTLAND PETREL 1
    --- Fluttering types? 2
    913 Hutton's Shearwater 3 (2)
    000 Flesh-footed Shearwater 50-70+
    069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater 300+
    071 Short-tailed Shearwater 7 (1)
    063 Wilson's Storm Petrel 30-50 (20)
    115 Crested Tern 15+ (5)
    972 WHITE TERN 3-5 (1)
    108 White-tailed Tropicbird 1 Juvenile
    104 Australasian Gannet 8 (2)
    125 Silver Gull 100+
    981 Kelp Gull 1
    129 Pomarine Jaeger 8 (3)
    --- Skua Sp 1

    In the harbour
    953 Common Tern 10 (10)
    099 Little Black Cormorant 2
    106 Australian Pelican 6

    Mammals,
    None Identified