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