• Saturday 23rd August 2014 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, WOLLONGONG, NSW, AUSTRALIA.

    Here's a list of what was seen on the boat outside the harbour on Saturday 23 August. It uses the BARC Australian Checklist (v2014 July based on IOC v4.2) for taxonomy, nomenclature & order of species and gives fairly conservative numbers. For the commoner species the numbers are estimates. There's also a .jpg file from Google Earth showing our route.


    White-headed Petrel

    Leaving at 07.08 hrs we travelled out, catching and banding newly-returned Wedge-tailed Shearwaters on the way, to 34° 27' 42" S; 151° 12' 26" E, 27.9 km east of Wollongong Harbour in 150+m shelf waters, where we stopped and drifted north 09.45-10.05 hrs, catching and banding an Antipodean and a Wandering Albatross, then proceeded further east to 34° 27' 04" S; 151° 19' 57" E, 39.1 km from the harbour in 512m pelagic waters, where we stopped and drifted 11.20-12.10 hrs, catching and banding several Wandering Albatrosses and Antipodean Albatrosses, before turning back in, stopping at 34° 25' 24" S; 151° 03' 29" E, 15.1 km east of the harbour in 90+m shelf waters, after we saw the Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross, and caught and banded a Wandering Albatross and a Brown Skua, 2.15-2.45 hrs, before continuing into the harbour with a brief stop on the way. We arrived back at 15.55 hrs. Seas were a little bumpy with a low swell. Sea temperature was 16.5° inshore and 18° out at the shelf edge. We had a lengthy shower of rain around the middle of the day.


    Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross


    Pygmy Killer Whales

    Maximum number seen at any one time in brackets

    086 Wandering Albatross 9+ (4) male and female Indian Ocean birds
    846 Antipodean Albatross 2 (1) all gibsoni
    Wandering Albatross type 1 (1) 1 juvenile
    088 Black-browed Albatross 30+ (20)
    859 Campbell Albatross 6 (4) 2 adult and 4 immature
    091 Shy Albatross 8+ (4) including 1 adult cauta and several juvenile steadi
    089 Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross 1 (1) to be confirmed by BARC, good photos taken
    864 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 8 (3) adult and immature
    931 Buller's Albatross 3 (2)
    083 Fairy Prion 5+ (3)
    075 Great-winged Petrel 3 (2) gouldi
    077 White-headed Petrel 2 (1)
    971 Providence Petrel 2 (1)
    069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater 100+ (50+)
    068 Fluttering Shearwater 5+ (2)
    913 Hutton's Shearwater 3 (1)
    065 White-faced Storm Petrel 5 (4)
    106 Australian Pelican 1 (1)
    104 Australasian Gannet 5+ (2)
    125 Silver Gull 100 (50+)
    115 Greater Crested Tern 20+ (15)
    114 White-fronted Tern 9+ (4)
    980 Brown Skua 2 (1)



    Mammals
    Pygmy Killer Whale 16+ (associated with two Humpback Whales) at our first stopping point.

    Humpback Whale 6 (2)


    Cheers


    Graham