Port Stephens Pelagic Trip Details – Thursday 26 February 2015 (BirdLife Australia Photography Group outing)
Boat: M.V. Argonaut, skippered by Ray Horsfield
CONDITIONS
Calm for most of the day with gentle SE to NE winds rarely exceeding 10 knots. Seas <1m on a 1m swell. Sea surface temperature up to 25 degrees out wide, with pockets of 24 degree water inshore.
Departed Nelson Bay Public Wharf at 0706 returning at 1705.
Commence drift at 32 54 57s / 152 35 8e, end at 32 55 41s / 152 35 3e
Buller's Shearwater - Photo Mick Roderick
BIRDS
Species: Total outside the heads (maximum number visible from the boat at one time) – many are estimates. Taxonomy follows the BirdLife Australia Working List V1.1
Shy-type Albatross: 2 (1)
Antipodean Albatross: 1
Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 550 (200)
Flesh-footed Shearwater: 30 (7)
Short-tailed Shearwater: 7 (2)
Fluttering-type Shearwater: 2
BULLER’S SHEARWATER: 2 (1)
Great-winged (Grey-faced) Petrel: 15 (6)
BLACK PETREL: 1
Pomarine Jaeger: 10 (4)
Crested Tern: 11 (7)
Silver Gull: 5 (5)
MAMMALS
Pantropical Spotted Dolphin: ~60?