• Saturday 27th August 2016 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, KIAMA, NSW, AUSTRALIA.

    BOAT TRIP DATA SHEET - KIAMA
    Date/Month: 27th AUGUST 2016 - SATURDAY Recorded by: Smith+Whylie
    Location: Kiama, 2 boats, MV Kato and MV Kiama
    Air temp: 9-18 Water temp: In Shore 19.6 Off Shore 19.8
    Wind speed and direction 10-15 knots SW Sea conditions Sea SE 1-1.5m


    Gibson's Albatross

    Comments

    Queensland Crew down for the AGM

    Conditions at sea were very good for birds though most were in low numbers. There were however a good variety of birds sighted throughout the day. The observations are from both boats, with not all species sighted from both boats.

    The banding team were successful in capturing three Gibson’s Albatrosses. Two of which were previously banded by our colleagues on New Zealand’s Adams Island in the Auckland Island Group as part of their long term studies of the species there. A Northern Giant Petrel was also banded on the day.


    Southern Giant Petrel

    There were an unusual number of Hump-backed whales with several large pods of Bottle-nosed Dolphins and smaller pods of Common Dolphins.

    A Highlight for the day was seeing “Giant Tuna” (Thought to be Yellow-finned Tuna) jumping clear of the water in 200 fathoms. These fish were estimated to be around 200 Kilo by the captains of both boats.

    Sp No Species Number

    929 Southern Giant-Petrel, Macronectes giganteus - 1 (1)
    937 Northern Giant-Petrel, Macronectes halli - 3 (3)
    984 Cape Petrel, Daption capense - 1 (1)
    075 Great-winged Petrel, Pterodroma macroptera - 2 (2)
    971 Providence Petrel, Pterodroma solandri - 6 (3)
    083 Fairy Prion, Pachyptila turtur – 10 (5)
    069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus pacificus - 40 (15)
    068 Fluttering Shearwater, Puffinus gavial - 5 (1)
    913 Hutton’s Shearwater, Puffinus huttoni - 7 (2)
    Fluttering/Hutton's 20
    086 Wandering Albatross, Diomedea exulans - 1 (1)
    847 Gibson’s Albatross, Diomedea gibsoni - 7 (4)
    088 Black-browed Albatross, Thalassarche melanophrys - 6 (3)
    859 Campbell Albatross, Thalassarche impavida - 1 (1) Juvenile
    861 White-capped Albatross, Thalassarche steadi - 5 (3)
    864 Indian yellow-nosed Albatross,Thalassarche bassi - 4 (2)
    065 White-faced Storm-Petrel, Pelagodroma marina - 15 (6)
    104 Australasian Gannet, Morus serrator - 12 (3)
    100 Little Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax melanoleucos - 2 (2)
    099 Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax varius - 1 (1)
    097 Little black Cormorant, Phalacrocorax sulcirostris - 2 (2)
    106 Australian Pelican, Pelicanus conspicillatus - 6 (3)
    125 Silver Gull, Larus novaehollandiae - 20 (5)
    115 Crested Tern, Sterna bergii - 10 (5)
    114 White-fronted Tern, Sterna striata - 1 (1)


    MV Kato at sea. Photo taken from the MV Kiama