• Saturday 23rd September 2017 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, KIAMA, NSW, AUSTRALIA.

    Date / Month 23rd September 2017 Recorded by Lindsay E. Smith
    Location Kiama NSW
    Air temp: 30
    Air pressure: 1004 Hp Cloud cover 2/5
    Wind speed and direction: N-NW 15-25Knots Sea conditions 1-1.5m

    Comments
    A comfortable day at sea with a variety of birds, though albatrosses were in very low numbers. The Wedge-tailed Shearwaters are well and truly back in force with several large flocks throughout the day. Short-tailed Shearwaters were in very low numbers and only one Flesh-footed was observed for the day. Solander’s (Providence) Petrels were in good numbers.

    The banding team managed to capture one adult female Wandering albatross and 14 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters including one re-trap, a bird that had been banded as a chick at the Five Islands Nature reserve on March 11th 1999 18 years ago!

    Hump-backed whales were heading south in good numbers with at least 7 small pods of females with calves sighted over the course of the day.

    Sp No Species Number
    971 Providence Petrel, Pterodroma solandri - 20+ (18)
    069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus pacificus - 100’s (100+)
    072 Flesh-footed Shearwater, Puffinus carneipes - 1
    071 Short-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus tenuirostris - 5+ (3)
    068 Fluttering Shearwater, Puffinus gavial - 5+ (3)
    913 Hutton’s Shearwater, Puffinus huttoni - 2
    086 Wandering Albatross, Diomedea exulans - 1
    Black-browed Albatross, Thalassarche spp - 5+ (2)
    088 Black-browed Albatross, Thalassarche melanophrys - 3 (2)
    861 White-capped Albatross, Thalassarche steadi - 3+ (2)
    864 Indian yellow-nosed Albatross,Thalassarche bassi - 1
    065 White-faced Storm-Petrel, Pelagodroma marina - 1
    104 Australasian Gannet, Morus serrator - 6+ (3)
    100 Little Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax melanoleucos - 3
    106 Australian Pelican, Pelicanus conspicillatus - 5
    125 Silver Gull, Larus novaehollandiae - 30+
    115 Crested Tern, Sterna bergii - 25+(18)
    114 White-fronted Tern, Sterna striata - 8 (5)