• Tuesday 26th September 2017 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, KIAMA, NSW, AUSTRALIA.

    Date / Month: 26th September 2017 Recorded by Lindsay E. Smith
    Location: Kiama NSW Eagle Eye Tours
    Air temp: 19o Water temp In Shore Off Shore: 18.6
    Air pressure: 1016 Hp Cloud cover: 2/5
    Wind speed and direction: 10-15 Knots Southerly in the morning turning E SE in the afternoon to below 10 Knots around mid-day
    Sea conditions: 1-1.5m decreasing to below 1metre around Mid-day before increasing to 1.5 - 2 metres in the afternoon.

    Comments
    Conditions at sea were comfortable with a good variety of birds being observed. Birds generally were in very low numbers. The majority of species expected at this time of the year were observed and most came close to the boat and offered excellent views. These included albatrosses, Giant Petrels, Wedge-tailed, Short-tailed and Fluttering/Huttons Shearwaters Solander’s (Providence) Petrels were in good numbers in the region of the continental shelf.
    See list of species for the day below.

    Note. After review the distant Skua over the wake of the boat on the way out was most likely to have been a Brown Skua rather than a dark phase Pomarine Jaeger. Sorry for the error L.S.

    Both forms of Shy Albatrosses NZ and Tasmanian observed on the day, unfortunately they have not as yet been split as separate species. L.S.

    Mammals
    Hump-backed whales were heading south in good numbers with at least 6 small pods of females with calves sighted over the course of the day.

    At least two separate pods of common dolphins between 6 and 12 individuals in each pod. The first pod in 60 Fathoms and the second pod were in 80 fathoms.

    Sp No Species Number
    079 Giant-Petrel, Macronectes sp 2 (1)
    937 Northern Giant-Petrel, Macronectes halli 1
    971 Providence Petrel, Pterodroma solandri 20+ (11)
    069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus pacificus 40+(15)
    071 Short-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus tenuirostris 15+ (8)
    068 Fluttering Shearwater, Puffinus gavial 5+ (3)
    913 Hutton’s Shearwater, Puffinus huttoni 8 (5)
    Fluttering/Hutton's 10+
    086 Wandering Albatross, Diomedea exulans 1
    088 Black-browed Albatross, Thalassarche melanophrys 3 (2)
    Shy Albatross, Thalassarche cauta spp 4
    091 Shy Albatross, Thalassarche cauta (Tasmanian Shy Alb) 1
    861 White-capped Albatross, Thalassarche steadi (NZ Shy Alb) 3
    065 White-faced Storm-Petrel, Pelagodroma marina 1
    104 Australasian Gannet, Morus serrator 12+(5)
    100 Little Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax melanoleucos 2
    096 Great Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo 2
    106 Australian Pelican, Pelicanus conspicillatus 3
    8698 Brown Skua, Catharacta Longbergii 1
    125 Silver Gull, Larus novaehollandiae 20+
    115 Crested Tern, Sterna bergii 18+ (12)
    114 White-fronted Tern, Sterna striata 8 (5)