• Saturday 27th January 2018 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, KIAMA, NSW, AUSTRALIA

     
    Published on 29-01-2018 06:49 AM
    Date: 27th January 2018 Recorded by: Lindsay E. Smith
    Location: Kiama
    Air temp: 27c Water temp off Shore: 24
    Cloud cover: 3/5
    Wind speed and direction: 7-10 Knts from North-East increasing to 12 Knots North-East
    Sea conditions: 1-1.5m from the east

    Comments:
    Conditions at sea were comfortable and there were plenty of birds about mainly, shearwaters. These included Flesh-footed, Wedge-tailed, Short-tailed, Sooty, Huttons and Fluttering. The birds were in numbers and stayed with us for most of the day and presented many close views, thus ensuring direct comparison between the species present. Further out, Grey-faced Petrels and Pomarine Jaegers joined the throng of birds around the boat. Several Sooty Terns were sighted and a White-tailed Tropicbird, which flew directly over the boat, was a highlight. An unusually white bird (thought to be another Tropicbird) remained in the distance and has not been confirmed.

    The banding team also had a productive day banding Wedge-tailed Shearwaters including one which was first banded 27 years before on the Five Islands Nature Reserve off Port Kembla!

    Bird list
    Sp No Species Number
    075 Grey-faced Petrel, Pterodroma gouldi - 6 (3)
    069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus pacificus - 100s (50+)
    072 Flesh-footed Shearwater, Puffinus carneipes - 30+ (5)
    070 Sooty Shearwater, Puffinus griseus - 3 (1)
    071 Short-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus tenuirostris - 5 (2)
    068 Fluttering Shearwater, Puffinus gavial - 50+ (10)
    913 Hutton’s Shearwater, Puffinus huttoni - 40+ (8)
    100 Little Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax melanoleucos - 2
    099 Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax varius - 1
    097 Little black Cormorant, Phalacrocorax sulcirostris - 5
    096 Great Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo - 2
    106 Australian Pelican, Pelicanus conspicillatus - 4
    108 White-tailed Tropicbird, Phaethon lepturus - 1
    945 Pomarine Jaeger, Stercorarius pomarinus - 15+(7)
    125 Silver Gull, Larus novaehollandiae - 60+
    115 Crested Tern, Sterna bergii - 10-12

    Mammals
    A small pod of Common Dolphins 3-5 animals were the only mammals observed.