Sections
CalendarLeaving Kiama Harbour at 07.35 hrs AEST, we headed E out to the first of our four chumming spots, which we reached at 09.44 hrs, having passed through a band of migrating Hutton’s Shearwaters. Our stopping point was on the shelf edge at 34° 38’ 57” S; 151° 10’ 02” E, 28.2 km from the harbour in 200m+ waters. Here the banding team caught the solitary Brown Skua which was coming into the chum. Having drifted 2.2 km SSW in just over an hour, we travelled NE back up the slick created by the chum to see what it had attracted. We turned round again and continued in a SSW direction along the shelf edge stopping at 34° 39’ 30” S; 151° 09’ 22” E, 27 km E of the harbour in 200m+ waters for our second chumming session, 11.06-12.46 hrs. Several great albatrosses came into the chum at this point in the day, so the banding team went on high alert.
Juvenile Southern Giant Petrel
They were successful in catching 3 of these magnificent birds, one of which, an NZ breeding Antipodean Albatross, had been banded some 16 years previously off Wollongong as a c. 1 year old “brown bird”, thus making it around 17 years old this year. The other 2 were Indian Ocean breeding Wandering Albatrosses.
Gibson's Albatross
As time wore on we had to leave the shelf edge and begin our return journey. We stopped for the third time at 34° 40’ 53” S; 151° 04’ 57” E in 130m+ waters, 20.4 km from the harbour, 12.55-13.45 hrs. We were successful here in attracting two feisty juvenile Giant Petrels, one of each species, which seemed more interested in behaving aggressively towards each other than coming into the chum. We moved on and stopped for the last time at 14.33 hrs in shallower shelf waters, 80m+, at 34° 40’ 39” S; 150° 56’ 33” E, 8 km E of the harbour. Here the plan had been to try to catch some of the early returning Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, but they proved un-cooperative, so we abandoned the attempt after half an hour and continued back into the harbour, arriving at the jetty at 15.28 hrs.
Juvenile Shy (White-capped) Albatross
Sea conditions were calmer than forecast with light-moderate winds and a swell of around 1m. Sea temperature at the shelf edge was 16-17°.
Highlights were the large number of Hutton’s Shearwaters, the great albatrosses, the giant petrels and the first White-faced Storm Petrels of the year.
Species seen outside the harbour, maximum at any one time in brackets:
065 White-faced Storm Petrel - 2 (2)
086 Wandering Albatross - 2 (2) two caught and banded, 1 female and 1 male 846-47 Antipodean Albatross 4 (2) all gibsoni; a female caught which had been banded off Wollongong on 28 Sept. 2002. A second banded bird could not be caught.
088 Black-browed Albatross - 30+ (7)
Black-browed/Campbell Albatross - 4 (3) immature
859 Campbell Albatross - 5 (3) adults and immatures just starting to develop the characteristic pale iris.
091 Shy Albatross - 20+ (7) adults and grey-hooded juveniles; all thought to be the NZ breeding subspecies steadi ‘White-capped Albatross'
864 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross - 20+ (7) all adults except for 1 dark-billed immature
931 Buller’s Albatross - 3 (2)
929 Southern Giant Petrel - 2 (1) juvenile
937 Northern Giant Petrel - 1 (1) juvenile
083 Fairy Prion - 50+ (9)
971 Providence Petrel - 6+ (2)
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater - 10+ (3) newly returned after their winter absence
913 Hutton’s Shearwater - 500+ (100+) in fresh plumage, presumably ready to return to their NZ breeding grounds
106 Australian Pelican - 1 (1) just outside the harbour
104 Australasian Gannet - 10+ (2) adults and juveniles
096 Great Cormorant - 1 (1) just outside the harbour
125 Silver Gull - 30+ (25)
115 Greater Crested Tern - 100+ (50+)
114 White-fronted Tern - 6 (3) adults and immatures
980 Brown Skua - 4 (2)
We saw a number of Humpback Whales out our way out and on our return, some breaching in a spectacular fashion. We also saw c. 5 Common Dolphins? while we were chumming at the shelf break, but they didn’t come in close enough to confirm the ID.
Graham Barwell