Sections
CalendarBoat: 45ft Randell, skippered by Brad Minors
CONDITIONS
A mild southerly change had preceded this trip over the course of the weekend, followed by steady dead-onshore winds on the Monday. We were quite pleased with this in the lead-up to today’s trip and with strong north-easterlies forecast we were hoping for some of the shearwater migration to be pushed our way. On the day there was a gentle offshore breeze in our backs for the first hour or so, before the nor-easter started getting up at around 10am. The wind lifted over the course of the day, though didn’t get blown out until we were close to the heads on the way back in, when the gauge would have been pushing 25 knots. Swell was low to moderate with some short-spaced troughs with 20 knots of wind making for an interesting ride home at times.
Behind the boat. All brown birds are Grey-faced Petrels. Photo: Mick Roderick
Sea surface temperature at the shelf was ~20 degrees.
Drift Start: -33.2385524 152.2727421, drifting just about a mile south over the course of the two hour drift (our southerly waft slowed by a drift anchor deployed by the skipper). This mark was about 3.5 miles wider than previous Swansea trips and will be one that we likely aim for on future excursions.
ACTIVITY
Departed wharf at 7:05am returning at 4:44pm. From almost the outset it was evident that the activity today was going to be far greater than our Port Stephens trip 9 days earlier. In fact, by about the 10 mile mark we’d already exceeded both the total count of birds and species on that trip! We had some attendant Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and eventually a number of Fleshy-foots (with them dominating the rear of the boat for the latter half of the outward leg). There were also some large aggregations of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, along with the occasional stream of migrating Short-tailed and individual Sooty Shearwaters. There was large line of migrating Short-taileds just before we commenced our drift.
Black Petrel. Photo: Mick Roderick
About two miles short of our shelf mark we saw our first Grey-faced Petrel and a comment was made that it is always good to bag a Pterodroma before we cut the engines in deep water. Little did we realise that we would literally be inundated by Grey-faced Petrels that were very hungry and at times fighting voraciously over the berley offerings. Within the first half of the drift four Wandering-type Albatrosses joined the petrel fray, much to the delight of those on board, including two definite exulans birds, one very white individual, presumably an old male bird. Three Black Petrels and small numbers of Solander’s Petrels and Wilson’s and White-faced Storm-petrels rounded out a fantastic day at sea. Good numbers of Grey-faceds followed the boat back in and indeed the final tubenose to peel off as we came inside Moon Island was a Grey-faced. Two of the Black Petrels also followed the boat to just a few miles from the heads. Remarkably, not a single Cetacean (or any marine mammal) seen all day.
BIRDS
18 species recorded outside the heads (including “types”) is not outstanding diversity but still a respectable tally and well and truly made up for by the sheer number of Pterodromas. Counts are totals for birds seen outside the heads (with the maximum number visible from the boat at one time in brackets) – many are estimates. Taxonomy follows the BirdLife Australia Working List V2.1.
White-faced Storm-petrel: 2 (1). Pelagic, one bird feeding in the slick and a second bird that appeared in the wake of the boat about 5 miles into the homeward leg.
Wilson’s Storm-petrel: 3 (1). Occasional bird appearing in the slick. A storm-petrel seen very briefly on the way out was likely a Wilson’s.
Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 1. Good numbers and many birds showing interest in the boat; the largest count being a big flock in deep water.
Short-tailed Shearwater: 180 (60). Mostly migrating birds, though two birds did join the throng of Grey-faceds at the rear of the boat, diving to catch the berley that other birds couldn’t get to.
Sooty Shearwater: 10 (1). All individual birds, mostly at the shelf, showing no interest in the boat.
Flesh-footed Shearwater: 35 (15). Was great to see Fleshies back. Virtually every bird seen was in shallow water (perhaps just two or three at the shelf).
Fluttering-type Shearwater: 1. Literally just the one bird seen very briefly at a distance on the outward leg and no chance of identification.
Shy-type Albatross: 2 (2). Both about 10 miles out. One indeterminate adult and one juvenile with a worn head though quite dark tips to the under-primaries.
Wandering Albatross: 2 (2). The first Wandering-type to join the boat was a majestic white bird, possibly an old male. One other bird we are confident as being an exulans arrived as the 3rd Wandering-type bird. All at the shelf and all four birds followed the boat back to just a few miles out.
Antipodean Albatross: 1. Probably an adult male bird.
Wandering-type Albatross: 1. Still one bird we are looking at photos of that we thought was an exulans on the day but could turn out to be a very old male Antipodean (Gibson’s).
Black Petrel: 3 (2). One bird joined the boat early in the drift, with a second and third birds arriving about an hour later. Two birds (assumed to be these latter birds) followed us back to about the 4 mile mark.
Solander’s Petrel: 4 (1). All at the shelf, mostly birds coming in for a quick look and a couple of laps of the boat before flying off.
Grey-faced Petrel: 300 (120). All pelagic, though many birds followed the boat back to inshore waters (and the final tubenose to leave the boat near Moon Island was a Grey-faced). Incredible numbers and activity as they fed voraciously at the rear of boat. No shearwaters could get a look in due to the sheer number and dominance of Grey-faceds. Every bird seen missing several primaries.
Australasian Gannet: 60 (8). Vast majority were adults.
Pomarine Jaeger: 18 (8)
Arctic Jaeger: 6 (3)
Crested Tern: 50 (30). Mostly close to port but a few birds followed the boat for the entire day.
Silver Gull: 250 (200). Mostly in association with Moon Island, though about a dozen birds followed us to and from the shelf.
FISH
School of ~100 garfish (Eastern Sea Garfish?) porpoising at the shelf.
Southern Ocean Sunfish: One at the shelf that came within ~70m of the boat.
Flying fish sp.: One very small specimen not far from the heads on the return leg.
Wandering-type Albatross (possibly old Gibson's). Photo: Mick Roderick