Sections
CalendarDate / Month: 24th November 2018
Location: Kiama MV Kato
Air temp: 23c Water temp Off Shore: 24c
Air pressure: 1600 Cloud cover: 3/5
Wind speed and direction 20-25 Knots from SW, decreasing to10-15 Knots S in the afternoon
Sea conditions: 2.5-4.0m From the SE
Comments:
Gale force winds from the west had prevailed for the past few days and a Gale Warning remained in place till being revised to a strong wind warning in the morning at 06.30. The decision as to whether the trip would be called off or not was to be made in the morning after surveying the conditions from shore. With the knowledge that conditions would ease during the morning as the winds turned to the south, it was decided that we would go to sea but remain inshore till conditions improved.
Shy (white-capped) Albatross
Our first stop was in 40 fathoms where we chummed for birds for about an hour with only a few albatrosses and shearwaters coming to the boat. With conditions easing we moved further out to 75 Fathoms before drifting and chumming for another hour, without any further success before conditions eased sufficiently to allow us to reach the Continental Shelf in 110 fathoms at 10.30hrs. Even here on the shelf break birds were few and far between and we drifted north 9 kilometres along the shelf edge as we chummed and only added a few more species to our list before heading back inshore with several stops on the way encountering only scattered groups of Shearwaters along the way back to the harbour.
Campbell Albatross
Mammals
Common Dolphins. Two small pods of less than 10 individuals were observed during the day.
Sp No Species Number
075 Grey-faced Petrel, Pterodroma macroptera - 1
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus pacificus - 100+ (50+)
072 Flesh-footed Shearwater, Puffinus carneipes - 2 (1)
070 Sooty Shearwater, Puffinus griseus - 1
071 Short-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus tenuirostris - 35+ (30)
068 Fluttering Shearwater, Puffinus gavia - 20+ (8)
913 Hutton’s Shearwater, Puffinus huttoni - 8-10 (6)
Fluttering/Hutton's
088 Black-browed Albatross, Thalassarche melanophrys - 6 (4)
859 Campbell Albatross, Thalassarche impavida - 1
091 Shy Albatross, Thalassarche cauta - 2
861 White-capped Albatross, Thalassarche steadi - 12+(6)
063 Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Oceanites oceanicus - 4+ (2)
104 Australasian Gannet, Morus serrator - 6+ (2)
100 Little Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax melanoleucos - 3
099 Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax varius - 1
096 Great Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo - 4 (3)
106 Australian Pelican, Pelicanus conspicillatus - 4 (4)
945 Pomarine Jaeger, Stercorarius pomarinus - 2 (1)
125 Silver Gull, Larus novaehollandiae - 20+
115 Crested Tern, Sterna bergii - 8 (4)