• Saturday 14th December 2019 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, KIAMA, NSW, AUSTRALIA

     
    Published on 01-01-2020 04:45 AM
    Here's what was seen outside the harbour on the SOSSA Kiama pelagic on the MV Kato on Saturday 14 December 2019. The trip list uses the IOC Checklist v9.1 (Jan. 2019) for taxonomy, nomenclature & order of species. It gives fairly conservative numbers, which are estimates for the commoner species. There's also a map from Google Earth showing our route and chumming spots.

    Leaving Kiama harbour at 07.40 hrs, we motored directly out to the edge of the continental shelf where we made the first of our two stops in deep water (220 m/120 fathoms) at 34° 43’ 50” S; 151° 09’ 40” E at 09.20 hrs. Here we set up a drift and chum session with our usual mixture of chicken mince, suet and tuna oil. Conditions were calm and the wind still as we drifted slowly 1.01 km north and west, with the bird numbers gradually building through the morning. In the latter part of our time at this spot, a White-chinned Petrel came in and gave excellent views in flight and on the water behind the boat. Like many of the NZ-breeding birds of this species, the white on the chin was much reduced and difficult to see, but, once seen, confirmed the bird’s identity, the bill being a little darker on the tip than usual. The banding team set about catching some of the many Shy Albatrosses present and had processed five by the time we moved on at 12.10 hrs.

    We thought we’d try a little futher out in deeper waters and found a likely spot over a channel in the shelf at 34° 45’ 42” S; 151° 10’ 58” E in 293 m/160 fathoms. Many of the birds followed us out, including the White-chinned Petrel, so, with no additional birds to be seen, we didn’t stay as long at this spot and turned back in at 13.32 hrs. While we had been drifting 1.16 km west, the banding team had processed a further two Shy Albatrosses.

    Soon after we turned back in we encountered a small pod of False Killer Whales and we saw the protruding fins of a couple of large Sunfish sp. on the return journey. Time was tight so we didn’t stop on the way back in, arriving at the dock at 15.50 hrs.

    Sea conditions were very comfortable with a 0.5m swell in the light winds. Sea temperature was around 21° at the shelf edge.

    Highlights of the day were the White-chinned Petrel and the large number of Shy Albatrosses present.


    Species seen outside the harbour, maximum at any one time in brackets:

    063 Wilson’s Storm Petrel - 5 (4)
    065 White-faced Storm-petrel - 3 (2)
    091 Shy Albatross - 60 (32) 7 birds caught & banded; most were cauta but 1 imm. steadi present
    075 Grey-faced Petrel - 1 (1)
    915 White-chinned Petrel - 1 (1)
    069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater - 10 (2)
    070 Sooty Shearwater - 8 (2)
    071 Short-tailed Shearwater - 80 (40+) a few flocks still heading south
    072 Flesh-footed Shearwater - 8 (2)
    068 Fluttering Shearwater - 2 (1)
    Australasian Darter - 1 (1) just outside the harbour
    125 Silver Gull - 16 (14)
    115 Greater Crested Tern - 40 (17) many hitched rides on the bow rail of the boat
    945 Pomarine Jaeger - 10 (2)

    Apart from the False Killer Whales and Sunfish sp., we also saw a pod of c. 5 Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphins at out first chumming spot.


    Report prepared by Graham Barwell