Sections
CalendarBoat: M.V. Contagious, skippered by Dale Wellham.
CONDITIONS
We punched into a sloppy sea created by a solid 10-15 knots of south-easterly wind, with occasional rain squalls. This made for a rather wet outward leg. To the north we had thunderstorms that fortunately never came our way. The onshore breeze stayed with us all day, only dropping back slightly by about midday. Overall pretty ideal conditions for seabirds really. We commenced the drift at -32.779928, 152.703351 at 0948 drifting across the shelf break, ending up at -32.914320, 152.65573 in about 450m of water. Water temperature 22 degrees at the shelf; abnormally high for late May one would have thought.
Sooty Albatross. Photo: Allan Richardson
ACTIVITY
Departed Nelson Bay public wharf at 7:03am returning by 3:58pm. We again took a slightly northerly course (similar to April) heading between Cabbage Tree and Boondelbah Islands. As with the previous trips, there were close-in Wilson's Storm-petrels seen but only one or two birds this time. We saw one lone Wedge-tailed Shearwater behind the boat, presumably a late-fledging bird from one of the islands. We had approximately zero birds follow the boat out and for the first hour of the drift all that we could bring to the boat were literally a handful of Wilson's Storm-petrels and the odd, passing Solander's Petrel.
Things picked up with the arrival of a White-capped Albatross. With two people on board that had never done a pelagic before, this provided some relief and it wasn't too long afterwards that a second Shy-type arrived. Before too long we then had a Buller's Albatross and one, then two, Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses. All of a sudden it felt like a winter pelagic! Some Crested Terns arrived to feed at the boat, with a max count of 8 individuals; I think being the highest count of these at the shelf for us (that we didn't drag out anyway). The first of two juvenile Campbell Albatrosses joined the fray, keeping the interest ticking along, as a pod of up to 70 Offshore Bottle-nose Dolphins frolicked beneath us (I only know there were that many because of GoPro footage).
Then sometime around midday a dark bird appeared from the north-east, which was the direction that just about EVERY bird had arrived from. Darren Earnshaw and Dan Williams were providing commentary on the bird and their confusion as to what it could be was enough to pique my interest, so I lifted the bins and followed it. The all-dark appearance and size suggested it may have been a giant-petrel, but the shape was all wrong (i.e. no hunchbacked jizz). The three of us continued to track the bird, which was making a direct beeline for us, which didn't help. Then the bird lifted slightly and banked, giving a side-on profile. Instantly we knew we had a Sooty Albatross flying towards us! The bird came right up to the boat, much to the (fairly extreme) excitement of all on board. Not only did the bird give great views as it arrived, it hung around for at least 10 minutes, doing wide laps of the boat mostly, but on one occasional flying almost directly over our heads. While that was going on, another Wedge-tailed Shearwater snuck into the slick, taking our attention momentarily off this dark denizen of different oceans to the one we were floating on.
Sooty Albatross. Photo: Allan Richardson
To add to the excitement, as the Sooty departed, a ~2.5m Mako Shark was seen scurrying through the slick, even appearing to have a dart at albatross sitting on the water. It was a most enjoyable May trip and whilst we have always been aware of the mantra "May is the month for Sooty Albatross" none of us expected to see one on a Port Stephens pelagic.
BIRDS
13 species were recorded outside of Port Stephens, but a count of five albatross is good for Port Stephens. 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 V3.
Wilson's Storm-petrel: 60 (40). Reasonably good numbers in the slick, though slightly down on the previous two months. Birds appeared to stay distant from the boat today.
Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 2 (1). One inshore and one that appeared in the slick while the Sooty Albatross was flying around.
Fluttering Shearwater: 1. One bird seen briefly at the shelf.
Campbell Albatross: 2 (2). Juvenile birds at the shelf.
White-capped Albatross: 2 (2). Adult birds with cold grey bills both determined to be White-capped.
Shy-type Albatross: 1. The third Shy-type was assumed to be another White-capped at sea, but analysis of photos shows some yellow at the base of the upper mandible and some yellowish hue on the bill. These are traits probably pointing to Shy Albatross but can we be certain that some White-capped may not show this away from the breeding grounds?
Buller's Albatross: 1. Single bird that arrived about midway through our drift.
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross: 3 (2). Two adults at the shelf, plus a very distant bird on the way back in (only identifiable from photos).
SOOTY ALBATROSS: 1. Cracking bird that appeared from a long way out, making a slow beeline for the boat and eventually giving extended views to all on board. Determined to be a young bird due to flecking in the plumage, ginger nape and indistinct sulcus. First for Hunter Region pelagics.
Solander's (Providence) Petrel: 12 (2). Slightly fewer in number than last month.
Australasian Gannet: 15 (3). Just a couple of immature birds, otherwise adults. Inshore and pelagic waters.
Crested Tern: 20 (8). Mostly inshore but we did have a maximum count of 8 birds at the shelf.
Silver Gull: 3(3). Inshore following the boat for a while on the outward leg.
White-bellied Sea-eagle: 1. Flying towards (and landing on) Boondelbah on the way out.
MAMMALS
Offshore Bottle-nose Dolphin: 85. A moderate-sized pod hung around the boat for periods during our drift. Other smaller pods seen in transit.
Short-beaked Common Dolphin: 20. A couple of pods following the boat on the outward journey.
FISH
Mako Shark: 1. This shark was seen fleetingly at the rear of the boat a couple of times before it eventually became a bit of a regular fixture in the slick, even seen to be swimming quickly towards albatrosses that were sat on the water.