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CalendarLeaving Kiama Harbour at 07.30 hrs with a full boat (within Covid restrictions), including several Victorian birders making what had become an annual pilgrimage in search of a White-necked Petrel, we headed straight out to the shelf edge. Arriving there at 09.15 hrs, we made our first stop for the day in 212m/116 fathoms at 34 46 51 S; 151 07 13 E, 26.7 km southeast of the harbour. As had been the case on the way out, the commonest birds here were Flesh-footed Shearwaters, so the banding team caught their first birds of this species for the day.
After an hour or so, drifting slowly southwest, we decided to try our luck further out, so went a further 5.76 km to deeper waters. We stopped at 34 47 23 S; 151 10 46 E in 296m/162 fathoms, 32 kms from the harbour, and drifted slowly for an hour and a half, chumming with our usual mixture of chicken mince, beef fat and tuna/vegetable oil. As we drifted 2.25 km southwest, the wind, which had been very gentle so far, picked up a little and seemed to bring the birds in. First was the long-awaited White-necked Petrel, which made several circuits of the boat, giving everyone excellent views, much to the delight of the Victorians. Then we had a flyby from a single Gould's Petrel, followed soon after by a Long-tailed Jaeger. This last bird appeared to be moulting its outer primaries, so the white feather shafts in the upper wing were difficult to see well.
We then went back 4.25 km to 34 47 23 S; 151 07 39 E, 27.8 km from the harbour in 205m/112 fathoms. Here we stopped for 15 mins or so, hoping to lure in one or both of the Buller's Albatrosses which had joined us and sparked discussion over the separation of northern and southern forms of that species. But the albatrosses weren't interested in what we had to offer, so the banding team had to be content with commoner shearwaters and petrels, while the rest of those on board were treated to a very obliging Streaked Shearwater which stayed with us the whole time we were stopped.
With time against us, we had to leave this spot on the shelf edge and head back to harbour. On the way, we were able to stop for 15 mins in shallower shelf waters (73m/40 fathoms) at 34 42 16 S; 151 56 28 E, 8.2 km from the harbour. Here the banding team caught two birds which had been banded previously. One was a Grey-faced Petrel which had been banded by SOSSA off Kiama on 28 Oct. 2017. It is known that these birds disperse to eastern and southern Australian waters after their winter breeding in northern New Zealand, but it is striking that this individual has come at least twice to this location off the east coast. The second banded bird was a Wedge-tailed Shearwater, banded by SOSSA off Wollongong on 24 Jan. 2015. It may be one of the birds breeding on the Five Islands. With most of the birds sitting on the water, as the wind had dropped again, we called it a day and went back to harbour, arriving at 15.00 hrs.
Sea conditions were comfortable with a swell of <1m. The wind was fairly light except for a brief period in the middle of the day. Sea temperature at the shelf edge was 24 degrees.
Highlight was probably the White-necked Petrel, particularly for the elated Victorians, though the Gould's Petrel and Streaked Shearwater were also good to see.
Species seen outside the harbour, maximum at any one time in brackets:
125 Silver Gull: 40 (20)
115 Greater Crested Tern: 20 (8) one bird caught and freed of some blue thread wrapped round its neck and trailing past its tail.
945 Pomarine Jaeger: 4 (2)
933 Long-tailed Jaeger: 1 (1)
091 Shy Albatross: 2 (2) subspecies not determined
931 Buller's Albatross: 2 (2) subspecies not determined; not usually seen here as early as February
075 Grey-faced Petrel: 20 (6) one bird recaptured which had been banded off Kiama, 28 Oct. 2017
774 White-necked Petrel: 1 (1)
078 Gould's Petrel: 1 (1)
853 Streaked Shearwater: 1 (1)
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 10+ (2) one bird recaptured which had been banded off Wollongong, 24 Jan. 2015
070 Sooty Shearwater: 1 (1)
071 Short-tailed Shearwater: 8 (2)
072 Flesh-footed Shearwater: 70+ (48)
913 Hutton's Shearwater: 2 (1)
104 Australasian Gannet: 5 (2) mainly juveniles
106 Australian Pelican: 1 (1)
Passerine sp. 1 (1) possibly a Willy Wagtail
A few dolphins, probably Oceanic Bottle-nose, came in just as we left our second chumming spot, but no other cetaceans were seen.
Report prepared by Graham Barwell