• Sunday, 26th March 2023, Port Stephens, NSW, Australia

     
    Published on 26-03-2023 03:12 PM
    Port Stephens Pelagic Trip Report - Sunday 26th March 2023

    Boat: M.V. Contagious, skippered by Dale Wellham.

    CONDITIONS
    We again took a slightly northerly course on the outward leg due to strong downhill currents out wide. Conditions were ideal, with just a gentle onshore breeze in our faces as we motored out, turning to a 10-15 knot onshore breeze by the time we cut the engines at -32.74902, 152.70514. We drifted roughly parallel to the shelf break in about 260m of water for the best part of four hours. Remarkable sea surface temperature reading of 29.3 degrees at the beginning of the drift!

    ACTIVITY
    Departed Nelson Bay Public Wharf late at 7:45am due to a no-show by the boat's deckie, but still managed nearly four hours at the shelf and yet be back at port by 3:42pm. Like last month, relatively few birds were seen on the outward journey, and perhaps not coincidentally we saw not a single Cetacean on the ocean the entire day. Overall, it was a very quiet day at sea, with the only highlight being an intermediate morph Kermadec Petrel seen about an hour into the drift. Fortunately, this bird showed well and did many laps of the boat, giving all on board great views. The only non-bird vertebrates seen were the occasionally flying-fish.


    Kermadec Petrel. Photo: Steven Cox

    BIRDS
    13 species were recorded outside of 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 V4.

    Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 180 (50). The larger numbers were inshore birds.

    Flesh-footed Shearwater: 35 (25). Pelagic and inshore.

    Short-tailed Shearwater: 5 (1). All inshore.

    Sooty Shearwater: 4 (2). All inshore on the outward leg.

    Hutton's Shearwater: 3 (1). All in neritic waters.

    Fluttering-type Shearwater: 4 (2).

    Grey-faced Petrel: 5 (3). All pelagic, not really staying around the boat much.

    Solander's Petrel: 2 (1). Both pelagic and neither showing too much interest in the boat.

    Kermadec Petrel: 1. An immaculate intermediate morph bird seen about an hour into the drift, giving great views to all on the boat.

    Australasian Gannet: 3 (1). All young birds.

    Crested Tern: 2 (1). Only one bird inshore but a bird took us all by surprise at the shelf.

    Caspian Tern: 1. Seen flying over the ocean between the heads and Cabbage Tree Island.

    White-bellied Sea-eagle: 3 (3). Three birds flying over the ocean in the vicinity of Little Island.


    FISH
    Flying-fish: a few.