Sections
CalendarHere's what was seen outside the harbour on a Kiama pelagic on the MV Kato on Saturday 26 Nov. 2022. The trip list uses the IOC Checklist v12.1 (Jan. 2022) for taxonomy, nomenclature & order of species. It gives fairly conservative numbers, which are estimates for the commoner species.
We set out at 07.35 hrs with a full boat and in pleasant conditions after persistent strong westerlies earlier in the week. We headed straight for the shelf edge, arriving there without any stops en route. At 34 45 16 S; 151 10 35 E in 140 fathoms/256 m, 30.4 km from the harbour, we began our first chumming session at 09.40 hrs with the usual mixture of chicken mince, beef fat, a pilchard log and tuna oil. As was the case on the way out, most of the birds were not interested in the food, with only the Greater Crested Terns picking at it. Nevertheless we did elicit some interest with several jaegers checking us out and some storm-petrels attracted by the oil. The combination of wind and current at this location meant that we drifted only 200m or so during the time we were there.
After an hour or so, we went back along the slick to see if there was anything of interest which hadn't come in close, then moved about 3 km further out into deeper water, 205 fathoms/375 m, at 34 46 42 S; 151 11 02 E, where we began our second chumming session at 11.07 hrs. Here we were treated to a similar array of species, but were delighted to receive a visit from a White-chinned Petrel, which made several passes over the slick before moving off. An adult Campbell Albatross also came by. We drifted about 600m during the time we were at this location until, with time running short, we had to turn back inshore at 12.50 hrs. We travelled directly back to harbour arriving at 15.05 hrs.
Seas were initially a bit rocky in a swell of 1.5-2 m, but this eased to 1 m in the afternoon. Sea temperature at the shelf edge was 19.3 degrees.
Highlight was the White-chinned Petrel, a rare visitor in these waters.
Species seen outside the harbour, maximum at any one time in brackets:
125 Silver Gull: 50+ (50+) these birds were close inshore near the Blowhole
115 Greater Crested Tern: 20+ (8) often hitching a ride on the bow rail of the boat
945 Pomarine Jaeger: 6+ (2)
933 Long-tailed Jaeger: 3 (1)
063 Wilson's Storm-petrel: 4+ (1)
859 Campbell Albatross: 1 (1) adult
91 & 861 Shy Albatross: 8+ (2)
075 Grey-faced Petrel: 8+ (2)
915 White-chinned Petrel: 1 (1)
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 50+ (5)
070 Sooty Shearwater: 5 (5)
071 Short-tailed Shearwater: 200+ (10+) all birds were heading south on return migration
068 Fluttering Shearwater: 20+ (5)
Fluttering/Hutton's Shearwater: 20+
913 Hutton's Shearwater: 5 (1)
104 Australasian Gannet: 7 (2)
Some Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphins were seen out at the shelf edge and a few Common Dolphins accompanied us briefly on the way back to harbour.
Report prepared by Graham Barwell