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CalendarSaturday 14th January 2023 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, KIAMA
Here's what was seen outside the harbour on a Kiama pelagic on the MV Kato on Saturday 14 Jan. 2023. 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.
Leaving the harbour at 07.30 hrs with some nervousness about possible rough conditions in store, we headed straight out to the shelf edge. Conditions initially were fairly bumpy but we were rewarded with sightings of several species rarely recorded in these waters as we travelled ESE. First there was a very obliging Grey Noddy and then, the highlight of the trip, a Lesser Frigatebird, which stayed with us for 15 mins, giving excellent views as it made a number of close passes over the boat. This is the first record of this species off Kiama, an excellent sighting indeed.
After the excitement, we reached the shelf edge at 34 43 32 S; 151 07 07 E, about 24 kms from the harbour. Here we set up our first chumming session in 100 fathoms/183 m shelf edge waters. With our usual mixture of chicken mince, a pilchard log and tuna oil, we attracted the familiar mixture of shearwaters, Grey-faced Petrels and the odd Wilson's Storm-petrel and Shy Albatross. After an hour or so, having drifted 3 kms SSE in the wind and current, we decided to try going a little further out, so went back up the slick we'd made and headed to slightly deeper shelf edge water, 115 fathoms/210 m, at 34 43 50 S; 151 08 10 E, about 26 kms from the harbour.
Our second chumming spot produced a greater variety of birds: a couple of Sooty Terns paid us a visit, a Hutton's Shearwater crossed our path and a rather distant cookilaria, which photos proved to be a Gould's Petrel, zoomed past. Having drifted more than 4 kms in the 80 mins we were stopped with motors off, we had just started back up the slick prior to turning for home when a handsome White-necked Petrel came in, making a couple of passes of the boat before disappearing.
Our journey back in was uneventful and we tied up at the mooring in Kiama Harbour at 14.30 hrs.
Seas were initially bumpy in a swell of 1.5-2m, but eased to 1m as the day progressed. Sea temperature at the shelf edge was 23 degrees.
Highlight was the number of infrequently recorded species we saw, particularly the Lesser Frigatebird. The complete absence of skuas was also noteworthy.
Species seen outside the harbour, maximum at any one time in brackets:
982 Grey Noddy: 1 (1)
125 Silver Gull: 8+ (4) these birds were close inshore near the Blowhole
115 Greater Crested Tern: 1 (1) surprisingly few were seen
120 Sooty Tern: 2 (1)
063 Wilson s Storm Petrel: 4+ (2)
91 & 861 Shy Albatross: 6 (3)
075 Grey-faced Petrel: 15+ (4)
774 White-necked Petrel: 1 (1)
078 Gould s Petrel: 1 (1)
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 250+ (20)
071 Short-tailed Shearwater: 7 (7)
072 Flesh-footed Shearwater: 350+ (30)
913 Hutton s Shearwater: 3 (1)
Fluttering/Hutton s Shearwater: 1 (1)
095 Lesser Frigatebird: 1 (1) bleached white head and indistinct chest band suggest older juvenile
104 Australasian Gannet: 1 (1)
We passed a huge sunfish on the way out, and were briefly joined by a pod of Common Dolphins. Some observers saw a marlin sp. while we were chumming.
Report prepared by Graham Barwell