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CalendarSunday 29th January 2023 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP
Here's what was seen outside the harbour on a Kiama pelagic on the MV Kato on Sunday 29 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 in overcast conditions we headed straight out east to the shelf edge, seeing nothing of immediate interest on the way other than the good numbers of the usual shearwaters. Arriving at the shelf edge at 34 40 34 S; 151 08 31 E in 104 fathoms/190 m at 09.10 hrs, we set up our first chum and drift session, being pushed 2.7 km south in the current and wind over the next 50 mins. Again we had plenty of shearwaters but not much else.
Accordingly we pushed out 4.4 km further east to 34 41 55 S; 151 11 04 E, 29 km from the harbour in 135 f/247 m shelf edge waters. We began chumming again, slowly drifting 4.7 km south over the next 70 mins. We had a greater variety of birds here: our first storm petrels, a Sooty Tern, and rather surprisingly, a handsome male Antipodean Albatross, race gibsoni, breeding on the Auckland Islands. Such birds are not usually seen until the cooler months off Kiama. This bird came in close at the back of the boat and showed a healthy appetite by wolfing down the fish skins we had along with the usual chicken mince as our chum.
Once more we went further east, opting to try a spot at 34 44 19 S; 151 11 12 E, 31 km from the harbour. We began our third chumming session. Our hungry albatross accompanied us, we saw our first pterodroma, a Grey-faced Petrel from New Zealand, and a Hutton s Shearwater zoomed past close enough to identify with confidence as we gradually drifted 4.3 km south. Just as we turned at 12.55 hrs to go a brief way up the end of the slick we had made, a storm petrel was seen, first thought to be a Wilson s. Our skipper skillfully manoeuvred the boat to allow everyone good views as the bird flew along the slick. It was soon realised that this storm petrel had white on the flanks extending up the central underwing. This, its black belly and longish legs, soon confirmed it as a Black-bellied Storm-petrel, a rarity in these waters, usually seen on migration to and from its breeding grounds further south.
At this point we had to leave the shelf edge and head back to harbour, where we arrived at 15.00 hrs.
Sea conditions were a little bumpy at first in a 1-1.5 m swell, but moderating to under 1 m as the day wore on. Sea temperature at the shelf edge was around 24 degrees.
Highlight of the day was the first record of Black-bellied Storm Petrel for the Kiama pelagics.
Species seen outside the harbour, maximum at any one time in brackets:
125 Silver Gull: 15 (6) these birds were close inshore
115 Greater Crested Tern: 10 (5)
120 Sooty Tern: 1 (1)
945 Pomarine Jaeger: 1 (1)
063 Wilson's Storm-petrel: 1+ (1)
065 White-faced Storm Petrel: 1 (1)
066 Black-bellied Storm-petrel: 1 (1) first record for the Kiama pelagics
847 Antipodean Albatross: 1 (1) male subsp. gibsoni
075 Grey-faced Petrel: 1 (1)
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 150+ (20)
070 Sooty Shearwater: 2 (2)
071 Short-tailed Shearwater: 5 (2)
072 Flesh-footed Shearwater: 250+ (40)
913 Hutton's Shearwater: 1 (1)
Fluttering/Hutton's Shearwater: 3 (1)
104 Australasian Gannet: 1 (1)
We saw a seal sp. just outside the harbour mouth as we left, and had brief views of small pods of Risso s and Pantropical Spotted Dolphins at the shelf edge.
Report prepared by Graham Barwell