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CalendarKiama Pelagic Trip Report Sunday 27th August 2023
Here's what was seen outside the harbour on the Kiama pelagic aboard the MV Kato on Sunday 27 August 2023. The trip list uses the IOC Checklist v13.1 (Jan. 2023) 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 we travelled straight out to the shelf edge, stopping to watch some migrating Humpback Whales on the way. In the calm conditions we had a comfortable ride out to our destination, where we made our first chumming stop in 118 fathoms/216 m at 34 44 58 S; 151 09 06 E, 28 kms from the harbour at 9.38 hrs. After cutting the engines and chumming for about half an hour with very few birds to be seen, we moved 3 km further out into deeper water, 186 fathoms/340m, at 34 44 55 S; 151 11 45 E. There was little current and we barely moved as we chummed again attracting few birds in 25 mins. We turned back west at around 10.45 hrs and stopped for a third time in the hope of provoking more bird activity. This stopping point at 34 44 24 S; 151 10 01 E proved more productive with several smaller albatrosses, including a handsome Buller's coming in to the chum, as we drifted for 25 minutes but without being able to lure the birds in close enough for the banders to catch them.
Eventually we decided to try further in where we had seen whales and shearwaters on the way out. We hit the cetacean jackpot in shelf waters about 23 kms east of the harbour at 34 44 31 S; 151 05 36 E, where we found ourselves surrounded by Humpback Whales and accompanying dolphins, mainly Common Bottle-nose Dolphins. The whales were very curious, coming in close to and under the boat, exhaling noisily, spy hopping and waving their flippers in the air. The photographers had a field day as everyone had wonderful views. There were also some birds around and this time a couple came in close enough to catch. The banders were able to process an adult Black-browed Albatross and an Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross. After this enthralling 45 min. encounter, the remainder of the journey back to harbour was rather tame, though we did have a fly by from a Brown Skua. We arrived back at the jetty at 14.40 hrs.
Our time with the whales and dolphins was undoubtedly the highlight of the day, with none of us, even the skipper, having seen so many whales in one location before.
Seas were very calm <0.5m throughout the day and conditions mainly still, though we did get enough breeze to ruffle the water surface as the day wore on. Sea temperature was 17.6 degrees inshore and 19 degrees at the shelf edge.
Species seen outside the harbour, maximum at any one time in brackets:
125 Silver Gull: 6 (2)
981 Kelp Gull: 3 (3) perched on rocks at Kiama Blowhole headland
115 Greater Crested Tern: 32+ (21) a number of birds rested on the boat s bow rail while we were chumming.
980 Brown Skua: 2 (1)
088 Black-browed Albatross: 2 (1) adult and immature
859 Campbell Albatross: 1 (1) adult
091/861 Shy Albatross: 5 (1) adults and immatures, subspecies not determined
860 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 9 (2)
931 Buller's Albatross: 1 (1)
083 Fairy Prion: 1 (1)
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 20+ (3)
072 Flesh-footed Shearwater: 1 (1)
068 Fluttering Shearwater: 90+ (30)
Fluttering/Hutton's Shearwater: 5 (4)
104 Australasian Gannet: 8+ (6)
Mammals
We saw at least 50 Humpback Whales and many Common Bottle-nose Dolphins as well as a few Common Dolphins.
Report prepared by Graham Barwell