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CalendarKiama Pelagic Trip Report - Wednesday 22nd November 2023
Inala Nature Tour Group.
Here's what was seen outside the harbour on the Inala Tours Kiama pelagic aboard the MV. Kato on Wednesday 22 Nov. 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 AEDST, we proceeded directly out to the shelf edge at 34 44 13 S; 151 07 25 E, about 25 km ESE of the harbour. It was fairly choppy here in 112 fathoms/205 m as the southerly wind met a 3 knot current coming down from the north. We cut the engines and began to drift and chum with the usual mixture of chicken mince, beef fat and tuna oil attracting a mixture of mainly Grey-faced Petrels and Flesh-footed Shearwaters. An occasional Shy Albatross passed by and a few storm petrels, Wilson's and White-faced, came in too.
After 80 mins of this, conditions were becoming uncomfortable as we drifted 3.75 km south, so we decided to move a few kilometres west to get out of the worst of the chop. Accordingly we made our next stop at 34 46 19 S; 151 05 24 E in 85 fathom/155 m shelf edge waters, about 24 km ESE of the harbour. We began to chum and drift as before and almost immediately were visited by a cookilaria, which came in for a brief look then buzzed off. Our initial impression that this was a Cook's Petrel was confirmed by photos.
As we drifted 3.1 km south over the next two hours, we saw a good range of species including more Shy Albatrosses, some juvenile Black-browed or Campbell Albatrosses, a Solander's Petrel, five kinds of shearwater - Wedge-tailed, Sooty, Short-tailed, Flesh-footed and Fluttering - the same species of storm petrels as before, and a Pomarine Jaeger. Eventually though we had to turn for home, travelling straight back and arriving at the jetty at 14.25 hrs.
Highlight of the day was the Cook's Petrel, which is uncommon off Kiama and was, not all that long ago, a species reportable to BARC and/or NSWORAC.
Sea conditions were choppy in the morning with a 1.5-2 m swell and a moderate southerly wind, but became a little calmer as the morning progressed and were easier in the afternoon. Sea temperature at the shelf edge was 20.8 degrees.
Species seen outside the harbour, maximum at any one time in brackets:
125 Silver Gull: 9 (5)
115 Greater Crested: Tern 8 (2)
945 Pomarine Jaeger: 1 (1)
128 Parasitic (Arctic) Jaeger: 1 (1) harassing a Greater Crested Tern; ID
confirmed by photos.
063 Wilson's Storm Petrel: 4 (2)
065 White-faced Storm Petrel: 4 (2)
Black-browed/Campbell Albatross: 3 (1) juvs
091/861 Shy Albatross: 10+ (3) subspecies not determined
075 Grey-faced Petrel: 80+ (15)
971 Solander's Petrel: 1+ (1)
918 Cook's Petrel: 1 (1)
069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 50+ (10)
070 Sooty Shearwater: 1 (1)
071 Short-tailed Shearwater: 350+ (100+) some birds still on southward migration
072 Flesh-footed Shearwater: 60+ (15)
068 Fluttering Shearwater: 1 (1)
Fluttering/Hutton's Shearwater: 3 (1)
104 Australasian Gannet: 1 (1)
106 Australian Pelican: 1 (1)
We encountered a few Common Dolphins as we returned to inshore waters, but saw no other cetaceans.
Report prepared by Graham Barwell