Sections
CalendarBoat: M.V. Imagine, skippered by Frank Future.
CONDITIONS
Benign conditions made for benign birding for the vast majority of the day. There was a gentle nor-easterly air flow in our faces as we headed out, which slowly turned to more of a dead northerly by the time we commenced the first drift at -32.7581275 152.716837 at 10:21am. We found that we were drifting north due to being at the bottom end of a current that was swinging north, and evidently doing us no favours. So we repositioned north in an attempt to reach the south-running currents but we never really found it. We ended up being as far north on a Port Stephens pelagic as we ve ever been, at -32.64331 152.77240. Water temperature was 24.7 degrees at the shelf.
ACTIVITY
Departed D'Albora Marina at 7:12am returning by 4:38pm. Activity was near non-existent for the outward leg, apart from the odd group of marauding shearwaters and a lone Pomarine Jaeger. The horizon was birdless from about the 5 mile mark all the way to the shelf and not a single bird followed the boat. Our first drift lasted around an hour and ten minutes and we established a good slick. This was to be a pointless venture however, as we only saw four birds during this entire time - that's four individuals, not species (3x Wedge-tailed and 1x Flesh-footed Shearwaters). Our second drift wasn't for as long, but including the motoring north it would've been more than an hour as well. This drift provided 14x Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. Never have I seen a near-complete lack of birds at the shelf before.
The day was looking very likely to become the worst pelagic anyone had ever been on until a remarkable comeback occurred inshore. Because we were so far north, we came in close to Broughton Island and about 5 miles east of the island a group of shearwaters was noticed on the water, most feeding on what appeared to be a floating carcass that was just submerged. We passed these birds slowly but had to turn around when the call of Cookilaria! went up. Sure enough, there was a Gould's Petrel circling around this small throng of birds, which also included a Hutton's Shearwater and a very obliging Streaked Shearwater that fed voraciously amongst the Wedge-tailed and small numbers of Fleshy-foots. As we started to gain speed again, we noticed a Red-tailed Tropicbird that eventually flushed off the water as we approached. Two more Streaked Shearwaters were also seen before we made our way back into port. After such a dismal day in deep water we ended up coming home with a wet sail with 7 shearwater species under our belts.
Streaked Shearwater
BIRDS
13 species were recorded outside of Port Stephens (not including birds seen associated with islands). Counts are totals for birds seen outside the heads (with the maximum number visible from the boat at one time in brackets) - many are estimates. Taxonomy follows the BirdLife Australia Working List V4.
Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 300 (60). Very slow going for these birds today with the only numbers inshore.
Flesh-footed Shearwater: 12 (3). Conspicuously few in number at a time of year when we normally see may more.
Short-tailed Shearwater: 15 (4). All inshore and never in numbers.
Sooty Shearwater: 2 (1). A couple of Sooty Shears made passes of the boat early in the day.
Hutton's Shearwater: 1. Among the feeding flock inshore.
Fluttering Shearwater: 1. One juvenile bird photographed on the outward leg.
Streaked Shearwater: 3 (1). One bird watched at close quarters at the inshore feeding flock, the other two seen between there and the heads.
Gould's Petrel: 1. Single bird seen just a few miles off Broughton Island, circling around the feeding flock. It disappeared by the time the boat reached the location though.
Crested Tern: 30 (4). All inshore.
Pomarine Jaeger: 2 (1). Individuals seen on the outward and inward journeys, both inshore.
Arctic Jaeger 2 (2). Two dark birds seen near the heads on our return to port, flying out into the ocean and onto our trip list.
Red-tailed Tropicbird: An adult bird flushed from the water on the return leg, about 4 miles from Broughton Island.
Silver Gull: 2 (1). Both inshore, separately.
MAMMALS
Pantropical Spotted Dolphin: 20: A single pod that followed the boat briefly on the inward leg. It included what looked like some older males too.
Whale sp. (possibly Minke Whale). A whale was very quickly and poorly seen not far from the inshore feeding flock, but couldn't be identified, though thought most likely to be a Minke.
FISH
Many flying-fish seen throughout the day. In fact for the majority of the day, flying-fish were the only sign of life on the ocean.