Sections
CalendarBoat: M.V. Imagine, skippered by Frank Future.
CONDITIONS
There was a gentle but welcome southerly air flow as we headed out, which probably peaked at around 15 knots during the drift. Unfortunately the overcast conditions didn't eventuate and we were bathed in sunshine for most of the day (becoming overcast about half-way back to port). We commenced the drift at -32.7594848 152.7134773 at 10:47am, moving rather slowly downhill compared to last trip and headed back for port from -32.80453 152.71533. Water temperature was 25.3 degrees at the start of the drift.
ACTIVITY
Departed D'Albora Marina at 7:08am returning by 4:31pm. There was the expected showing from Wedge-tailed and Flesh-footed Shearwaters on the way out, with a young Campbell Albatross and a group of four Mobula Rays (perhaps Chilean Devil Rays) providing some additional excitement. Just shy of the shelf a great cry of "Brown Booby!" went out, as an adult male flew straight past the front of the bow, barely even looking sideways as it continued on its mission to get back into a higher latitude. Once at the shelf we attracted plenty of attendant brown shearwaters, as well as two (indeterminate) Shy-type Albatrosses and a resident Solander's Petrel with a gammy leg. We managed to build to a total of about 20 Wilson's Storm-petrels but overall the drift was slightly underwhelming, especially given the Brown Booby s fly-by. A 65-strong pod of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins did provide great entertainment though, staying with the boat on the surface of the ocean for about 40 minutes before they all departed in unison by porpoising away. A Minke Whale provided more excitement before we upped stumps at about 12:30pm to begin the journey home.
It continued to be rather slow in terms of new additions until a loud cry of "White Tern"! bellowed out as a bird that did its best to remain hidden in the sky gave all the photographers on board a proper challenge. Not too long after this, a hungry and typically bossy Buller's Albatross came in and monstered the shearwaters to get his fill. Then moments later, the other Buller's (Shearwater) appeared and did a few (frustratingly distant) laps of the boat. A Pomarine Jaeger appeared soon after, taking us past the good day benchmark of 15 species.
The last half an hour was very entertaining, as hundreds of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters made a beeline for the boat, from all directions. It was speculated that many of these may have been recently fledged birds from the breeding islands, deciding that they would follow suit for the 50 birds that we'd dragged back from the shelf. Interestingly, as the mobs of wedgies arrived, all of the Fleshy-foots disappeared. The final bit of excitement came when an adult White-bellied Sea-eagle came in high and turned on a sixpence to make a dive towards the throng of shearwaters in the wake, which had gotten wind of him and hence dispersed. The sea-eagle didn't go through with the attack and aborted the attack.
Buller's Shearwater
BIRDS
17 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.
Wilson's Storm-petrel: 20 (14). Count based on small turnover of birds with a max of 14 birds counted on the slick at once.
Wedge-tailed Shearwater: 1800 (1500). The 1500 being the mob that came into the boat right at the end, with an estimated 300 additional birds throughout the remainder of the day.
Flesh-footed Shearwater: 20 (8). Numbers down on the March trip.
Short-tailed Shearwater: 3 (1). Very poor showing of Shorties today.
Sooty Shearwater: 2 (1). Single bird at the Mobula Ray stop and one bird closer to shore.
Buller's Shearwater: 1. A crowd-pleaser about 12 miles from the heads on the return leg.
Solander's Petrel: 4 (2). This includes a bird that was faithful to the boat for over an hour, easily told by a gammy leg.
Buller's Albatross: 1. One bird not long before the Buller s Shearwater showed.
Shy-type Albatross: 3 (2). Three indeterminate adults, but all very likely White-capped.
Campbell Albatross: 1. Seen and photographed on the way out - immature bird.
Australasian Gannet: 12 (6). All immature birds.
Brown Booby: Adult male streaming north at speed about a mile before we started the drift. Only the second record for Port Stephens pelagics.
Pomarine Jaeger: 1. Adult seen not long after the Buller's Shearwater.
White Tern: 1. Another crowd-pleaser, seen behind the boat about half-way back to port on the return leg.
Crested Tern: 7 (5). All in neritic waters
Silver Gull: 9 (6). Inshore.
White-bellied Sea-eagle: 1. Making an aborted attempt at lunging for a shearwater in the wake.
MAMMALS
Pantropical Spotted Dolphin: 65: A very entertaining pod at the shelf that played and surfed for about 40 minutes before they all departed in unison by porpoising.
Minke Whale sp. Seen cruising through very rapidly at the shelf.
FISH
Mobula Rays (possibly Chilean Devil Ray): 4. Large Mobula rays (~1.8m across) swimming just far enough away from the boat that we didn t get great view or photos, but colouration fits Chilean Devil Ray.
Flying-fish in low numbers (probably <5 all day).