Eden NSW pelagics 21st & 22nd September report

Hey all, below is the trip report I wrote for the Canberra Ornithologists Group pelagics off Eden, NSW this past weekend. A rather long and rambling account I have a photo of the Grey-backed SP on my flickr page (www.flickr.com/photos/callocephalon). It really was a very obliging bird and definitely one of the highlights. Possibly the most interesting, though, was the lack of albatross diversity (well, Procellariformes in general). CheersTobias COG Eden pelagics 21st and 22nd September 2013 Saturday Friday evening saw a bunch of keen birders descend on the Eden Fishermens Club and to have dinner and catch up ahead of the now-annual COG pelagic trips out of Eden. However, our boutique beer selection had the bar staff completely bamboozled. Judging by their blank looks when I asked for James Squires, I suspect that anything beyond VB and Toohey’s is very rarely ordered. After a good night’s sleep, we congregated at the wharf at 7am, by which time the sun was already well up. There was bad news, however: 20-30kt sou’westerlies and 3m swells meant an uncomfortable ride. More importantly, it meant we couldn’t get out to the edge of the continental shelf, which is generally the best place for seabirds. Heading out of the Twofold Bay, we were immediately beset upon by Common Diving-Petrels. Throughout the day, I estimate we would have seen 60+ which is a very good number, although mostly they stayed well clear of the boat. We motored due south, following the coastline down past Green Cape, finding Humpback Whales and Common Dolphins on the way. There were lots of birds flying around, but mostly only Shy Albatross and long lines of Short-tailed Shearwaters going south to breed. The odd Fairy Prion cruised past and a lone Great-winged Petrel was the only Pterodroma for the weekend. On our way back, a little north-east of Green Cape, we stopped the boat and started a burley trail and soon the bird started coming in to feed on the shark and ray liver. We had good numbers of Shy Albatross squabbling for food, and the Fairy Prions were putting in a good show for all the photographers on board. It wasn’t long before I spotted a White-faced Storm-Petrel dancing around on the oil slick but sadly it managed to evade some punters. Not to be outdone, a Grey-backed Storm-Petrel raced in and hung around the back of the boat, making numerous close passes and satisfying the twitching instincts of most of the boat who hadn’t seen one before. This species is rare in NSW and I will be submitting a rarities submission to NSWORAC. Amazingly, we only saw one more species of albatross, a single Black-browed Albatross. On the way back in to port, we stopped to view the Black-faced Cormorants loafing in the bay. Sunday By Sunday morning, the winds and sea were calm with gentle northerly breezes, so we motored straight out to the shelf edge. The day went much the same as Saturday, with a very poor diversity of seabirds, especially albatross and petrels, but good numbers of Fairy Prion and Common Diving-Petrel. We missed the White-faced Storm-Petrels at the burley point, but got a Wilson’s Storm-Petrel instead. The Grey-backed Storm-Petrel put in appearance again, but this time didn’t come as close. For many, the highlight was probably the very close encounters with Humpback Whales, some surfacing right next to the boat. The skipper and I were fortunate enough to spot some rarer whales, possibly the elusive Pygmy Killer Whale which would be very southerly for this species (awaiting photo verification). Once again, we saw only a single Black-browed Albatross, although we did manage to get views of a Northern Giant-Petrel on the way home. For the whole weekend, I was amazed by the lack of diversity of seabirds. No Wandering Albatross, no Yellow-nosed Albatross, no Buller’s Albatross, no Providence Petrel, no Cape Petrel, no Brown Skua, all birds I would expect to see at this time of the year. Interestingly, pelagics a week earlier off Tasmania had been some of the best in decades in terms of diversity and rare species. The ocean never fails to surprise. SPECIES LIST: BIRDS Shy Albatross (in the order of a hundred both days) Black-browed Albatross (1 both days) Northern Giant-Petrel (1 on Sunday) Giant-Petrel sp. (1 on Saturday) Great-winged Petrel (1 on Saturday) Short-tailed Shearwater (hundreds on both days) Wedge-tailed Shearwater (1 Saturday, 10+ Sunday) Fluttering Shearwater (1 both days) Fairy Prion (about 30 both days) Grey-backed Storm-Petrel (1 both days) Wilson’s Storm-Petrel (Sunday) White-faced Storm-Petrel (Saturday) Common Diving-Petrel (c. 60 both days) Australasian Gannet Crested Tern CETACEANS Australian Fur Seal Humpback Whale Pygmy Killer Whale (pod of 10+ on Sunday) Common Dolphin =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================