Hi All,
Just a quick post listing the species we saw off Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania this weekend. We had two great pelagics aboard the Pauletta (with John Males) with good viewing conditions both days.
Unfortunately I don’t have time to do these reports justice before I head overseas (am writing this at the airport) – some great birds and great conditions for photography.
Maybe some of the others will comment on the excitement of watching the Chatham Albatross (Thalassarche eremita or T. cauta eremita if you prefer) come in to the back on the boat at the second berley point on the Saturday trip and no doubt a few of the photographers will post images to their websites in due course. I don’t think any of us were too sure how many times Chatham Albatross have been seen off Aus – we were aware of at least one adult off Wollongong and I am pretty sure there are a few Tassie records but not sure of many more than that. Does anyone know more details?
Cheers Dan
(and thanks to everyone on board for a really fun weekend)
Eaglehawk Neck – Saturday 3 Sept 2011
Vessel: Pauletta (skipper John Males)
Participants: Stuart Pickering, David Mitford, Micha Jackson, Pete Kyne, Rob Hynson, Raja Stephenson, Nikolas Haass, Paul Brooks, Jeremy, Els Wakefield, Dan Mantle
Weather: 15-17 knot northerlies, 1-1.5m waves with only a very low swell, bright, dry day with minimal cloud cover.
First Berley Point: 42˚ 69 051S 148˚ 17 495S (200 fathoms)
Second Berley Point: 42˚ 57 886S 148˚ 19 767E (400 fathoms)
Birds: numbers given are a rough guess for the total for the day (the maximum number seen at one time is given in parentheses)
Fairy Prion 1000+ (100)
Slender-billed Prion 2 (2)
Grey-backed Storm-petrel 5 (2)
White-faced Storm-petrel 3 (1)
Sooty Shearwater 1 (1)
‘Fluttering-type’ Shearwater 1 (1)
Common Diving-Petrel 30+ (8)
Cape Petrel 10+ (8)
Soft-plumaged Petrel 2 (1)
White-headed Petrel 6 (1)
Great-winged Petrel 30+ (8) – predominantly macroptera but including at least 2/3 gouldi
Northern Giant Petrel 2 (2)
Northern Royal Albatross 1 (1) Adult
Southern Royal Albatross 1 (1) Imm
Wandering Albatross 6 (2) – incl. at least one good candidate for gibsoni, the rest were considered to be mostly gibsoni/exulans
Black-browed Albatross – melanophrys 2 (1)
(Indian) Yellow-nosed Albatross 3 (1)
Buller’s Albatross 1 (1)
Shy Albatross – cauta/steadi 60 (12)
Salvin’s Albatross 1 (1) Adult
Chatham Albatross 1 (1) Adult
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross 1 (1)
Crested Tern 10 (3)
Australasian Gannet 12 (4)
Silver Gull
Pacific Gull
Kelp Gull
White-bellied Sea-Eagle 2 (2)
Eaglehawk Neck – Sunday 4 Sept 2011
Vessel: Pauletta (skipper John Males)
Participants: Stuart Pickering, David Mitford, Micha Jackson, Pete Kyne, Rob Hynson, Raja Stephenson, Nikolas Haass, Kate Godman, Els Wakefield, Dan Mantle
Weather: 15-20 knot northerlies switching to north-westerlies, 1.5-2.5m waves with only a very low swell, overcast, scattered showers later in the day.
Berley Point: 43˚ 00 309S 148˚ 17 759S (350 fathoms)
Birds: numbers given are a rough guess for the total for the day (the maximum number seen at one time is given in parentheses)
Fairy Prion 200 (40)
Grey-backed Storm-petrel 8 (3)
White-faced Storm-petrel 3 (1)
Sooty Shearwater 4 (1)
Hutton’s Shearwater 1 (1)
Common Diving-Petrel 50+ (14)
Cape Petrel 50 (21)
Soft-plumaged Petrel 2 (1)
White-headed Petrel 8 (3)
Providence Petrel 2 (1)
Great-winged Petrel 60 (20) – predominantly macroptera but including at least 2/3 gouldi
Northern Giant Petrel 1 (1)
Southern Royal Albatross 2 (1) Adult and Imm
Wandering Albatross 10 (8) – incl. at least 1 antipodensis, 1 gibsoni, 1 exulans, the rest were considered to be mostly gibsoni/exulans
Black-browed Albatross – melanophrys 5 (3)
– impavida 2 (1)
(Indian) Yellow-nosed Albatross 6 (2)
Buller’s Albatross 1 (1)
Shy Albatross – cauta/steadi 30 (7)
Salvin’s Albatross 2 (1) Adults
Australasian Gannet 8 (2)Silver Gull
Pacific Gull
Kelp Gull
Crested Tern
White-bellied Sea-Eagle 1 (1)
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