Port Stephens Pelagic Trip Report Sun 16th Nov 2014

Port Stephens Pelagic Trip Report – Sunday 16th November 2014 Link to SOSSA website (includes images) http://www.sossa-international.org/forum/content.php?712 Boat:M.V. Argonaut, skippered by Ray Horsfield OBSERVERSAnnLindsey, Alan Stuart, Jean Tucker, Lorna Mee, Bernie O’Keefe, Greg Pearson,Ashwin Rudder, Josh Bergmark, Andy Frost, Bruce Watts, Dan Williams, MichaelKearns, Steve Roderick and Mick Roderick (leader / organiser).  CONDITIONSInitiallycalm with light and variable winds and little sea to talk of for much of theoutward journey. Upon reaching the shelf a squall of southerly winds associatedwith a big rain front passed through. Once this passed we experienced calmconditions again until a stiff sou-wester got up and blew consistently for theremainder of the day, gusting to 30 knots and making the return trip to port avery slow and bumpy ride.  HIGHLIGHTSThehighlight bird was definitely a White-chinned Petrel that came in and hunground the boat for over half an hour; just the 2nd of this speciesto have been found during a pelagic birding trip out of Hunter port and thefirst since the commencement of Port Stephens pelagics. A Gould’s Petrelprovided good views, albeit briefly, and there were the best numbers ofGreat-winged Petrels seen on a Port Stephens trip for quite some time. A‘lowlight’ and somewhat of a mystery was the complete lack of a singleFlesh-footed Shearwater.  SUMMARYDepartedNelson Bay Public Wharf at 0706 returning at 1815. Aswe passed the offshore islands it was unusual to see as many Short-tailedShearwaters as Wedge-taileds feeding in the wake on the chicken mince berley onoffer. A handful of Fluttering-type Shearwaters were confirmed to reveal bothFluttering and Hutton’s present. Frustratingly distant Pomarine Jaegers wereseen and a young Long-tailed Jaeger appeared distantly in the wake about halfway out (the same bird returned to the boat throughout the day). Black-browed-typeand Shy-type Albatrosses were also seen en-route. Nearing the shelf we startedseeing Great-winged Petrels and we’d probably seen half a dozen before wereached the deep water, as the big rain squall headed our way. Great-wingedsbasically filled the niche normally filled by Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, with aconstant assemblage of birds near the rear of the boat and several birdsvisible on the horizon at the same time.  Raincoatscame out as we set up a drift at -32 55 18 / 152 34 19. It wasn’t long beforethe first Wilson’s Storm-petrel appeared, though numbers were to be low forthis species with about half a dozen seen across the day. The first of a smallnumber of Solander’s Petrels came in as the wind died off for a short time. Arepositioning was made not long after the offshore winds reached us and a cryof “Cookilaria!” went out as a Gould’s Petrel worked its way down the slick,giving better-than-acceptable views for this species. The bird made anothercouple of brief returns before being lost. YoungBlack-browed and Shy-types continued to visit the boat, one adult Shy-typesporting a broken leg that was badly festered. A fresh juvenile Shy-type wasidentified as a White-capped, the only claimed identification to species levelof any albatross seen on the day. Some very acrobatic groups of PantropicalSpotted Dolphins kept everyone on board entertained in between new birds.  Justafter midday the call of “Black Petrel!” sounded as a Procellaria flew rightover the punters gathered at the stern. For a while this was what we’d assumedwe were looking at because with the bird flying away it was difficult toascertain size. We all paused for a moment and thought of Mr Weigel in TorresStrait being monstered by mosquitoes and logistical nightmares in an effort toadd to his year list, while we notched up our second new bird for him for theday. But that wasn’t to last long, as Ashwin identified it as a White-chinnedafter getting a good view at the bill. White-chinned it was and just the 2ndone seen from an organised pelagic off the Hunter since they began nearly 15years ago. The excitement for Hunter birders of course was not shared byBernie, who had driven from Melbourne almost specifically to see a BlackPetrel!   Thejourney home was a particularly long one, due to the 25 knot offshore windsthat formed wind waves of a couple of metres spaced barely seconds apart. Ittook just over 4 and half hours to reach the heads with very little of note asfar as birds were concerned apart from a sea-eagle and some inshore feedingflocks of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters.    Cheers,MickRoderick BIRDS Species:Total outside the heads (maximum number visible from the boat at one time) – many are estimates and especially theshearwaters. Taxonomy follows the BirdLife Australia Working List V1.1 Wilson’sStorm-Petrel: 6 (2) Black-browed type Albatross: 4 (2) –all immature birds. Shy-type Albatross: 6 (1) White-capped Albatross: 1  Wedge-tailedShearwater: 700 (500) Short-tailedShearwater: 40 (6) FlutteringShearwater: 4 (1) Fluttering-typeShearwater: 5+ Hutton’sShearwater: 3 (1)  Solander’sPetrel: 4 (1)  Great-wingedPetrel: 40+ (12) Gould’sPetrel: 1 WHITE-CHINNEDPETREL: 1 AustralasianGannet: 7 (2) PomarineJaeger: 4 (1) Long-tailedJaeger: 1 CrestedTern: 3 (1) SilverGull: 10 (10) White-belliedSea-eagle: 1  MAMMALS OffshoreBottlenose Dolphin: 10 PantropicalSpotted Dolphin: 15-20?