SYDNEY PELAGIC TRIP REPORT – FEBRUARY 15, 2014

SYDNEY PELAGIC TRIP REPORT – FEBRUARY 15, 2014 I am off on a trip to NZ in an hour from now so no time for a full trip report – only a species summary. It was a grey rainy day for our first trip of 2014 and, despite the very warm water temperature (23.4degC at the shelf) there was a notable lack of the tropical species which normally occur at this time of the year. The only unusual species were two Sooty Terns and our first February albatross in four years in the form of an immature Black-browed. The really good news is that our ‘new’ boat, the MV Zane Grey, turned out to be a fantastic pelagic sea watch boat with lots of space, a comfortable ride and great visibility – I look forward to some great days out of Sydney during the rest of the year. BIRD LIST Note that the number in parentheses represents the maximum number of that species present at one time) Little Penguin 4 (3) Black-browed Albatross 1 (1) immature Great-winged Petrel 12 (3) all gouldi Wedge-tailed Shearwater 140 (40) Short-tailed Shearwater 1 (1) Flesh-footed Shearwater 150 (60) highest count in a couple of years Fluttering Shearwater 2 (1) Australasian Gannet 4 (3) Silver Gull 50 (30) Greater Crested Tern 2 (1) Sooty Tern 2 (2) one adult and one juvenile Pomarine Skua 5 (2) Arctic Jaeger 1 (1) OTHER Inshore Bottlenose Dolphin 6 Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphin 50 Fur Seal (sp) 1 Shark (sp) 1 Next trip will be on Saturday 14 April 2014 – please contact me or Hal to make a booking. Cheers Roger McGovern _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org