Trip report – Sunday 25th August 2013 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, WOLLONGONG, NSW, AUSTRALIA.

Hi all,   Here is the trip report for the Sunday SOSSA trip, 25th August 2013. I did not keep detailed notes and do not have GPS co-ordinates so this is an ‘unofficial’ list (refer to the SOSSA website for more information when the trip report is posted there).   Conditions were apparently somewhat calmer today than yesterday, though a promising (and cold) stiff sou-wester was in our backs for the journey out. Black-browed and Shy-type Albatrosses accompanied us for the trip seaward, with flocks of loafing Fluttering Shearwaters encountered every now and then. One bird was identified by a few observers as a likely Hutton’s. On the edge of one of these flocks was a Common Diving Petrel that only 2 people got onto. Small numbers of Fairy Prions and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were also inshore, along with a single White-fronted Tern (incorrectly reported on Colin T. Richardson’s Eremaea list as ‘White-winged Tern’ – Colin, if you’re out there, can you change this??). A “shape” seen on the surface a few times and eventually almost directly beneath the boat was identified as a Dwarf Minke Whale.   It wasn’t until we were at or near the shelf break at about 1030 that a ‘different’ albatross was seen. A “Wandering-type Albatross!” was called but it soon became evident that it was a Northern Royal Albatross. The bird initially shaped to come into the boat but banked and continued south away and out of sight (most people I think had reasonable to poor views). As it turned out, this was later shown to be the same bird seen the day before.   Some nice fresh juvenile White-capped Albatross were now circling the boat, with one captured and banded. A Brown Skua and a Northern Giant Petrel also joined the attendant albatross but there was no sign of any storm-petrel or Pterodroma at all (for me personally, the 5th east coast pelagic in 2013 with no Pterodromas). Numerous Humpback Whales kept the punters entertained.   Diversity and numbers were commented on being lower than yesterday. Then a fishing trawler was noticed well out to sea, headed for port. We changed position (not necessarily towards the trawler either) and within minutes a steady stream of albatross were headed for the Sandra K and there were soon 40-odd albatross sitting on the water, with others still circling. Amongst these were several Wandering-type Albatross, the first for the day (at around midday). These consisted of mostly D. exulans birds, with a few D. antipodensis gibsoni amongst them. One magnificent adult exulans was caught, measured and banded.   The trip back to port was largely uneventful apart from a second Common Diving Petrel, a second White-fronted Tern and more flocks of Fluttering Shearwaters. Vain attempts were made to capture the Brown Skua which was now faithful to the boat.   Looking at the the list/count from Saturday, it appeared that today saw larger numbers of albatross (perhaps owing to the trawler) but much lower diversity.   Cheers Mick Roderick   Species sighted:   Birds 086 Wandering Albatross 12; at least 1 banded 846 Antipodean Albatross _gibsoni _4 973 Northern Royal Albatross 1 088 Black-browed Albatross 30+ (no Campbell seen); at least 1 banded 091 Shy Albatross _cauta _20+ (identification made on moult patterns) 861 Shy Albatross _steadi_ 4 juv; 1 banded 864 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 3 937 Northern Giant Petrel 1 083 Fairy Prion 50+ 069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater 15+ 068 Fluttering Shearwater 500+ 913 Hutton’s Shearwater 1 (maybe others overlooked?) 085 Common Diving Petrel 2 104 Australasian Gannet 5+ (incl 1 juv) 125 Silver Gull many 980 Brown Skua 1 981 Kelp Gull 2 adults 115 Greater Crested Tern 10+ 114 White-fronted Tern 2 131 Sooty Oystercatcher (‘Red-billed Black Petrel’) 1 Mammals Short-beaked Common Dolphin 5+ Humpback Whale 25+ Dwarf Minke Whale 1 Fur Seal 5 ________________________________ From: Brook Whylie <bwhylie@internode.on.net> To: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au Sent: Tuesday, 27 August 2013 7:44 AM Subject: [Birding-Aus] Trip report – Saturday 24th August 2013 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, WOLLONGONG, NSW, AUSTRALIA.     Highlight of the SOSSA trip Saturday 24th August was a sighting of a Northern Royal Albatross, the first seen off Wollongong since July 2011. Unfortunately, it was only seen by a few. Those that did the Sunday trip were more fortunate, as what is believed to be the same bird, was sighted again, although they were distant views.     Saturdays trip was as follows.     Leaving at 07:10 hrs, we travelled out to 34° 37′ 39″ S; 151° 16′ 54″ E (WGS 84), 41 km SE of Wollongong harbour in 300m+ pelagic waters, where we stopped and drifted 1.95 km NNE, 11:12-12:15 hrs, catching 1 Wandering and 2 Antipodean (Gibson’s) Albatrosses, 1 Buller’s Albatross and 2 Southern Giant-Petrels, then turned back in, stopping at 34° 29′ 00″ S; 151° 02′ 02″ E, 13.6 km ESE of the harbour in 90m+ shelf waters, where we stopped and drifted 400m N, 14:35-14:55 hrs, catching 1 Shy Albatross, before continuing on back to the harbour, arriving at 16:00. Seas lumpy on the way out, calming as the wind eased in the afternoon. Water temperature 15.4° inshore when we left; 18.5° in pelagic waters. Species sighted     086 Wandering Albatross 2; 1 banded Wandering Albatross type 6+ 846 Antipodean Albatross _gibsoni _2 banded 973 Northern Royal Albatross 1 088 Black-browed Albatross 7 adults including 1 with darvic band (F49) from Kerguelen Islands? plus 1 immature with darvic band (856) from Macquarie Island? 859 Campbell Albatross 1 adult 091 Shy Albatross _cauta _10+ 861 Shy Albatross _steadi_ 1 adult and probably 2 immatures 864 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 2 961 Buller’s Albatross _bulleri_ 2 929 Southern Giant Petrel 2; both banded 083 Fairy Prion 20+ 075 Great-winged Petrel _macroptera_ 1 971 Providence (Solander’s) Petrel 1+ 069 Wedge-tailed Shearwater 15+ 071 Short-tailed Shearwater 1 068 Fluttering Shearwater 20+ 065 White-faced Storm Petrel 1 085 Common Diving Petrel 1 104 Australasian Gannet 3+ adults 106 Australian Pelican 3 125 Silver Gull many 981 Kelp Gull 6 adults & immatures 115 Greater Crested Tern 4 114 White-fronted Tern 7     Thanks to Graham Barwell for the report.     HTTP://WWW.SOSSA-INTERNATIONAL.ORG [1] FUTURE TRIPS: All Pelagic Trips from NSW are operated at no profit to the organizers, being operated as group boat charters for the benefit of all who wish to join us. If you would like to join one of these trips please contact us as detailed below: TO MAKE A BOOKING ON THE REGULAR SOSSA WOLLONGONG PELAGIC TRIPS. Which departs on the 4TH SATURDAY of each month. Contact: SOSSA: PHONE 02 4272 4626 EMAIL: SOSSA@TPG.COM.AU [2] FOR FURTHER INFORMATION IN REGARDS TO OTHER TRIPS.           Cheers,     Brook Links: —— [1] http://www.sossa-international.org/ [2] SOSSA@TPG.COM.AU” >http://webmail.internode.on.net/MAILTO:SOSSA@TPG.COM.AU =============================== 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/ =============================== =============================== 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 ===============================

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