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Observers
Simon Mustoe
Dave Donnelly
Jim Finlay
Nathan Waugh
Ben Staughton
Jason Edwards
Patrick King
Radhika
Beswick
Sophia
Petrovich
Chris
Petrovich
Bruce
Robertson
Yvonne James
Chris Lekos
Bronwyn Dawes
David Burren
John Hall
Lyn Wain
Phil Tubb
Martyn
Hulzebosch
Neil Macumber
Robyn
McCulloch
Sue Lashko
Penny Olsen
Rohan Clarke
Kate
Splittgerber
Pete Constable
Kelly
O'Sullivan
Libby Hepburn
Jenny Robb
Jacqui
PHOTOS
POSITION
DATA
Website
produced by Simon Mustoe, AES
Applied Ecology Solutions Pty. Ltd.
|
Merimbula
Marina's True Blue was chartered for two days out of
Merimbula, NSW.
Saturday’s weather was dominated by a light NE wind of
about 5-10 knots seas of less than 1.0m and no swell.
The sky was clear and there was a slight increase in
wind conditions to the NE with sea breezes in the
afternoon. Sunday
started with thunderstorms and local squalls at the
coast. We embarked in a 15-20 knot S wind expecting a SW
change in the afternoon. Seas were 1-2m with almost no
swell and occasional squalls throughout the day resulted
in some heavy rain.
According to the CSIRO
Sea Surface Temperature website, a cold-core eddy of the
East Australian Current was present offshore with its
southern front about 50 miles south of Green Cape. Water
temperatures inshore at Merimbula were about 20 degrees
Celsius, rising up to 23 degrees offshore. Numerous
current lines, especially further south on
Sunday, indicated some surface productivity but bird and
marine mammal distribution was patchy and very low
densities of marine wildlife were present much of
Saturday afternoon, especially north of Merimbula and in
depths over about 1000m
|
Cetacean sightings. Track lines are shown in
blue (Saturday) and orange (Sunday) |
Map from the CSIRO
Marine website showing the 6 day average Sea
Surface Temperature off SE Australia - the 200m
contour is shown.
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|
| A
good weekend trip with highlights including a large pod
of False Killer Whales, four unidentified Beaked Whales,
White-necked Petrel, Kermadec Petrel and large numbers
of Buller's Shearwaters.
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CHECKLIST
| Species
|
Saturday
15 Jan.
|
Sunday
16 Jan.
|
|
Kermadec
Petrel
|
1
|
|
|
White-necked
Petrel
|
|
1
|
|
Great-winged
Petrel
|
c.
150 (20)
|
390
(120)
|
|
White-faced
Storm-Petrel
|
10
(5)
|
6
(2)
|
|
Flesh-footed
Shearwater
|
5
(2)
|
35
(10) 2 inshore
|
|
Wedge-tailed
Shearwater
|
250
(30)
|
150
(50) 35 inshore
|
|
Sooty
Shearwater
|
5
(1)
|
2
(1)
|
|
Short-tailed
Shearwater
|
550
(500) mostly inshore
|
600
(500) mostly inshore
|
|
Fluttering
Shearwater
|
2
(1)
|
4
(2) all inshore
|
|
Hutton’s
Shearwater
|
2
(1)
|
7
(2) 1 inshore 6 pelagic
|
|
Buller's
Shearwater
|
2
(1)
|
14
(5)
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Shy/White-capped
Albatross
|
5
(1). 4 adults and 1 imm.
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14
(4) 13 adults and 1 imm. 4 inshore remainder pelagic
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Black-browed
Albatross
|
|
3
(1) all immature thus difficult to rule impavida out
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Yellow-nosed
Albatross
|
|
2
(1) both adults pelagic
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Buller's
Albatross
|
|
1
imm
|
|
Wandering
Albatross
|
|
2.
Both appeared to be gibsoni
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Australasian
Gannet
|
|
3
(2) 2 inshore 1 pelagic
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Arctic
Jaeger
|
10
(6) 4 inshore, 6 pelagic
|
4
(2) 3 inshore, 1 pelagic
|
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Pomarine
Jaeger
|
2
(2) both inshore
|
1
inshore
|
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Silver
Gull
|
35
(30) all inshore
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4
(4) all inshore
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Crested
Tern
|
10
(3), all inshore.
|
16
(10), all inshore.
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|
Australian
Fur Seal
|
at least 1 offshore
|
at
least 2 offshore |
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Common
Dolphin
|
280
|
50 |
|
Dolphin
sp.
|
6 |
|
|
False
Killer Whale
|
|
40-50 |
|
Ocean
Sunfish
|
1 |
1 |
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| DAY 1
- 15 January 2005 A small group of dolphins seen on
the way out of Merimbula were the first marine mammal sighting
but were not refound. The first excitement of the day was a
small pod of 4 beaked whales found slowly swimming in
about 150m of water. They stayed at the surface for about 3
minutes but dived before they could be approached. The animals
were brownish in colour with some scarring / patterning. They
had small non-descript dorsal fins and the rear part of the
animals was possibly dark. The area was scanned for about half
an hour after they dived but the animals were not refound. The
water temperature was about 22 degrees celsius for most of the
day and marine productivity appeared low. Two groups of Common
Dolphins were observed. It was a fairly quiet day for seabirds too with only 16
species observed beyond the Merimbula sand bar. Highlights were
a Kermadec Petrel, which was unfortunately only seen by a
few as it crossed the bow, and 1 or 2 Buller’s Shearwaters.
An ocean sunfish were also observed.
|
[Click to enlarge] False Killer Whale, Rohan Clarke |
[Click to enlarge] False Killer Whale, Rohan Clarke |
 [Click to enlarge]
False Killer Whale, Rohan Clarke |
[Click to enlarge] White-necked Petrel, Rohan Clarke |
[Click to enlarge] Common Dolphin, Rohan Clarke |
[Click to enlarge] False Killer Whale, Dave Donnelly |
[Click to enlarge] Buller's Shearwater, Rohan Clarke |
[Click to enlarge] Common Dolphin, Rohan Clarke |
[Click to enlarge] Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Rohan Clarke |
[Click to enlarge] Ocean Sunfish, Rohan Clarke |
 [Click to enlarge]
False Killer Whale, Dave Donnelly |
 [Click to enlarge]
albino False Killer Whale, Dave Donnelly |
| NOTE, ALL IMAGES ON THIS SITE ARE
COPYRIGHT. |
| DAY
2 - 16 January 2005 Sunday was a better day for birds with a bit more
wind but not good for observing cetaceans. An initial encounter
with common dolphins began the day and we headed fast
south-west against the prevailing sea to gain ground for a
relatively smooth return trip. Bird numbers began very low but
just south of Green Cape, picked up considerably. Large numbers
of great-winged petrels were joined briefly by other
seabirds including highlights such as white-necked Petrel,
which was seen well by most, exceptional numbers of Buller’s
Shearwaters with up to 5 together at one time and an
immature Buller’s Albatross. The trip ended at an
encounter with a large group of
40-50 false killer whales in the afternoon,
including an albino individual. Albinism has been
recorded in 20 cetacean species but not formally in false killer
whale.
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POSITION
DATA
| id |
LATITUDE |
LONGITUDE |
SPECIES |
NO. |
DATE |
| 1 |
-36.9504 |
150.236 |
Beaked Whale |
4 |
15/01/2005 |
| 2 |
-36.8634 |
150.3295 |
Common Dolphin |
30 |
15/01/2005 |
| 3 |
-36.7829 |
150.2951 |
Common Dolphin |
50 |
15/01/2005 |
| 4 |
-36.8236 |
150.1246 |
Common Dolphin |
200 |
16/01/2005 |
| 5 |
-37.1497 |
150.2 |
Common Dolphin |
50 |
16/01/2005 |
| 6 |
-36.9079 |
150.0127 |
Dolphin sp. |
6 |
15/01/2005 |
| 7 |
-36.7489 |
150.3465 |
False Killer Whale |
45 |
16/01/2005 |
| 8 |
-36.964 |
150.3074 |
Ocean Sunfish |
1 |
15/01/2005 |
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