| NOTES
Departed St Helens harbour on Saturday 14 July
at about 10:30 on the Norseman III. Observers
came via the Spirit of Tasmania and flights
into Hobart and Launceston, some arriving that
morning. Weather was initially poor with 2-2.5m seas, a 1-2m swell
and a 25-30 knot easterly wind that eased
slightly during the afternoon. Despite this, the shelf break
was reached and
seamount for two berley stops, attracting Southern Royal
Albatross and a couple of Northern Royal
Albatross.
A large number of Buller's Albatross and adult
Northern Giant Petrels were also observed but
conspicuously absent in such numbers on other days. We arrived
back in St Helens by about 16:30 that
evening.
The second day (15th July) we embarked at 07:30 in
slightly better conditions: a 1m swell and about
1.5m sea and a southerly wind of about 15 knots.
A good number of Southern Royal Albatross were
seen, as well as Northern Royal Albatross and
three exulans Wandering Albatross.
Surprisingly, no Great-winged Petrels were
observed this day. Throughout , mostly
adult albatrosses were seen. The highlight of
the day was an adult Salvin's Albatross,
found by Jack Moorhead and a new bird for him!
At a berley stop on the way back in, two Brown
Skuas attended.
The final day began at 07:30
with relatively calm weater but a fresh
northwesterly wind increased ahead of a front
which struck just after lunch, forcing us back
inshore by about 13:30. Nevertheless, almost
three hours was spent at the shelf. Highlights
included brief views of a White-headed Petrel,
a white morph Southern Giant Petrel and
very large numbers (500+) of Grey-backed
Storm Petrels. At least a couple of New
Zealand race gouldi Great-winged Petrels
were observed.
On the way out in the morning
of the 14th, a small (presumably subadult)
humpback whale was seen repeatedly breaching
but could not be observed well, owing to the
relatively poor sea conditions. Several
individual seals were seen during the trip, well
out to sea, including a very large male fur
seal.
Oceanographic conditions over
the weekend were dominated by a southerly
current and unseasonally warm water temperatures
of about 16 degrees celsius.
|
| BIRD
LIST |
| Species
\\
Date |
14/07/2007 |
15/07/2007 |
16/07/2007 |
| Offshore |
| Little
Penguin |
15 |
- |
- |
| Common
Diving-Petrel |
2 |
4 |
13 |
| Southern
Giant-Petrel (*incl white morph) |
1 |
2 |
1* |
| Northern
Giant-Petrel |
5 |
1 |
2 |
| Cape
Petrel (mostly capense,
some australe) |
50 |
100 |
120 |
| Great-winged
Petrel (mostly macroptera; *two
gouldi) |
5 |
- |
22* |
| White-headed
Petrel |
- |
- |
1 |
| Fairy
Prion |
30 |
30 |
58 |
| Sooty
Shearwater |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| Wandering
Albatross (exulans) |
2 |
3 |
2 |
| Southern
Royal Albatross |
20 |
17 |
5 |
| Northern
Royal Albatross |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Black-browed
Albatross (melanophrys) |
6 |
9 |
10 |
| Buller's
Albatross |
30 |
10 |
12 |
| Tasmanian
Shy
Albatross (cauta) |
25 |
30 |
30 |
| White-capped
Albatross (steadi) |
c5 |
c5 |
c5 |
| Salvin's
Albatross - all adults |
- |
2 |
1 |
| Indian
Yellow-nosed Albatross |
16 |
7 |
2 |
| Grey-backed
Storm-Petrel |
10 |
26 |
500 |
| Australasian
Gannet |
10 |
10 |
5 |
| Brown
Skua |
1 |
2 |
- |
| Crested
Tern |
5 |
11 |
9 |
| White-fronted
Tern |
- |
1 |
- |
| Crested
Tern |
5 |
11 |
9 |
| Inside
St Helens Bay (maximum counts) |
| Black-faced
Cormorant |
15 |
| Little
Black Cormorant |
12 |
| Little
Pied Cormorant |
30 |
| Great
Cormorant |
15 |
| Australian
Pelican |
32 |
| Pacific
Gull |
3 |
| Crested
Tern |
2 |
| Silver
Gull |
50 |
|
|
