Shy Albatross |
With
fresh memories of a rocky ride on our May
2018 pelagic a week ago, fingers were crossed for a smoother run
as we departed Mooloolaba Marina at 6.55am on Sunday June 3 with a brisk 10-knot SW
breeze blowing. The wind picked up as we headed out but it was
behind us so the trip was relatively comfortable. We encountered a
smattering of Crested Terns and Australasian Gannets and two fly-by
Hutton's Shearwaters before spotting two Humpback Whales – the
first of the season.
Humpback Whales |
We
were 19 nautical miles offshore in 60 metres when we spotted the first Providence Petrel of the day. Then we picked up a Shy Albatross in 115m 25
nautical miles offshore sitting on the water behind a trawler whose
crew were cleaning its catch from the night before. This was the
first record of the species for a Sunshine Coast pelagic and the bird
was of the race cauta,
a scarce visitor to south-east Queensland.
Shy Albatross |
Shy Albatross |
We
began laying a berley trail on the edge of the continental shelf 32
nautical miles offshore in 350 metres (S26.3.1; E 153.43.4) at
9.55am. By this time we had a steady S-SW
wind of 15-20 knots and a hefty
swell
of 2-3 metres which remained the order of the day. We soon had
Providence Petrels and Wilson's Storm-Petrels coming to the slick and
quite a few of both were about the boat while we out wide.
Providence Petrel |
Wilson's Storm-Petrel |
It
wasn't long before an Antarctic Prion made an appearance and we had
this species come and go several times while we were on the shelf.
Antarctic Prion |
Antarctic Prion |
A
Grey-faced Petrel was looking good as it approached the boat – the
second sighting of this species for a Sunshine Coast pelagic
following last week's first. Satellite tracking of Grey-faced Petrel
suggests it does not stray north of Brisbane (it
is seen regularly on the Southport pelagics)
and today is likely the most northerly Australian record of the
species.
Grey-faced Petrel |
Grey-faced Petrel |
We'd
been floating for a couple of hours before a Black-bellied
Storm-Petrel showed up, with one or two birds about for the next hour
before we turned around to head back at 1.15pm. We had drifted 4.7
nautical miles in a
north-westerly
direction to 150 metres.
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel |
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel |
On
the way back we had a flock of Hutton's Shearwaters with 2 Fluttering
Shearwaters among them; the
image here was the best I could manage of the latter. We arrived back
at the marina at 4.05pm. Elist.
PARTICIPANTS:
Fluttering Shearwater |
Greg
Roberts (organiser), Toby Imhoff (skipper), Zoe Williams (deckhand),
Eric
Anderson, Margie Baker, Tony Baker, Warren Bennett, Jane
Cooksley, Ken Cross, Phil Cross, Rick Franks, Richard Fuller,
Malcolm Graham, Geoff Glare, John Gunning, Nikolas Haass, Bob
James, James Martin, Paul Marty, Steven Pratt, Allan Pratt, Liam
Pratt, Trevor Ross, Esme Ross, Raja Stephenson.
SPECIES:
Total (Maximum at one time)
Shy
Albatross 1
Grey-faced
Petrel 1
Providence
Petrel 60 (8)
Antarctic
Prion 6 (2)
Hutton's Shearwater 15 (12)
Fluttering Shearwater 2 (2)Black-bellied Storm-Petrel 2 (1)
Wilson's
Storm-Petrel 30 (5)
Australasian Gannet 30 (6)
Silver
Gull 4 (4)
Crested
Tern 80 (30)
Humpback
Whale 2 (2)
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