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| Southern Royal Albatross |
From
Port Arthur I joined a pelagic trip on November 9. I'd messed up the
dates for another trip organised by Paul Brooks that I'd been booked
on so was fortunate that Bernie O'Keefe and Hedley and Irena Earl
made room for me on this one, which Paul also joined. We headed out
of Eaglehawk Neck and past the imposing Hippolytes with its attendant
Australian Fur-Seal colony.
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| Australian Fur Seal |
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| Hippolytes |
A
blustery south-westerly of up to 25 knots was blowing with a 2-3
metre swell in conditions which would have been marginal for the
south-east Queensland pelagics but are commonplace in Tasmania. It
took us about 2.5 hours to reach the shelf.
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| Shy Albatross |
One
of the things we miss in Queensland is big numbers of albatross and
it was sheer joy to once again be among these beautiful birds.
Although I've been on numerous southern pelagics in years long gone,
it's been quite some time between drinks. I was impressed by the chumming
methods used on the boat. The deckhand was devoted to the task, dividing his time between cutting up and dispensing chicken skins, and
pulverising fish scraps in a berley bin attached to the back of the
boat. The results were impressive.
The first of several Southern Royal Albatross appeared soon after our arrival off the shelf and a couple of Antipodean (Gibson's) Albatross were seen.
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| Southern Royal Albatross |
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| Southern Royal Albatross |
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| Antipodean Albatross |
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| Antipodean Albatross |
Shy
Albatross was, as expected, easily the most common with a maximum of
40 or so at one time around the boat and many more during the day. We
had 2 Black-browed Albatross and 3 Campbell Albatross while out wide.
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| Black-browed Albatross |
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| Campbell Albatross |
On the way back we had a Buller's Albatross up close and
distant views of a Light-mantled Albatross as it disappeared into the
distance before anyone could get onto it.
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| Buller's Albatross |
White-chinned
Petrel was common. Good numbers of Short-tailed Shearwater were
about, possibly indicating a late return amid suggestions that the
species suffered severe declines while on migration during the
northern summer.
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| White-chinned Petrel |
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| White-chinned Petrel |
A few Northern Giant-Petrels offered fine close-up
views and a single Southern Giant-Petrel was often behind the boat. A single Grey-backed Storm-Petrel was seen briefly.
Ebird
list.
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| Northern Giant-Petrel |
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| Southern Giant-Petrel |
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