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A group of birders left Simon's Town
at 07h30 aboard a Cape Town Pelagics trip in no sea
and no wind, led by Cape Town Pelagics guide
Rob Leslie.
 
Grey-backed Storm Petrel photographed on a Cape
Town Pelagics trip © Rob Leslie. Only the second
record in southern Africa!
It feels as though the end of 2009 has been windier
than normal and the pelagic trip had to be delayed
by a day due to inclement weather. False Bay still
showed the effects of the past stormy weather and
the trip across the Bay was a bit bumpy. Near the
point we picked up the first pelagic species, White-chinned
Petrel. We rounded the Cape Point to be met
with a short sharp chop a combination of the after
effects of yesterday’s storm and the wind and we
headed off into the wind towards the Cape Canyon.
The flurry of Sooty Shearwaters on
the current line off the Point customary in winter
was replaced by Cory’s Shearwaters
- a reminder that summer is here. The run out to the
trawl grounds was very quiet except for a brief visit
from an obliging Greatwinged Petrel.
In the absence of the other “brown birds” it was easy
to ensure that everybody saw the bird always a difficult
task with a Greatwing in amongst a flock of Sooty
Shearwaters and Whitechinned Petrels.
Due to the sea conditions we had to travel far slower
than usual, but fortunately we didn’t have far to
go as we located a trawler, Harvest Nandi with a large
flock of in attendance, at 16 nautical miles southwest
of the Point. We pulled in behind the trawler to enjoy
the spectacle of hundreds of procellarids, allowing
the trawler to pull away from us as we drifted down
the wake. We alternately ran up to the trawler and
drifted in her wake while waiting for her to haul
the trawl net. Suddenly an unusual Spectacled
Petrel came past it did not have the typical
white rings around the eyes, but it had the diagnostic
white area on the forehead. The white forehead area
was so large that the bird appeared white-headed when
seen head-on.
After the trawler hauled her gear, we were drifting
in the wake in a large flock a Wilson’s Storm Petrels
when I caught a flash of white on one of the birds
and I asked everyone to keep a sharp lookout for a
bird with a white flash under the wing, expecting
European Storm Petrel. Shortly afterwards one of the
passengers said “there it is” pointing to a bird off
the starboard bow. I looked up at a medium-sized (Wilson’s-size)
stormy with white under parts and a grey back GREY-BACKED
STORM PETREL only the second record for
southern Africa. Unfortunately after that brief view
we lost the bird. Although I had not previously seen
this species in southern African waters, I have seen
many off Tristan, Marion and Chatham Islands and so
was very confident of the identification. We drifted
in the area for about 20 mins searching for the bird
when it obligingly crossed our stern allowing all
onboard to get good views of this southern African
rarity. Well after the Stormy, anything else would
be an anticlimax, and a couple of the passengers were
feeling a bit green, so we headed for False Bay where
we enjoyed a leisurely lunch off Buffels Bay before
heading for Simonstown via the Bank Cormorant
and Cape Fur Seal colonies off Partridge
Point.
A message from Cape Town Pelagics:
A huge thank you to our experienced skippers who are
able to safely lead us to the best birding areas and
skillfully manoeuvre the boat into just the best position
while all on board are busy concentrating on the birds!
Coordinating a pelagic trip over a year in advance
with guests from all across South Africa and different
countries around the world requires an organised office
team. We thank them for their special eye for detail
- and for the sometimes last-minute rearrangements
and frustration if the weather delays the trip to
another day! Our biggest thank-you is to our Cape
Town Pelagics guides who take time out of their work,
often involving seabirds and conservation, and time
away from their families, to provide our guests with
a world-class birding experience. Cape Town Pelagics
donates all it profits to seabirds, and so all the
participants who join the trip make a contribution
towards bird research and conservation a big thank
you from all of us.
Trip report by Cape Town Pelagics
guide Rob Leslie.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
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