Trip Report - Cape Town Pelagics - 23 January 2010

A Cape Town Pelagic trip left Simonstown at 07h30 on Saturday 23 January, guided by Cape Town Pelagics guide Barrie Rose. 


Flesh-footed Shearwater, a local rarity, photographed on a Cape Town Pelagics trip © Barrie Rose.


Dusky Dolphin photographed on a Cape Town Pelagics trip © Barrie Rose.

Conditions were virtually windless and the trip to Cape Point was pleasant, although uneventful, with only coastal species being recorded. 

Outside Cape Point the windless conditions persisted and we headed across a calm sea towards the fishing grounds.

We stopped briefly two miles outside South West Reef to watch a large shoal of Yellowtail smashing into a shoal of sardines. It was here that we picked up our first pelagic species in the form of Sooty Shearwaters and White-chinned Petrels.

At six miles off the Point we crossed a strong current line into 22°C oceanic water. In this area we found rafts of Cory’s Shearwaters and sighted 2 Pomarine Skuas.

The next twelve miles was virtually devoid of life until we approached the shark long-liner ‘Golden Harvest’. Along with hundreds of White-chinned Petrels we found good numbers of albatross. Shy Albatross dominated but Black-browed and both Atlantic and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses were present.

After 30 mins we became aware of a trawler steaming north about 4miles seaward of us. The ‘Forest Lily’ was steaming to Cape Town while processing its catch. A cloud of birds was clearly visible behind the trawler and we ran there at speed. We pulled up to its stern and stopped allowing the huge flock to pass around us as the ‘Lily’ continued into the north at 12knots. We soon started to add species to the list; Great Shearwater, Sabine’s Gull, Arctic Tern, Northern Giant Petrel, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Long-tailed Skua and Spectacled Petrel.  After the main flock had passed we spent 2 hours interrogating the many rafts of seabirds in the area. This strategy added European Storm-Petrel, Southern Giant Petrel, Flesh-footed Shearwater (a local rarity), Manx Shearwater and a small Oceanic Blue Shark.

The trip back to Cape Point was fairly uneventful with some large rafts of Cory’s Shearwater and another Blue Shark breaking the journey.

Inside Cape Point we were entertained by a small school of Dusky Dolphins before heading back to Simonstown.

Species and approximate numbers :
Shy Albatross - 200
Black-browed Albatross - 80
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross - 40
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross - 10
Northern Giant Petrel - 6
Southern Giant Petrel - 2
White-chinned Petrel ­ ca 1500
Spectacled Petrel ­ 1
Sooty Shearwater - 150
Cory’s Shearwater - 250
Great Shearwater - 10
Flesh-footed Shearwater - 1
Manx Shearwater - 1
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel - 20
European Storm-Petrel - 3
Subantarctic Skua - 3
Pomarine Skua - 2
Long-tailed Skua - 4
Sabine’s Gull - 25
Arctic Tern - 10
Common Tern - 4
Swift Tern ­ coastal and to 8mls
Sandwich Tern - coastal
Kelp Gull ­ 150 and coastal
Cape Cormorant coastal and to 5mls
White-breasted Cormorant - coastal
Bank Cormorant - coastal
African Penguin ­ 5 and coastal

Mammals:
Cape Fur Seal ­ 100+
Dusky Dolphin ­ 1 school (12)

Fish:
Oceanic Blue Shark - 2
Yellowtail ­ 1 feeding shoal
Garfish/Saury (Scomberesox saurus) ­ numerous at current front

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 Barrie Rose.

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