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Highlights: Black-bellied
Storm Petrel and Atlantic Yellow-nosed
Albatross
On Sunday morning, a Cape Town Pelagics
boat headed out of Simonstown harbour with 6 birders
and Cape Town Pelagics tour leader, Cliff Dorse on
board. The trip through False Bay was pleasant as
always with the great scenery and the usual array
of coastal birds.
It was only at the bellows that
we saw our first pelagic bird of the day, in the form
of a White-chinned Petrel. The
first few miles were very quiet with only White-chinned
Petrels and the occasional Sooty Shearwater
being encountered. At about 10 miles from the point
we came across our first albatross, an adult Shy
Albatross sitting on the water. There was
only a very light north westerly wind and many of
the birds were sitting on the water the relatively
windless conditions not being conducive to flying.
Our skipper sighted a trawler in the distance directly
ahead of us and we continued in that direction. As
we neared the stern trawler, we noticed that four
trawlers were all converging on the same spot. There
were a great number of birds in the general vicinity
but they were scattered quite widely. Behind the first
trawler we encountered Great Shearwater,
Pintado Petrel, Indian Ocean
Yellow-nosed Albatross, Northern
Giant Petrel and Wilson’s Storm
Petrel. We then investigated the two closest
trawlers and added Atlantic Yellow-nosed
Albatross, Southern Giant Petrel
and finally our first Black-browed Albatross.
It was with some relief that we
finally encountered our only Subantartic Skua
of the day directly behind one of the trawlers. As
one of the target birds for the day was Black-bellied
Storm Petrel, we decided to put out
some fish oil while we enjoyed our lunch. After about
20 minutes we were rewarded when a Black-bellied Storm
Petrel put in a brief appearance. A little while later
we encountered a second Black-bellied just before
we decided to start for home.
Out trip back to Simon’s Town was
uneventful except for the mandatory stop at the Partridge
Point Bank Cormorant colony.
The following is a list of the
species seen during the course of the day. The
numbers reflected can be considered as rough estimations
only.
Shy Albatross c. 140
Black-browed Albatross c.
15
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
2
Yellow-nosed Albatross (Immature)
2
Southern Giant Petrel 3
Northern Giant Petrel 5
Pintado Petrel c. 30
White-chinned Petrel c. 100
Great Shearwater c. 10
Sooty Shearwater c. 15
Wilson’s Storm Petrel c.
10
Black-bellied Storm Petrel 2
Subantarctic Skua 1
The following species were encountered
close to the coast:
African Penguin
Cape Gannet
White-breasted Cormorant
Cape Cormorant
Bank Cormorant
Kelp Gull
Hartlaub’s Gull
Common Tern
Swift Tern
African Black Oystercatcher
Mammals
Cape Fur Seal
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 Cliff Dorse.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
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