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Trip Highlights: Red Phalaropes
At 07h00 a group of excited birders
gathered at the wharf in Simon’s Town with Cape
Town Pelagics guide Cliff
Dorse. At the same time, a second Cape Town Pelagics
boat left for sea (see here).
We were soon on our way through the picturesque False
Bay, heading in the direction of Cape Point. All on
board were entertained by the spectacular scenery
and the usual array of coastal birds. A highlight
in the bay was two Common Dolphins
which allowed us good views.
Just after Cape Point we encountered
an Arctic Skua (Parasitic
Jaeger) in amongst good numbers of Common
Terns. Shortly thereafter we encountered our first
Cory’s Shearwater and White-chinned
Petrels of the day. We spotted several Sooty
Shearwaters which were to be the only ones
encountered all day. We proceeded out into the deep
with the Cory’s and White-chinned
providing ever improving views. We could see a trawler
on the horizon and we headed in its direction. At
about 10 miles we encountered the bird of the day
for some, two Red Phalaropes. Unfortunately
they were very unfriendly and did not provide good
views. As we continued we started adding a few more
species to the day list. These included Shy
and Indian Ocean Yellow-nosed Albatross,
Wilson’s Storm Petrel and Great Shearwater.
We were not closing the gap between ourselves and
the trawler and it became obvious that the trawler
was not fishing but steaming to the south west. After
our skipper communicated with a few fishing boats
in the deep, we decided to head towards an area where
long lining vessels had been encountered. On route
we added Atlantic Yellow-nosed and
Black-browed Albatross, Great-winged
Petrel and European Storm Petrel.
We could see a long liner in the distance and made
a beeline for it. However, just as we arrived the
vessel took off at a rate of knots towards Cape Town.
Bad luck aside; we decided to put some fish oil out
to see if it brought in any birds. The oil did bring
in the two species of Storm Petrel and Sabine’s
Gulls but nothing new for the day list. We
spent a good deal of time out in the deep and were
only rewarded with a Blue Shark which
was attracted by the oil.
We decided to head for the relatively
calm waters of False Bay to enjoy our lunch. After
an excellent lunch the mandatory stop at the Bank
Cormorant breeding colony at Partridge Point
we made our way back to Simon’s Town.
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. 20
Black-browed Albatross 8
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
White-chinned Petrel c. 50
Cory’s Shearwater c. 100
Great Shearwater 5
Sooty Shearwater 3
Great-winged Petrel 5
Wilson’s Storm Petrel c. 30
European Storm Petrel 5
Parasitic Jaeger 5
Arctic Tern 1
Sabine’s Gull 20+
Red Phalarope 2
The following species were common
close to the coast:
African Penguin
Cape Gannet
White-breasted Cormorant
Cape Cormorant
Bank Cormorant
Kelp Gull
Hartlaub’s Gull
Common Tern
Swift Tern
Sandwich Tern
African Black Oyster-catcher
Mammals:
Common Dolphin
Cape Fur Seal
Other:
Blue Shark
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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