| - 1 SPECTACLED PETREL
- 20 LONG-TAILED SKUAS
The first pelagic trip of 2006 got underway (in a lucky break
in the incessant gales) on 7 January 2006, led by Ross Wanless.
We had reasonably good conditions all the way out, and besides
the regular in-shore species, an early Manx Shearwater got
us off to a good start. We were fortunate enough to find a
trawler about 15 miles off the point, and arrived to find
her processing the catch, with hundreds of seabirds in attendance
as a result. The biggest surprise of the day was the phenomenal
numbers of Long-tailed Skuas out there – in the region
of 20, affording superb, close and sustained views. While
we were knocking around we got on to a SPECTACLED PETREL,
the second in successive trips. We were able to keep our eyes
on it and followed it till it settled in a raft of White-chinned
Petrels. We called the other boat of birders over, and all
enjoyed absolutely cracking views of the confiding bird, down
to the dark tip of the culmen. A few Great Shearwaters were
around, which together with the regular Sooty and Cory's shearwaters
and the earlier Manx made 4 shearwaters for the trip.
The trip home produced a fabulous spectacle about 1 mile
off Cape Point. We sighted a pod of dolphins, and as we looked,
some 50 Atlantic Common Dolphins burst out of the face of
a swell, in unison! They were in a very playful mood and swam
with us for several hundred metres, close enough for some
people to put their hands in the water off the side of the
boat and almost touch them! The birds that gathered above
them included a couple of Pomarine Skuas, which meant we totalled
4 skua species for the trip too! It’s always wonderful
to see dolphins, but to have them playing so close is really
amazing!
|
