| - 2 Humpbacked Whales
- Northern Royal Albatross
- Spectacled Petrel
- SOUTH POLAR SKUA
We set off on the Obsession at a slightly later, more leisurely
8 am, guided by Ross Wanless and Ian Sinclair. Conditions
were superb, but a residual swell in the bay limited us to
cruising at about 25 knots. The conditions beyond the point
were good, and we immediately started picking up pelagic species,
but the only real highlight of the trip out was a pair of
Humpbacked Whales, which gave reasonably good views despite
being on a mission to somewhere else.
We found the first trawler at 10 am, but the activity behind
the vessel was minimal, so we shot a couple of miles across
to another vessel. Our arrival coincided with the start of
the winches, and we were not disappointed by the huge numbers
of birds that arrived out of nowhere. While lurking behind
the trawler we got on to a NORTHERN ROYAL ALBATROSS. It didn’t
hang around, and our chase was thwarted by a raft of lethargic
Shy Albatrosses. We spent a good hour behind the trawler,
which gave us ample time to ID all the species. Shortly before
we left, a SPECTACLED PETREL came in close, hang around for
30 seconds and then departed, but we all got great views of
it. Not one minute after that did the NORTHERN ROYAL ALBATROSS
return, this time with cracking views. We moved on to a third
trawler, which was processing its catch and had impressive
numbers behind it too. After a solid 45 minutes of excellent
birding, Ian Sinclair leapt to attention and called a SOUTH
POLAR SKUA! Fortunately for all, it was hanging around and
gave excellent, repeated views. It was a juvenile dark morph,
with no pale markings at all on its back, minimal white flashes
in the wings and had a distinctive jizz (smaller head, slighter
bill). Post-hoc examination of photos revealed the start of
a white blaze around the bill, but this was not visible in
the field. After two-and-a-half hours behind three trawlers,
we had seen everything there was to see, and we headed back
to Simon’s Town. We stopped off for the Bank Cormorant
colony at Partridge Point and well satisfied with a great
day’s birding that included three specials. |
