|
A Cape Town Pelagic trip left Simonstown
on Saturday May 23rd guided by Cape Town Pelagics
guide Dalton Gibbs. The weather was mild with a gap
between cold fronts.
In Simonstown harbour we found the usual Cape
and Hartlaub’s Gull, Swift Terns and
Cape Cormorants. The trip across False Bay
was bumpy with a few Cape Gannets
and Cape Cormorants coming into view
near Cape Point. At the Point itself we stopped to
check out with the radio operator at the lighthouse
and had a brief view of one of the Peregrine
Falcons that are frequent to cliffs in the
area.
Soon after leaving the Point we came across a few
Sooty Shearwaters, followed by White-chinned
Petrels. The occasional Swift Tern
was around Bellow’s Rock, with the rest of the
ocean quiet.
A few miles further out a few long distance Shy
Albatross came into view, with White-chinned
Petrels becoming more common, with small
flocks loafing on the water. The coastal water at
this point was 13 deg C and a green murky colour.
We headed further out towards four trawlers whose
position we had; on the way, coming across our first
Pintado Petrel with Black-browed
Albatross and Wilson’s Storm
Petrel soon following. At this point the
water was a clear blue at 18 deg C.
Just before reaching the trawlers a Giant
Petrel made a distant fly by, too far away
to make a positive identification. We reached the
first of the trawlers, the “African Queen”
out of Durban and followed behind her for a while.
Here were several hundred Shy and
Black-browed Albatross, Great Shearwater,
Sooty Shearwater, White-chinned Petrel and
Wilson’s Storm Petrel. A dozen
Sub-antarctic Skua circled above the trawler. A Northern
Giant Petrel crossed our path before we headed
off to an adjacent trawler.
Here we found the same numbers and variety of birds,
as well as several hundred Cape Gannets.
We were on the look out for Yellow-nosed Albatross
species, eventually finding a single adult
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross that
did a fly past the boat. A Southern Giant
Petrel roosted on the water near us, giving
good views. By this stage we had to head back to Cape
Point, with very bumpy sea conditions and a head-on
easterly wind blowing. Back in False Bay we travelled
along the cliffs, arriving at the Castle Rock Bank
Cormorant colony which yielded views of these
birds as well as White-breasted and
Cape Cormorant. On the adjacent rocks
we had close up views of Cape Fur Seals and a
Crowned Cormorant completed the list of cormorant
species in our area. A little further on we managed
to find all four local cormorant species roosting
on the same rock, providing excellent comparison opportunities.
Just off the Boulders penguin colony we got close
up views of fishing groups of the resident African
Penguins as they came back to land before
we returned to Simonstown Harbour.
Bird species seen and approximate numbers:
Swift Tern coastal
Hartlaub’s Gull coastal
Cape Gull coastal
Peregrine Falcon coastal - 1
Cape Cormorant coastal
Bank Cormorant coastal
Crowned Cormorant coastal - 5
White-breasted Cormorant coastal
African Penguin coastal
Cape Gannet coastal & pelagic – 500
White-chinned Petrel 1000
Northern Giant Petrel 1
Southern Giant Petrel 1
Pintado Petrel 200
Sooty Shearwater 500
Great Shearwater 100
Shy Albatross 500
Black-browed Albatross 1000+
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 200
Sub-antarctic Skua 20
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 Dalton Gibbs.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
|
