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The morning of Saturday 15th August
saw a Cape Town Pelagic trip heading out from Simonstown
harbour in calm conditions with a hopeful group of
passengers. We set off into a beautiful morning with
a light north-westerly wind blowing ahead of a light
cold front. Small clouds were lifting off the mountains
along the Peninsula chain as we headed for Cape Point.
A Crowned Cormorant was in the harbour,
along with a line of Cape and White-breasted
Cormorants on the marker buoys. The “Noah’s
Ark” rock stack had masses of Cape Cormorant
on it, with Cape and Hartlaub’s
Gulls knocking about. The trip across False
Bay was uneventful apart from a few Cape Gannets
and we were soon at Cape Point. In the early morning
light we stopped for photos and to check out with
the lighthouse keeper before heading out into the
deep. Not far beyond Cape Point we soon picked up
a few Sooty Shearwaters, followed
by White-chinned Petrels a bit further
out. Our first Shy Albatross appeared
a mile or two out further out, giving us far off views,
with the occasional bird following the boat.
The shipping lane had two large carriers moving across
and once through that we picked up contacts on the
radar and headed toward them, picking up on the occasional
Shy Albatross along the way. Soon
our first Sub-antarctic Skua trailed
behind us for a while, with a brief appearance being
made by a Soft-plumaged Petrel. A
trawler appeared on the horizon and we joined up with
her, picking up our first Pintado Petrels,
with their characteristic splinter pattern plumage.
Just before the trawler Black-browed Albatross,
both adult and immature birds, started to appear in
large numbers.
The trawler was the “Boronia” out of Cape
Town and she had a hundred or so sea birds in a flock
behind her; these were made up of Cape Gannet,
Shy and Black-browed Albatross,
Pintado Petrel, Sooty Shearwater,
White-chinned Petrel and a Southern
Giant Petrel. We did not stay with the trawler
long before she lifted her nets, which brought a profusion
of birds from all directions. Cape Gannets
dropped into the sea as the net was just below the
surface, with Cape Fur Seals climbing
on it to gorge themselves on fish as it broke the
surface.
Soon the area was filled with well over a thousand
birds that fought over scraps of fish left behind
after the net was raised on to the boat. Sub-antarctic
Skua hung in the air above the trawler, pouncing
down on unsuspecting birds as they picked up bits
of fish.
We stayed with the trawler as she processed her catch,
picking up small numbers of Wilson’s
Storm Petrels that were seen on and off over
the next few hours. After continually searching the
flocks of birds, we turned up a few Northern Giant
Petrels, as well as fair numbers of young
Southern Giant Petrels.
Further searching also yielded an Indian Yellow-nosed
Albatross, with a total of three sightings
of this species. With the trawler setting her nets
again and heading off on a new bearing, we turned
for home and picked up a Southern Fulmar
which took off from the water and had the courtesy
of returning to do a fly by past our boat.
With a pleasant breeze at our backs we had an easy
run back to Cape Point where we travelled along the
Rooikrans cliffs and sea caves. A short trip across
the bay brought us to the Castle Rock Bank Cormorant
colony which yielded views of these birds as well
as White-breasted and Cape
Cormorant. The adjacent rocks with its small
Cape Fur Seal colony delivered a single Crowned
Cormorant. We stopped off at Boulder’s
to view some African Penguin and
picked up on several Swift Terns.
A further smooth ride brought us back to Simonstown
Harbour.
Bird species seen and approximate numbers:
Swift Tern – coastal
Hartlaub’s Gull - coastal
Cape Gull – coastal
Cape Cormorant – coastal
Bank Cormorant – coastal
Crowned Cormorant – coastal - 2
White-breasted Cormorant – coastal
African Penguin – coastal
Cape Gannet – coastal & pelagic –
900
White-chinned Petrel – 600
Southern Giant Petrel – 10
Northern Giant Petrel - 3
Pintado Petrel – 1000
Soft-plumaged Petrel – 2
Sooty Shearwater – 900
Shy Albatross – 500
Black-browed Albatross – 700
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross - 2
Wilson’s Storm Petrel – 50
Sub-antarctic Skua – 20
Southern Fulmar - 1
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.
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