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On the morning of Sunday 6th February
a Cape Town Pelagics boat set out from Simonstown
harbour guided by Cape Town Pelagics guide, Dalton
Gibbs. There was a light south-westerly wind, which
had been preceded by days of unrelenting south-easterly
wind that had buffeted the greater Cape Town area
for the previous week.
Inside the harbour along the bouy
lines we found an African Black Oystercatcher
amongst a line of Swift and Sandwich Terns.
The usual Cape and Hartlaub’s Gulls
were also amongst the moored yachts. Large numbers
of Cape Cormorant and the occasional
White-breasted Cormorant also shared this perching
site. In False Bay the off shore rock stacks also
supported large numbers of these cormorants, whilst
Boulders Beach showed numbers of African Penguin
getting ready to head out to sea. Swift Terns
and Cape Gannets flew over us as we headed
across False Bay toward Cape Point. After checking
out with the Cape Point lighthouse we headed out to
sea, finding a Southern Giant Petrel closely
inshore, which is a species generally found further
out to sea. White-chinned Petrels and Sooty
Shearwaters were soon about, whilst a mile or
two further out a few Cory’s Shearwater turned
up and we had a brief view of a Manx Shearwater.
A few Shy Albatross turned up and a small flock
of Sabine ’s Gull hung alongside our boat.
Apart from a large cargo carrier there we no other
boats as we headed further out to sea.
At the 20 nautical mile mark we
headed toward a possible trawler on the horizon, picking
up a storm petrel which passed us before we could
identify it. With the trawler growing closer, Great
Shearwater appeared and the first Black-browed
Albatross. Once at the trawler we soon found
half a dozen Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
who were mixed in with Shy and Black-browed Albatross,
Cory’s and Great Shearwaters. European Storm-petrel
arrived in small groups and we searched through
these groups until we found a lone Wilson’s Storm-petrel
amongst these birds.
A lone Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross
did the rounds behind the trawler, with a very grey
headed albatross making an appearance. This bird compared
favourably as a Grey-headed Albatross, however the
bill patterning did not match and it has been put
down to an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
with an unusually uniform grey head. Two Parasitic
Jaeger turned up, chasing Sabine’s Gulls
that clustered behind food scraps behind the trawler.
We had lunch behind the trawler,
with a lone Sub-antarctic Skua arriving to
work through the scraps in the water. By now there
was a fine collection of birds behind the trawler,
totalling 13 pelagic species all present, namely;
4 albatross, 4 shearwaters, 2 skua/jaeger, 2 storm
petrels and 1 gull species. Coupled with these were
the land based Cape Gannet and Cape
Gull.
The trip back from the trawling
grounds was relatively uneventful, with a few Shy
and Black-browed Albatross making an appearance. Near
Cape Point Sabine’s Gull, White-chinned
Petrel and Cory’s Shearwaters
appeared in numbers, whilst a Manx Shearwater gave
a good view. A surprising view of a Grey Heron
had us doing a double take; the bird was about 3 nautical
miles out to sea flying toward the land. Where it
came from and what is was doing was a mystery to all
of us. The only piece of “solid” ground out to sea
was a gas cargo ship some 5 miles further out!
Back in False Bay we headed across
to the Castle Rock cormorant colony, where White-breasted,
Bank and Cape Cormorants could be viewed
on a rock together. On an adjacent rock we found a
single Crowned Cormorant with a Cape Cormorant
and a near by pod of Cape fur seals
basking. We returned to Simonstown harbour, viewing
African Penguins on the Boulders Beach and
ended the day with a pair of African Black Oystercatcher
bird on the harbours floating buoys.
Bird species seen and approximate
numbers:
Swift tern coastal
Common/Arctic Terns coastal
Hartlaub’s Gull - coastal
Cape Gull - coastal
Cape Cormorant coastal
Bank Cormorant coastal
Crowned Cormorant coastal - 1
White-breasted cormorant coastal
African Penguin coastal - 50
Cape Gannet coastal & pelagic 30
Africa Black Oystercatcher coastal 2
Parasitic Jaeger 5
Sub-antarctic Skua - 1
Sabine’s Gull - 75
White-chinned Petrel 70
Southern Giant Petrel - 1
Sooty Shearwater 25
Cory’s Shearwater - 50
Great Shearwater - 15
Shy Albatross 75
Black-browed Albatross 50
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross 8
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 2
European Storm Petrel 40
Manx Shearwater - 2
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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