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On the morning of the 11th April the
“Destiny” set out from Simonstown for
another trip with Cape Town Pelagics. It was a Monday
morning as the trip had been blown twice over the
weekend, due to strong southerly winds. This morning
however the sea was calm and we left the harbour in
almost ideal weather conditions.
Inside the harbour along the bouy lines we found a
pair of African Black Oystercatcher
amongst a line of Cape Cormorants.
The usual Cape and Hartlaub’s
Gulls were also amongst the moored yachts,
with a single Crowned Cormorant and
large numbers of Cape Cormorant and the occasional
White-breasted Cormorant sharing
space amongst the moored boats.
Once in False Bay the off shore rock stacks also supported
large numbers of, whilst Boulders Beach had numbers
of Cape Cormorant and African
Penguin. Small groups of these penguins were
in the water, getting ready to head out to sea.
Swift Terns and Cape Gannets
flew over us as we headed across False Bay toward
Cape Point.
Cape Point seen from sea on this Cape Town Pelagics
trip © Dalton Gibbs
Just before Cape Point we found our first
White-chinned Petrels with the birds near
by as we stopped to do some landscape photos. After
checking out with the Cape Point lighthouse we headed
out to sea and soon found Sooty Shearwaters
in numbers close inshore. A flock of about 30 of these
birds on the water turned up two Cory’s
Shearwater. At the three mile mark we spotted
our first Shy Albatross some way
off, but we soon had a few of these birds doing fly-bys
past our boat.
The water was a cold 12.5 deg C and at the 15 mile
mark we entered a mist belt with the small Wilson’s
Storm-petrels starting to appear. A lone
Leach’s Storm-petrel put in a brief
appearance amongst the mist.
At the 17 nautical mile mark the water started warming
and the mist lifted and a Sub-Antarctic Skua
made a brief appearance over our boat. With the water
at 17 deg C we found Great Shearwater
and amongst the odd Shy Albatross we
found Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross.
We searched with the radar and called up several ski
boats near by, but could not locate a trawler within
12 miles of us. Never the less we worked our patch
of water and checked the Wilson’s Storm-petrel
that were coming past. Amongst these however we only
had one European Storm-petrel; the
bulk of this species probably having started to move
out of our waters. A young Black-browed Albatross
appeared, followed later by an adult bird and another
Sub-Antarctic Skua that hovered above
our boat to show off its white wing patches.
The trip back was relatively uneventful, with a few
Shy Albatross around us. Half way
back we encountered three Indian Yellow-nosed
Albatross that conveniently put down on the
water, allowing us to get good views as we drifted
near by. Just short of Cape Point a whale head was
spotted above the water some way off, but this soon
disappeared. Whilst scanning for the whale we made
out the fins of an Atlantic Blue Shark
that briefly circled our boat
Back in False Bay we had a leisurely
lunch against the cliffs of Cape Point, picking up
Jackal Buzzard soaring above the
cliffs. After lunch we headed across to the Castle
Rock cormorant colony, where a flock of White-breasted,
Bank and Cape Cormorants
were on a rock together. On the flat adjacent rocks
Cape Fur Seal basked, accompanied
by a small flock of Cape Cormorant.
Following the coast we pasted Boulders Beach, with
its groups of African Penguins, before
entering Simonstown harbour.
Bird species seen and approximate
numbers:
Jackal Buzard - coastal - 1
Swift tern - coastal
Hartlaub’s Gull - coastal
Cape Gull - coastal
Cape Cormorant - coastal
Bank Cormorant - coastal
Crowned Cormorant - coastal - 3
White-breasted cormorant - coastal
African Penguin - coastal - 40
Cape Gannet - coastal & pelagic - 70
Africa Black Oystercatcher - coastal - 2
Sub-antarctic Skua - 1
White-chinned Petrel - 70
Sooty Shearwater - 25
Cory’s Shearwater - 20
Great Shearwater - 15
Shy Albatross - 20
Black-browed Albatross - 5
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross - 4
Wilson’s Storm Petrel - 2
European Storm Petrel - 1
Leaches Storm Petrel - 1
Mammals:
Cape fur seal
Other:
Atlantic Blue Shark
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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