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Highlights: Southern Royal
Albatross
To see a some stunning photographs
by trip participant Per Holmen, please click
here.
On the morning of the 17th September
we gathered on the Simonstown jetty, hopeful for the
day ahead. The few preceding days had seen light southerly
winds after a cold front, resulting in a light south
easterly wind that was dropping off. Our skipper arrived
and we boarded, setting off through the harbour. On
the buoy lines and moored yachts we found the usual
Cape Cormorants, Swift terns,
Cape and Hartlaub’s
Gulls and a pair of Crowned Cormorants.
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Out of the harbour we found a small patch of African
Penguins on the rocks at the Boulder’s
penguin Colony and rocks full of Cape Cormorants
in the bay. Cape Gannet,
Swift Terns and lines of Cape Cormorant
flew over us as we headed for Cape Point. At Cape
Point we stopped to check out with the lighthouse
keeper over the radio, finding White-chinned
Petrels just further out to sea. Our trip
out into the Deep was remarkably uneventful, with
only White-chinned Petrels to keep
us company. It was some 20 minutes before we even
saw our first Shy Albatross. Some
Sooty Shearwaters turned up afterwards,
but there were very few birds about. We headed straight
out to sea, finding Sub Antarctic Skua
and an immature Black-browed Albatross.
There were virtually no birds about, with only a handful
of Wilson’s Storm Petrels showing
up. At the 18 mile mark we spotted two trawlers and
made contact with one of them. She was the Isabella
Marine out of Cape Town, but had only a handful of
birds behind her. Where were all the birds?
There was a second trawler heading away from us to
the south and it was then we found the birds; hundreds
of Pintado Petrels, Sooty
Shearwaters, Cape Gannet,
Shy and Black-browed Albatross
loafing on the surface of the ocean. White-chinned
petrels mixed with Sub Antarctic
Skua and we soon found Southern and
then Northern Giant Petrels in low
numbers. We followed this “slick line”
of birds for a few miles; hundreds upon hundreds of
albatross on the water in a long trail leading toward
the trawler which was heading off to the south. The
reason we figured for this mass display of birds is
that they had fed off the trawler which had processed
its catch and was now heading south to reset its nets.
We searched the lines of massed birds for further
species, but could not find anything out of the usual.
Two long lining vessels stood a few miles away and
we decided to go and investigate them. They were the
“Ouma” and the “Tina”, both
from Cape Town. There were small flocks of a hundred
or so birds behind them, which slowly increased in
number during the early afternoon.
We trailed these boats for the next few hours, getting
good photographs of most species and checking all
the birds as they came in to feed. Our skipper, picked
up on an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
which had drifted up to the side of our boat out of
everyone’s view. This bird put in a few fly
by’s to show off its features before we lost
it amongst the general mass of birds. A single Indian
Yellow-nosed Albatross unfortunately was
not as co-operative, and we lost this bird amongst
the two boats. We took in a leisurely lunch with birds
all about us when Andre, looking off the other side
of the boat, remarked that we should look at this
“white-backed albatross” nearby. This
got our attention as we found an immature Southern
Royal Albatross cruising past us. We locked
eyes on the bird and found where it put down on the
water some way off. We quickly headed over, getting
excellent views and photos of the bird on the water
before it tired of us and flew off.
After this exciting visit, we headed back for Cape
Point and were immediately struck again by the dearth
of birds on the ocean away from the long liner boats.
Our trip back was uneventful, except a few miles before
Cape Point when we came across pods of a few hundred
Common Dolphins. Some of these shadowed our
boat for a while, giving us a demonstration of their
jumping abilities next to us.
To see a trip report and photographs
by trip participant Per Holmen, please click
here.
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We headed back into False Bay and checked out with
the lighthouse before heading off toward the Castle
Rock cormorant colony. Here we found White-breasted,
Cape and Bank Cormorants
on nests. On the adjacent rocks we found Cape
Fur Seals lounging around with a lone Crowned
Cormorant that took flight. On entering Simonstown
harbour we found a lone Grey Heron
and a calling pair of African Black Oystercatcher.
Bird species seen and approximate
numbers:
Swift tern - coastal
Hartlaub’s Gull - coastal
Cape Gull - coastal
Cape Cormorant - coastal
Bank Cormorant - coastal
White-breasted cormorant - coastal
African Penguin - coastal
Cape Gannet - coastal & pelagic - 200
Africa Black Oystercatcher - coastal - 2
Sub-antarctic Skua - 15
White-chinned Petrel - 400
Southern Giant Petrel - 4
Northern Giant Petrel - 4
Pintado Petrel - 1000
Sooty Shearwater - 20
Shy Albatross - 800
Black-browed Albatross - 1000
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross - 1
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross - 1
Southern Royal Albatross
- 1
Wilson’s Storm Petrel - 50
Mammals:
Cape Fur Seal
Common Dolphin
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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