Inala Pelagic Tours - Tasman Peninsula

Eaglehawk Pelagic Trip Report - February 3rd, 2018

Participants:

Inala Tour Group, Karen Dick, Ian Halliday, Rob Hamilton, Brian Johnston, Mona Loofs-Samorzewski, Els Wakefield and Paul Brooks (Inala tour guide and report compiler)

Notes:

There had been four days of consistent southerlies leading up to the trip, with more forecast on the day.  We got the southerlies and they were stronger than expected, which made us optimistic of seeing a few Pterodromas.  We didn’t expect to be among so many, as we again had a steady stream of Mottled Petrels, interspersed with Cook’s and Gould’s Petrels, heading south all day.  We were also very pleased to have a close fly-by from a Little Shearwater, an uncommon species in Tasmanian waters, and close passes from 3 Buller’s Shearwater.  3 Long-tailed Jaeger gave great views feeding in the slick for extended periods and the immature Salvin’s Albatross was an interesting record for this time of year.  Other birds of note were a few White-headed Petrel and a distant Providence Petrel.  It’s interesting to note that Grey-faced Petrel, generally the most common Pterodroma petrel encountered off Eaglehawk, has been in very low numbers this season.  Of all the Pterodroma petrels recorded this summer, only Soft-plumaged Petrel and Kermadec Petrel have been recorded in lower numbers.

Activity:

Left port at 0715 hrs and headed straight down to the Hippolytes.  After cruising by the northern side with a couple of passes to view a pair of sea eagles on a ledge and to check the gannet colony, we headed south-east to the shelf-break, pulling up over 340 fathoms at 0945 hrs to berley.  We drifted roughly north-east, out to 460 fathoms, before heading back to port at 1240 hrs to dock at around 1500 hrs.

Conditions:

The sea was almost glassy as we left Pirates Bay in the morning, with the wind below 5 kn.  Skies were partly cloudy but it was dark and overcast to the south-east.  As we neared the Hippolyte, a south-westerly breeze to 10 kn met us and the swell picked up to around 1 metre.  Offshore, the south-westerly topped 15 kn with the swell over 1.5 m and seas were choppy.  It was similar in pelagic waters but the wind lifted again to 20 kn.  From around 1000 hrs the, the wind back off to 10 kn and the swell dropped to 1 m and things were a bit more comfortable.

Mammals:

Common Bottlenose Dolphin: c. 120 (c. 100) A pod of around a dozen inshore bottlenose inshore in the morning and a pod of over 100 offshore bottlenose in the afternoon.

Short-beaked Common Dolphin: c. 35 (c. 35) Inshore in the morning and afternoon.

Australian/New Zealand Fur Seal: 38 (12) 37 on Cheverton Rock and the Hippolytes in the morning and 1 pelagic.

Fish etc.:

Shortfin Mako Shark: 1 pelagic.

Birds (IOC v 7.3 – max at one time in brackets):

Wilson’s Storm Petrel: 1 Pelagic.

Grey-backed Storm Petrel: 6 (6) Pelagic.

White-faced Storm Petrel: c. 30 (22) Mainly pelagic with a single bird over 55 fathoms in the afternoon.

Antipodean Albatross: 3 (2) All gibsoni; 2 adult males and an immature male/adult female in pelagic waters.

Southern Royal Albatross: 2 (1) Both pelagic.  1 immature, 1 juvenile.

Campbell Albatross: 3 (2) Pelagic.  1 adult, 2 immature.

Black-browed type Albatross: 2 (1) 1 adult and 1 immature offshore in the morning.

Shy Albatross: c. 30 (10) 4 inshore in the morning; 12 offshore in the morning; remainder pelagic.

SALVIN’S ALBATROSS: 1 immature bird seen on 2 passes in pelagic waters – didn’t approach all that closely.

Buller’s Albatross: 6 (2) 3 inshore in the morning; 3 pelagic.

Fairy Prion: 8 (2) 1 offshore in the morning, 4 pelagic; 2 offshore in the afternoon; 1 inshore in the afternoon.

WHITE-HEADED PETREL: 3 (1) All in pelagic waters.

PROVIDENCE PETREL: 1 Pelagic.  A distant bird identified from photographs after the trip.

MOTTLED PETREL: 62 (3) A steady stream of birds flying southwards, similar to a trip on November 11th last year, though not as many birds.  The first bird was seen over 50 fathoms in the morning and the last bird was seen over just 48 fathoms in the afternoon.  5 offshore in the morning; 45 pelagic; 11 offshore in the afternoon; 1 inshore in the afternoon.  An exceptional season for this species.

GOULD’S PETREL: 8 (1) All birds flying southwards in pelagic waters.

COOK’S PETREL: 7 (1) All birds flying southwards in pelagic waters, some giving great views as they made multiple passes of the boat.

White-chinned Petrel: 12 (12) All pelagic.

BULLER’s SHEARWATER: 5 (1) A couple of these birds gave excellent, close views.  3 pelagic; 2 offshore in the afternoon, the second of which was over just 51 fathoms.

Sooty Shearwater: 4 (3) All pelagic.

Short-tailed Shearwater: c. 1,250 (c. 500) c. 100 inshore in the morning; c. 750 offshore in the morning; c. 300 pelagic; remainder offshore in the afternoon.

Fluttering Shearwater: 6 (2) 4 inshore in the morning; 1 pelagic; 1 offshore in the afternoon.

Hutton’s Shearwater: 1 offshore in the afternoon.

Fluttering-type Shearwater: 4 (3) 1 pelagic; 3 together offshore in the afternoon.

LITTLE SHEARWATER: 1 Approached the boat to the port side of stern before turning and flying by the port side and not returning.  A probably Little Shearwater was also seen offshore in the morning; this bird was spotted not far off the port side but was lost immediately in glare off the sea surface.

Common Diving Petrel: 1 offshore in the afternoon.

Black-faced Cormorant: c. 410 (c. 250) Inshore and on the Hippolytes in the morning.

Australasian Gannet: c. 45 (c. 30) c. 45 inshore and on the Hippolytes in the morning, including 1 immature bird; 1 offshore in the morning; 1 pelagic.  No nesting activity noted at the top colony.

Silver Gull: c. 30 (c. 25) c. 25 inshore and on The Hippolytes in the morning; 2 offshore in the morning which followed us out beyond the shelf break.

Pacific Gull: 5 (4) 4 juveniles flying together inshore in the morning and an adult on The Hippolytes in the morning.

Kelp Gull: c. 60 (c. 30) c. 60 inshore and on The Hippolytes in the morning.

LONG-TAILED JAEGER: 3 (2) 1 light morph bird foraged in the slick for a while early on then disappeared, only to return briefly later.  A second light morph bird arrived afterwards and was joined by an intermediate morph as we motored up the slick before heading back to port.

Greater Crested Tern: 4 (3) 12 inshore in the morning; 1 offshore in the morning.

PB