Kermadec Islands Seabird Adventure REPORT – 26th March to 5th April 2021

[phil hammond]

Thanks for all the work and planning Scott, great report too. I enjoyed every minute

[Matthias]

Thanks for the great report, Scott! What an amazing trip!

[Michael Szabo]

This may be of interest to some among us - Heritage Expeditions now have an 11-day trip to the Kermadecs scheduled to depart on 15 March 2022.

More details here: https://www.heritage-expeditions.com/de ... ms-cruise/

[gmckinlay]

Scott and all,

Congrats on what looks to have been a very successful expedition, and thanks for the report, and very impressive bird list. Seems that we have a astounding natural treasure up in that far flung part of NZ, but so few of us have first hand experience of it. Not at all easy to organise the logistics around that trip - you have become very good at that. Hopefully inspiration for follow-ups.

It would be great to see more photos, perhaps from others who were able to join. Are there any shots of the swarms of birds, and the remoter islands? Seeing an Oceanic whitetip is a big deal, given how dramatically their populations have plumeted.
What dolphin species were seen?

I do wonder if wandering tattler could be an annual migrant to the Kermedecs in small numbers. In Palau there are just a few and I seem to find them at the same spots each year.

Well done,

Glenn

[ourspot]

Hi Glenn

Thanks for the kind words :)

I've got loads more photos on my facebook post if anyone wants to look – hopefully the link works, but let me know if it doesn't and then I'll load more on here.
https://www.facebook.com/scott.brooks.3 ... 2268728423.

Also I'm hoping some other people from the trip will add some more photos at some stage, though I know the others with cameras took thousands of photos (like I did) and it takes a long time to go through them all and process them.

It was wonderful to see the Oceanic Whitetip Shark which was something none of us had seen before - I got some shots but had my camera on the wrong setting so they weren't very good (see below). And for dolphin species we saw regular Bottlenose Dolphins and also a local variant which has short snouts. We also saw Common Dolphins, and another kind we're not sure of (someone mentioned Frasers' but really not sure) - I didn't get any shots but hopefully someone did.

So very few people visit here but of those trips in Mar/Apr the few reports show Wandering Tattler can be found at this time of year on the Kermadecs (presumably on their migration north?) - we saw it on the rock shelves on Meyer island (with some Ruddy Turnstones).

Cheers
Scott

[sav]

Wandering Tattler can be found at this time of year on the Kermadecs (presumably on their migration north) - we saw it on the rock shelves on Meyer island (with some Ruddy Turnstones).

Hey Scotty,

I think it is more likely that Wandering Tattler is a regular (Austral) Summer visitor to the Kermadecs, as it is in the tropical Pacific as a whole.

cheers

[Brent Stephenson]

Hi all,

Thanks Scott for organising this trip, and for the great Trip Report

I just wanted to post a couple of photos as I sort through the 1000s taken during the voyage. I mainly wanted to post a couple of images of the 'Magnificent' collared petrel we saw, as I know this is something people would like to see. Whilst not as close in these images as I would have liked - the initial sighting was as the bird suddenly appeared coming straight at the back of the boat at maybe 30m range - it took a bit to get the camera on the bird amidst screams, by which time it was not quite as close as it had been.

A couple of other images to accompany them.

bstephenson_IMG_9613.jpg (75.39 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

Long-tailed skua

bstephenson_IMG_8441.jpg (171.79 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

Sunset over Macauley Island, incredible numbers of birds

bstephenson_IMG_6866.jpg (242.91 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

'Magnificent' collared petrel

bstephenson_IMG_6863.jpg (243.61 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

'Magnificent' collared petrel

bstephenson_IMG_6841.jpg (149.74 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

'Magnificent' collared petrel

bstephenson_IMG_6363.jpg (432.88 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

One of the major highlights for me was this Oceanic whitetip shark at close quarters

bstephenson_IMG_4559.jpg (131.45 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

One of many Kermadec Petrels seen during the trip, and great to see birds covering the incredible range of plumages possible in this species

bstephenson_IMG_4180.jpg (97.15 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

A lighter individual Kermadec Petrel, but neither of these images represents the darkest and lightest individuals seen

bstephenson_IMG_0866.jpg (327.68 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

The show-stopping, angst building, tear jerking Kermadec storm-petrel

bstephenson_IMG_0003.jpg (76.85 KiB) Viewed 1574 times

One of a number of immature 'wandering' albatrosses seen during the trip. It is suspected that most of them, based on where we were are probably Antipodean subs New Zealand wandering albatrosses, but this requires a little more iresearch

Many thanks,

[Paul Gibson]

Some nice pictures of some rare birds, thanks for sharing Brent.

[Colin Miskelly]

Kia ora

Scott Brooks has very generously loaded more than 70 of his stunning images from the trip onto New Zealand Birds Online, where nine of them have been selected as new master images (i.e. the large image at the top of each species page).

These and other images from the trip are showcased in a Te Papa blog just published:

https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2021/04/19/the-magic-of-the-kermadecs-extreme-birding-in-subtropical-seas/

Thank you also to Brent Stephenson for agreeing to his collared petrel images being published. One of these has replaced his own master image for the species (and is also featured in the blog).

Ngā mihi nui
Colin