Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018

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ourspot
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Location: Tutukaka Coast

Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018

Postby ourspot » Mon Nov 05, 2018 10:37 pm

Had a great day out today (5th November) on the Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird trip with 7 of us venturing out via the Poor Knight Islands to the explore the deep beyond. A strong SW wind and some chop during the day providing great viewing of a variety of seabirds.

The classic sighting of the day was a pelagic shining cuckoo which did a boat flyby out at the 31 mile mark offshore!

The other highlights of the trip were:
– 28 New Zealand Storm Petrels at one chum spot (they were everywhere - fantastic!)
– 2 Wilson’s Storm Petrels
– Huge amount of Flesh-footed Shearwaters which were bombing the chum spot and the boat.

During the trip we sighted 24 different seabird species. A fantastic day out.

Cheers Scott
021 322 324 | scott@ourspot.nz

—————————————————————

So here’s the full trip results:

2 x Wandering Albatross
1 x White-capped Mollymawk
1 x Northern Giant Petrel
3 x Grey-faced Petrel
35 x Cook's Petrel
2 x Pycroft Petrel
7 x Black Petrel
15 x Fairy Prion
120 x Flesh-footed Shearwater
1500(+) x Buller's Shearwater
30 x Little Shearwater
6 x Fluttering Shearwater
1 x Short-tailed Shearwater
2 x Wilson's Storm-Petrel
5 x White-faced Storm-Petrel
28 x New Zealand Storm-Petrel
35 x Common Diving-Petrel
400 x Australasian Gannet
6 x Black-backed Gull
35 x Red-billed Gull
1 x White-fronted Tern
47 x Pied Shag
3 x Little Pied Shag
1 x Little Black Shag
1 x Shining Cuckoo

Poor Knights Islands sightings (on or flying above)
2 x New Zealand Pigeon
3 x Australasian Harrier
2 x Red-crowned Parakeet
5 x Tui
3 x Bellbird
3 x Welcome Swallow
1 x Sparrow
1 x Starling

Other sea life included:
1 x Fur Seal
2 x Blue Shark
1 x Mako Shark
NZ Storm Petrel_Tutukaka_Nov18_LR_IMG_3190.jpg
12 NZ Storm Petrels in the one shot!
NZ Storm Petrel_Tutukaka_Nov18_LR_IMG_3190.jpg (611.45 KiB) Viewed 3360 times
Wilson's Storm Petrel_Tutukaka_Nov18_LR_IMG_3057.jpg
Wilson's Storm Petrel
Wilson's Storm Petrel_Tutukaka_Nov18_LR_IMG_3057.jpg (374.28 KiB) Viewed 3360 times
Flesh-Footed Shearwater_Tutukaka_Nov18_LR_IMG_3150.jpg
Tim being bombed by a Flesh-Footed Shearwater
Flesh-Footed Shearwater_Tutukaka_Nov18_LR_IMG_3150.jpg (343.02 KiB) Viewed 3360 times
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Tim Barnard
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Location: Okere Falls

Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018

Postby Tim Barnard » Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:49 pm

I suspect there were a few Pycroft's around on Monday. Here's the best photo I could get ...
IMG_4904_Py.jpg
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IMG_4902_Py.jpg
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phil hammond
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Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018

Postby phil hammond » Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:11 pm

Great photos Tim. IMO that lower picture in particular really illustrates well the different structure in Pycrofts from Cooks and shows the shorter neck, longer tail, and different wing shape of Pycrofts. Thanks for posting

Phil Hammond
Wrybill Birding Tours
Great Birds, Real Birders
Graeme T
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Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018

Postby Graeme T » Thu Nov 08, 2018 4:32 pm

Some pretty cool photos. Bet everyone wished they were there rather than sitting at desks. I noticed in the storm petrel photos that the bird on the middle right seems to have 4 leg bands (3 darker colours and a pale one - probably metal band). Did you attempt to photograph any of the banded birds?

While I have handled thousands of Pycrofts on colonies I do find them tricky to ID at sea. But a darker unspeckled crown and a shorter bill is obvious in the hand so you would expect it should be a field character as well. Cooks and Pycroft's underwings are pretty similar.

Cheers

Graeme
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Steve Wood
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Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018

Postby Steve Wood » Thu Nov 08, 2018 6:07 pm

Hi Graeme

Attached a couple of images of colour banded NZ Stormies for the record. Yellow - Blue and ? -Yellow.
NZ Storm Petrel (Y-B) - Tutakaka Nov 2018.jpg
NZ Storm Petrel (Y-B) - Tutakaka Nov 2018.jpg (205.05 KiB) Viewed 3114 times
NZ Storm Petrel - Tutakaka Nov 2018.jpg
NZ Storm Petrel - Tutakaka Nov 2018.jpg (133.54 KiB) Viewed 3114 times
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Steve Wood
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Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018

Postby Steve Wood » Thu Nov 08, 2018 6:11 pm

And a Pycroft's Petrel.
Pycrofts Petrel -Tutakaka  Nov 2018..jpg
Pycrofts Petrel -Tutakaka Nov 2018..jpg (220.77 KiB) Viewed 3114 times
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Tim Barnard
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Location: Okere Falls

Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018

Postby Tim Barnard » Thu Nov 08, 2018 6:21 pm

This is one of the best pelagics running at the moment. Great for NZ Stormies and Pycrofts. Just a few more memories ... Scotty is doing an awesome job ... highly recommended.
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Last edited by Tim Barnard on Sat Nov 17, 2018 9:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Les Feasey
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Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018

Postby Les Feasey » Sat Nov 10, 2018 10:30 am

A few of the more amusing/different moments on the pelagic:
The Flesh-footed that kept on trying to land on Scotty’s head, and eventually landed on the floor of the boa. Luke helped him to rejoin his mates again.

The fish boil-ups around Poor Knights- there were so many boil-ups the Buller’s shearwater couldn’t decide which to feed on. These were trevalli.
The berley bags that suddenly disappeared - I suppose it had nothing to do with the Mako hanging around, or the Blue sharks, but the Flesh-footed liked it:
The stunning image of a White-fronted tern against the Island, the only one we saw this trip:
Another great pelagic, each one very different from the others. This one had Buller's Shearwater and Flesh-footed Shearwater and NZ Storms, the last one Little Shearwater, the next one may be Grey Noddy. Thanks for organising Scotty.
Fleshy fight-8486.jpg
Flesh-footed shearwater after the berley bag
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Fish Boilup-1620.jpg
Trevalli boil-up.
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Bird like Scotty's camera-1722.jpg
Fleshy likes Scotty's camera.
Bird like Scotty's camera-1722.jpg (260.74 KiB) Viewed 3027 times
Les Feasey
Opua, Far North

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