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
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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
Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018
- ourspot
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- Tim Barnard
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- Location: Okere Falls
Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018
I suspect there were a few Pycroft's around on Monday. Here's the best photo I could get ...
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Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018
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
Phil Hammond
Wrybill Birding Tours
Great Birds, Real Birders
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Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018
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
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
- Steve Wood
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Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018
Hi Graeme
Attached a couple of images of colour banded NZ Stormies for the record. Yellow - Blue and ? -Yellow.
Attached a couple of images of colour banded NZ Stormies for the record. Yellow - Blue and ? -Yellow.
- Steve Wood
- Posts: 382
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- Tim Barnard
- Posts: 426
- Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:30 pm
- Location: Okere Falls
Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018
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.
Last edited by Tim Barnard on Sat Nov 17, 2018 9:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Les Feasey
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Re: Tutukaka Pelagic Seabird Trip Results - 5 November 2018
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.
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.
Les Feasey
Opua, Far North
Opua, Far North