Pelagic Trip #34 off Port MacDonnell South Australia 22nd November 2009

[mariner]

Pelagic day trips from Port MacDonnell are run once or twice per month
between September and May by the South Australian Ornithological
Association on a non-profit basis.

Boat : 'Remarkable' 16 metres, cray fishing and charter.

Personnel : Jamie Moody (Skipper) , John (Mate) plus 13 birders.

Synoptic Situation : Inland trough through South Australia, small low
SW from Port MacDonnell, approaching front.

Weather : Overcast with early rain partially clearing during day. Wind
15-20 knots SW all day.

Seas : Choppy conditions with 1 - 2m waves and whitecaps. Sea
temperature 12.5C

Route : Sailed 0605 and headed south to ' hotspot' at 38.4S 140.6E
depth 750 metres until 1030 then south to 38.5S 140.6E depth 1100
metres. Returned to Port Mac at 1400.

Birds

Inshore to 200 metre depth contour

Shy Albatross 10
Black-browed Albatross 1
Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Short-tailed Shearwater 5
Australasian Gannet 20

Over shelf edge depths 200 - 1100 metres

Wandering Albatross 5 adult 1 immature
Shy Albatross 20
Black-browed Albatross 1 adult, 1 immature
Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Northern Giant Petrel 1
Great-winged Petrel 200 (most race gouldi)
White-chinned Petrel 1
Cape Petrel 1
COOK'S PETREL 1
Fairy Prion 2
Sooty Shearwater 1
Short-tailed Shearwater 20
Flesh-footed Shearwater 5
White-faced Storm-petrel 5
Australasian Gannet 5
Crested Tern 3

Notes : Highlight of the trip was the Cook's Petrel which made two
passes of the boat, the first within 20 metres
about 30 minutes apart. Ventral and dorsal view
photographs were obtained. The first record for South
Australian waters. Trip organised by Colin Rogers with
Stuart Hull recorder and chief berleyman.

Neil Cheshire
Encounter Bay
South Australia.

[Gail Mackiernan]

H all --

Four of us just returned from a long cruise aboard a commercial liner (m/s
Veendam) from San Diego California to Valparaiso Chile, Oct. 31 to Nov. 19.
Still sorting out all the records and Tony Quinn and Peter Colston are
reviewing the reams of photos and video taken, but a very good trip. Off
South America we were often further at sea (140-160 nm) than ideal (would
have preferred to have been more in the main Humboldt current) which may
have lost us some species but nevertheless enjoyed excellent close looks at
100s of Galapagos Petrels, as well as Tahiti, Juan Fernandez, De Filippe's,
and a few Cook's, plus the expected storm-petrels (e.g. 100s of Hornby's on
one day just under our bow), Waved and Buller's albies but alas no "great"
albatrosses. Had an adult Swallow-tailed Gull about 150 nm north of the
Equator (plus many more at sea off Chile), most of the expected shearwaters
including Christmas, but interestingly, no Buller's which was abundant
during our Scripps El Nino cruise in January 1998 in the same waters
(Cotinga 15). All the expected boobies, skuas and gulls as well. Thousands
of Black Terns at sea, very unexpected.

This ship is ideal for seabirding as one can stand in the very bow,
protected from the wind by the railing, and use one's scopes. Rather like a
movable sea-watch!

I will post a summary when all is sorted and we will also do a full trip
report in coming months.

Cheers,
Happy Thanksgiving!
Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper
Maryland, USA

[Angus Wilson]

Gail,

Sounds like you had a great cruise there and your comments about the suitability of the ship for seawatching are exactly the sort of 'insider tip' that I hope to see on Seabird-News.

I often field questions about the seawatching possibilities from cruise ships/liners but rarely know the answer. Some vessels are probably dreadful because they don't allow passengers on the bow, are too massive or travel too fast. Clearly there are exceptions. Cruise ships can provide a less expensive option to expedition ships, offer greater flexibility with respect to timing and trip length than research cruises and just as importantly, allow seabirders to combine their passion with family/spousal obligations!

Cheers, Angus

--
Angus Wilson
New York City & The Springs, NY, USA
http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/

[Gail Mackiernan]

Hi --

We have been doing cruise-ship birding for some time now -- since 2003 in fact -- with excellent results. Angus is correct, you have to sort out which ships are good and which are not (for sea-watching). Most are actually okay if not ideal. In general, the Holland-America ships Veendam, Statendam and several of their sister ships, allow free access to the bow and are excellent -- birds often coming off the water right in front and allowing superb looks. This was especially true on our Osaka to Vancouver trip in 2007. The large Princess ships of the Star Princess class have a covered promenade walkway below bow level which again allows direct frontal viewing; in 2008 we took a trip from Buenos Aires and back to the Antarctic on the Star and had wonderful birding. On most ships the covered promenade (side) deck provides acceptable viewing, although one always worries that you are missing stuff on the other side! The stern can also be good -- especially on the Drake Passage run when birds often follow in the wake. On the old Royal Princess (now sailing under the P&O flag as the Artemis) we had 57 Wandering (Snowy) Albatrosses in our wake at one point crossing the Drake and had two well-photographed Antipodeans follow us for hours off Chile, only swerving away as we entered inshore waters off Chiloe Island. The stern configuration of the newer (huge) ships does not seem to be as attractive; whether this is a function of their "draft" or the intimidating size of the vessels I am not sure. The old Royal was a "small" ship (650-700 passengers) with a stern configuration of multiple flying decks aft, much like the old Marco Polo. On this ship we 6 birders essentially took over the shuffleboard deck and viewed to each side, as the bow was too windy except during "scenic cruising." We do tend to attract some attention and on the Royal Princess Antarctic trip we ended up with a lot of other birders of varying degrees of seriousness out on deck with us. I knew we had made some progress when a passenger came up to me and asked, "those little gray birds are prions. right?"

Have actually not found speed to be a serious issue; most ships cruise at 15-20 knots and when doing "scenic cruising" -- e.g. Gerlache Straits -- or coming in or out of ports speed is reduced to 5-10 knots or less. Many birds actually zip in for a quick look before winging off. Of course there is no chasing of birds and no chumming so it is really more like a "moveable sea-watch."

Angus is also right that this allows a non-birding spouse to enjoy a vacation as well; on two of our trips one serious lister brought his non-birding wife and she had a great time, enjoying the spa, shows and fancy dining whilst we put in our hours on deck!

The price is also right -- the 16-day trip from Buenos Aires to Antarctica, with stops at Falklands, Ushuaia, and Pta. Arenas cost $1000 pp for an inside 2-person cabin. Of course you can spend a lot on alcohol, casino, spa, internet etc. etc. if you are not careful. This is how the cruise companies make their profit so be fore-warned!

We have done quite a few trips now and find the most interesting to the sea-birder to be any Antarctic. esp. one from Rio or B.A. to Valpo; Japan to Vancouver esp. if there is a stop in Petropavlosk, thus including some passage in Bering Sea and near Commodore Islands; Australia to New Zealand or Aus to Vanuatu or Fiji, esp. if there is a stop at New Caledonia (Kagu!); of course west coast of the Americas.

Cheers,
Gail

[Alvaro Jaramillo]

Gail

I look forward to the details! Note that Buller's is absent from Chile in
spring. They arrive mid summer and stay into the early fall (Jan - March).
That seems to be the window of occurrence, with the small but growing data
we have in the country.

We now track our records on e-bird, so if you can input any of your stuff
from Chile into e-bird, it means it will get into our rare bird summaries in
"La Chiricoca" and therefore will be passed on to Chilean birders.

Here is a link to the latest Chiricoca, which almost always has some good
seabird records, it is in Spanish however:

http://www.redobservadores.cl/chiricoca_vol-1.html

and a direct link to the latest sightings:
http://www.redobservadores.cl/pdf/9/ch_9_part10.pdf
With photos of Chile's first Gull-billed Tern and Herring Gull, as well as
photos of Common Diving-Petrel in Puerto Montt, Sabine's Gull off
Valparaiso, and Chatham Albatross.

cheers,

Alvaro

Alvaro Jaramillo
chu...@coastside.net
Half Moon Bay, California

Field Guides - Birding Tours Worldwide
www.fieldguides.com

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