More Photographs from 30th May tour

Hi all

Here are some more photographs from the all day pelagic tour on the 30th May, as sent in by Peter and Duncan including two of the suspected black bellied storm petrel. The contributions are much appreciated.

Alex

All Day Pelagic Tour 30th May 2009

Gary and a team of keen birders headed out off-shore on Saturday morning, further than we usually go on an Albatross Encounter tour. they were looking for some more unusual visitors to the area and they were not dissapointed, a black-bellied storm petrel was sighted, a first for us here in Kaikoura.

The complete list of species are as follows:

6 - northern royal albatross
6 - southern royal albatross
6 - Gibson's wandering albatross
2 - antipodean albatross
4 - black-browed albatross
10 - New Zealand white-capped albatross
20 - Buller's albatross (northern)
4 - Buller's albatross (southern)
17 - northern giant petrel
5 - westland petrel
3 - white chinne petrel
1 - grey faced petrel
80 - cape pigeon
2 - common diving petrel
20 - Hutton's shearwater
6 - sooty shearwater
1 - short tailed shearwater
10 - white fronted tern
10 - black fronted tern
25 - black-backed gull
2 - black billed gull
30 - red-billed gull
30 - spotted shag
1 - black-bellied storm petrel


I will add some photos when they are downloaded from the camera.

Cheers

Alex

Shark Clip in Wandering Albatross

Hi All

Alastair took some distressing photographs yesterday which were a poignant reminder of the ongoing plight of these magnificant birds. You can clearly see in the photographs the SharkClip which are used in long-line fisheries to attach the trace and hook to the longline.

However, the bird does look healthy and was feeding at the back of the Albatross Encounter vessel.

We will keep you updated if we see the same bird during the next few days.

Record Tour

Hi,

We had a very good Albatross Encounter on Friday the 20th of Feb. It was a miserable day with very heavy rain in the morning. But that didnt stop the passengers on the 9.0am Albatross Encounter tour seeing a record number of albatross species.

One of the passengers was Brent Stephenson and here is an exerpt from his write-up of the tour:


"Did Oceanwings yesterday morning (20 Feb) with 10 species of albatross - equalled their record of 11 years. Pretty happy with that! Both Royals, Antipodean & Gibson's, both Buller's, black-browed, Campbell, Salvin's and white-capped. We were just waiting for a Chatham to fly past! Also sooty and short-tailed shear, flesh-footed, Buller's and Hutton's shear, Westland and white-chinned petrel, plus northern GP and Cape petrel so a pretty awesome line up! Literally 1000s of Hutton's feeding around the rocks just of the peninsula was a real spectacle with large numbers of white-fronted terns and at least 4-5 Arcitc skua making fantastic chases."

Chatham Island Albatross

The Oceanwings tour had a rare visitor today. Alastair saw a Chatham Island albatross (see photos) also, see the comparison with a Salvins albatross, the Chatham Island has a distinctive yellow bill and grey head. This visitor is only seen on a few occasions each year here in Kaikoura so is always nice to see.

Penguin ID

The ID of the Penguin is confirmed as a juvenile Fjordland crested penguin. (Many thanks to Peter Langlands for the ID).

Crested Penguin Found in Yard

Hi all

These are some pictures Alastair took of a moulting crested penguin found just north of the Kaikoura township. DOC have the penguin now and hopefully it is on the road to recovery?

ps. ID is not 100% although some have suggested Fjordland Crested. We had an FCP found on a beach here in Kaikoura back in 2008 (see earlier blog).

Cheers

Alex