TRIP REPORT
April 2002
Barry Watkins

No true pelagics were sighted between Simon's Town and the Cape Point in calm sea conditions. On rounding Cape Point,an hour later, we encountered a fresh seabreeze of 20 knots and 1 metre swell. Within the first 5 nautical miles off Cape Point we saw a raft of 40 Cory's Shearwaters, 3 Sub-Antarctic Skuas, 190 Sooty Shearwaters, 650-700 Cape Gannet, 1 Whitechinned Petrel & one Arctic Tern.

From 6-12 nautical miles from the Point a raft of 40 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Great Shearwater, 11 Whitechinned Petrels, 1 Manx Shearwater, 2 Shy Albatrosses, & 2 Wilson's Storm Petrels were observed. Steaming in a south-westerly direction, and between 13-25 n. miles before we reached a trawler,15 Whitechinned Petrels, 4 Shy Albatosses, 2 Wilson's Storm Petrels , 1 Sub-Antarctic Skua, 5 Sooty Shearwaters & a single Great Shearwater were recorded.

The trawler was reached shortly after 10h00 & the vessel was busy hauling her net. Excellent sightings consisted of Sub-Antarctic Skuas, hundreds of Whitechinned Petrels, hundreds of Shy Albatrosses, hundreds of Blackbrowed Albatrosses, 2 adult and 1 juvenile Indian Yellownosed Albatrosses, 55 Cape Gannets, 15 Great Shearwaters, 10 Wilson's Storm Petrels, 3 European Storm Petrels & 1 Southern Giant Petrel. Of interest was the fact that 95% of the Blackbrowed Albatrosses were adults, whereas 40% of the Shy's were adults.

Ian Sinclair briefly spotted an unusual Sooty Shearwater with a dark underwing , which may have possibly been a Shorttailed Shearwater, had there been longer & better views.

The wind picked up & the swell was now running at 1.5 to 2 metres. After having spent almost 1.5 hours at the trawler we headed several miles northward to a longliner which had few birds birds attending:100 Whitechinned Petrels, 6 Wilson's Storm Petrels, 12 Shy Albatrosses, 2 Blackbrowed Albatrosses, 7 Great Shearwaters, 1 sooty Shearwater, 8 Cape Gannets & 1 adult Indian Yellownosed Albatross.

Half an hour later we steamed back towards the trawler in a moderate breeze that had switched to a northerly direction. Off the stern of the trawler, were 1 Arctic Tern, & a close flock of 85 Wlison's Storm Petrels, feeding 400 m behind the vessel. We passed up the stern of the vessel with bird numbers & species similar as before, before turning & making our way back to Simon's Town.

By now the air temperature had dropped several degrees with mist on the water. Birds were few & far between on the way back, of note was the 1 Manx Shearwater in the Bellow's Region. At Cape Point the shout of "Whale" went up - a Bryde's in a hurry to the south. False Bay yielded 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Sooty Shearwater & 1 Arctic Tern.

List of Birds for the day

Coastal:
African Penguin
Bank Cormorant,Whitebreasted Cormorant, Crowned Cormorant, Cape Cormorant.
Tern:Common, Swift, Sandwich, Arctic
Gull: Hartlaub's,Kelp
Pelagic:
Albatross - Blackbrowed, Shy, Indian Ocean Yellownosed.
Giant Petrel Southern
Petrel - Whitechinned
Storm Petrel : Wilson's, European
Skua: Sub-antarctic, Arctic
Shearwater: Cory's, Manx, Great, Sooty
Cape Gannet.
Marine Mammals:
Bryde's Whale, Cape Fur Seal particularly in association
with fishing vessels.