TRIP REPORT
March 2003

This week's Anne Albatross Pelagic was led by Peter Ryan, Ian Sinclair, Barry Watkins, assisted by Andrew Hester and Cliff Dorse, and produced spectacular highlights: Leach's Storm Petrel, juvenile Wandering Albatross, Spectacled Petrel and stunning Long-tailed and Pomarine Jaegers, just going to show that you never know what any pelagic trip in the Cape waters will produce!

A group of nervous birders gathered at Simonstown at 6h45 for the regular pelagic trip - nervous because it was drizzling, the wind was in the west, and a large swell had come up overnight.

The passage to Cape Point was uneventful, running in calm seas with the wind astern. The only bird of note was a Pomarine Jaeger among several Parasitic (Arctic) Jaegers. Rounding the Cape we were faced by some large, lumpy seas and just enough wind to carry the spray over the boat, resulting in a rapid rearrangement of personnel! However, birds were present in reasonable numbers, with the first of many Long-tailed Jaegers close to Bellows Rock.

Battering our way south-west, we anxiously checked all Cory's Shearwaters, but no sign of last week's Streaked. Our only reward was a single Great-winged Petrel.

By 10h30, with nothing on the radar other than large swells, people were getting despondent, and there was talk of heading for home. But then a blip was spotted, and we ran down a large demersal trawler busy cleaning her catch. We were able to run smoothly in her wake, checking out the spectacle. Goodies included stunning Long-tailed Jaegers, Sabine's Gulls and Arctic Terns in full nuptials. Then contender for bird of the trip - a very obliging Leach's Petrel, appeared amongst the many Wilson's and occasional European Storm Petrels. It stayed with us, feeding just in front of the boat, for several minutes, allowing cracking views.

Finally leaving the trawler, we surfed back to Cape Point, adding only a
distant Manx Shearwater, a second Great-winged Petrel and 5 more Long-tailed Jaegers. Then, approaching Bellows, and only 4 miles from shore, a stunning juvenile Wandering Albatross came right up to the boat, circled us repeatedly, and even landed on the water a couple of times. It had probably fledged at the end of last year, and we were as much a novelty to it, as it was for us. While enjoying this, we had an almost equally obliging Spectacled Petrel, and then a cracking adult Pomarine Jaeger sitting among a group of Cory's Shearwaters.

A wet but tolerably happy crew returned to Simonstown at 14h45.

Trip list:

Wandering Albatross 1
Shy Albatross 250
Black-browed Albatross 100
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross 2
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Yellow-nosed Albatross sp. 2
Great-winged Petrel 2
White-chinned Petrel 1000
Spectacled Petrel 1
Cory's Shearwater 40
Great Shearwater 400
Sooty Shearwater 200
Manx Shearwater 1
Leach's Storm Petrel 1
Wilson's Storm Petrel 400
European Storm Petrel 5
Subantarctic Skua 2
Pomarine Skua 3
Parasitic Jaeger 6
Long-tailed Jaeger 12
Sabine's Gull 10
Arctic Tern 50

Missing birds: giant petrels (for the second week running)

Plus all the usual inshore species!

Two sunfish were the non-bird highlight!