TRIP REPORT
December 2000
Alvin Cope

South Africa's first sight record of Yelkouan Shearwater was seen on the Cape Pelagic trip of 30 December 2000! In addition, a late Wandering Albatross, and a very close Spectacled Petrel made this one of the most exciting pelagic trips that the Cape has ever seen!

A group of 23 birders from upcountry, France, Sweden and the United
States, led by Alvin Cope, Jim Enticott, Peter Ryan and Barry Watkins, and organised by Anne Gray, left Simon's Town at 07:00 on Saturday 30 December 2000 in search of nice weather and a trawler - not to mention the usual seabirds.

A Wilson's Storm Petrel 2 miles before we reached Cape Point were a
surprise. We headed out on a course of 240 degrees from Cape Point directly into a biggish sea with a 20+ knot NW wind - nobody was dry after the first 30 minutes and all the birders realised what was meant by the "please hold on at all times" part of the introductory talk!

The quantities of birds increased as we approached two long line boats 30 miles from Cape Point. The wind had dropped to 15 knots and moved more into the W. It obviously augured well for the birds and we soon had good (summer) quantities of Shy Albatrosses and White-chinned Petrels. Suddenly, in the space of a very short hour, we reeled in close looks, at 10 minutes each, Wandering Albatross, Spectacled Petrel and a very friendly, very accommodating....

YELKOUAN SHEARWATER

- brown upperparts, messily merging with the white underparts blotched with brown - the bird showed a brown band behind the ear going almost right around to the chest. This bird's movements, according to Harrison's Sea Birds, "are not fully known and seldom, if ever leaves the Mediterranean". The bird we saw today has obviously not read Harrison's text. This bird sat around close to the boat for at least 5 minutes, flew off, only to return to the same spot 2 minutes later for another period of 5 minutes. It was also photographed! This appears to be the first live record of this species in South African waters.

The Wanderer, a 2-3 year old bird with brown upperparts and a white
head and neck flew quite close to the boat - seen by everybody and
disappeared into the distance, only to reappear 20m from the boat with a bunch of Shys and sat around for a full 5 minutes before "running" off.
The Spectacled Petrel was round on and off for an hour. At one stage it was less than 3m above the ship, over our heads, and the dark bill tip could be clearly seen. Before we left for home, a Pomarine Skua flew in. This bird, not unlike the other 3 "raries" was an exhibitionist of note and showed off all its sides from very close to all for 5 minutes. All of these birds could very easily come to be known as the four 5 minute wonders. The ride home was contrastingly dry and comfortable with a following sea and wind producing a few Greatwinged Petrels and Arctic Skuas.

FOOTNOTE: On reconsideration, the Yelkouan Shearwater was identified as the closely related Balearic Shearwater (Peter Ryan).

List of birds seen (with approximate numbers in brackets):

Shy Albatross (120, 50 max adults)
Blackbrowed Albatross (50, ca. 6 adults)
Yellownosed Albatross - (6 chlororhynchus and 1 bassi)
Wandering Albatross - (1)
Northern Giant Petrel (ca. 10)
Southern Giant Petrel (1)
Whitechinned Petrel (200+)
Spectacled Petrel (1)
Yelkouan Shearwater - (1)
Sooty Shearwater - (ca. 12)
Greatwinged Petrel - (12+)
Great Shearwater - (6+)
Cory's Shearwater (ca. 100)
Wilson's Storm Petrel (ca. 12)
British Storm Petrel (ca. 30)
Subantarctic Skua (6+)
Pomarine Skua - (1)
Arctic Skua - (10+)
Sabine's Gull (150 - 200)
Swift Tern - coastal
Sandwich Tern - several
Common Tern - coastal
Arctic Tern - several
Cape Gannet - several
Whitebreasted Cormorant - coastal
Cape Cormorant - coastal
Crowned Cormorant - coastal
Bank Cormorant - coastal
Kelp Gull - coastal
Greyheaded Gull - coastal
Hartlaub's Gull - coastal
Jackass Penguin - coastal
African Black Oystercatcher - coastal
TOTAL: 33 Species

Mammals:

Cape Fur Seal
Common Dolphin (ca. 6)