Well
when you wake up to pouring rain at 0430, that is a guides nightmare,
especially the night before a key pelagic trip.
Getting up to rain still falling and pretty breezy conditions isn’t any
better, but we headed off to get lunch and then off to the boat. With most of the rain having stopped, but a
stiff breeze still going, we spotted some buff-banded rails on the way to the
wharf, and then boarded the boat.
We
headed out through the channel and then out past Kawau Island. Not bad conditions in these enclosed waters,
and several little penguins showed themselves well. But as we neared the open sea it was pretty
clear this was going to be a little lumpy, and breaking out into the open
water, a little spray started to fly! We
all gathered in the cabin, and headed out to the west of Little Barrier Island,
bracing ourselves as the boat bucked and slammed on some of the waves. As we were headed out, you could see the wind
suddenly shift, and from a NW it turned suddenly to a SW. And it didn’t take long for the chop and
swells to shift as well, so the ride got a little more comfortable…only problem
was knowing that on the way back in, that swell was again going to be against
us.
We
started to see lots of white-faced storm-petrels, common diving-petrels, and a
few Cook’s petrels and Buller’s shearwaters.
Birds zipped past us in the high winds, but we pressed on, attracting a
small pod of common dolphins who surfed in our wake for a little while.
We
kept punching along, and finally got to a spot we felt would work in our
favour, without putting us too far out from the calm harbour from which we had
come. Everyone was putting on a brave
face, even in the face of some rather green complexions, and the cameras were
out as we set the sea-anchor. Brett our
awesome skipper was chumming like mad before long, and streams of birds were
coming in. We literally had hundreds of
Cook’s petrels descend on us, as numbers of flesh-footed and Buller’s
shearwaters increased, and then a few black-petrels. White-faced storm-petrels were also catching
the scent of the chum and were feeding well around the slick, and after perhaps
35 minutes our first NZ storm-petrel came gliding over the waves – yes! The birds kept coming, the the chum kept
flying, and everyone was treated to outstanding views of all of the expected
species. An Arctic skua even came in and
chased a couple of red-billed gulls around quickly, and then several – perhaps
at least 5 – white-capped and a single Salvin’s albatross came in, with at
least three northern giant petrels. A
single sooty shearwater capped things off, flying through briefly. Awesome views of everything, and as the wind
slowly increased and the waves started to build, we decided that discretion was
the better part of valour, and headed for home.
Punching
back into the sea, we spotted many of the same birds, and at one point decided
to slow so we could get good views of hundreds of common diving-petrels feeding
on something near the surface, with hundreds of white-faced storm-petrels.
Getting
back into the shelter of Kawau, people started to liven up, and lunches came
out as a small pod of bottlenosed dolphins came and bow rode and played around
us. We scanned the shoreline for weka,
and in one of the sheltered bays spotted three birds which gave great
views. By this time there was a little
sunshine, and it was pretty darn pleasant to hang out and see what we could
spot. We then decided to head back into
Sandspit, where we had more excellent views of buff-banded rail, even a pair
briefly copulating, before then looking for kookaburra unsuccessfully, and
getting back to the Motel nice and early, with an early dinner and an early
night!
Day total – Seen = 51; new for the trip
= 17; total for the trip to date = 80
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