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A Cape Town Pelagics trip left Simonstown
on Saturday 20 June 2009 in beautifully calm conditions
with 6 hopeful passengers guided by Cape Town Pelagics
guide Dalton Gibbs. We had a fortunate gap between
cold fronts and a pink sky from the rising sun in
the east.
In Simonstown harbour we found the
usual Cape and Hartlaub’s Gull
and a line of Cape Cormorants on the
marker buoys. Just outside the harbour two hunting
groups of African Penguins broke the
water’s surface near the Boulder’s penguin colony.
A smooth trip across False Bay soon brought us to
Cape Point, with a Sub-antarctic Skua
following us for some distance. It had picked up the
behaviour of the local gulls and was obviously waiting
for a scrap of food. At Cape Point itself a few Cape
Gannets and Cape Cormorants passed
us, heading out to deeper water for feeding. We stopped
to check out with the radio operator before setting
out for the deep, soon coming across a few Sooty
Shearwaters, followed by White-chinned
Petrels. The occasional Swift Tern
was around Bellow’s Rock, with the rest of the ocean
quiet.
A few miles further out a Shy
Albatross came into view, giving a few far
off views, with a number of White-chinned
Petrels in small flocks loafing on the water.
At the 10 mile mark we picked up
boats on the horizon and headed for them, picking
up a lone Prion on the way. Quick thinking
Jon Bortle got a photo of the bird. It showed up with
a darker, heavier bill than the usual Antarctic Prions.
These suspicions were confirmed when subsequent examination
of the picture by Peter Ryan confirmed it as a Broad-billed
or Salvin’s Prion; both rarities for
our region. These two species cannot be reliably distinguished
in the field.
We headed further out towards two
possible trawlers, coming across Pintado Petrel,
Black-browed Albatross and Wilson’s
Storm Petrel. Just short of the trawler
a large albatross took off near us and showed the
unmistakable white back of a great albatross. It was
a Northern Royal Albatross that
we managed to chase for a few minutes before it disappeared
behind the trawler. The trawler was the “Boronia”
out of Cape Town, with a few dozen Shy and
Black-browed Albatross behind
her, mixed in with several hundred Antarctic
Prion, Cape Gannet, Sooty
Shearwater and Pintado and White-chinned
Petrels. A Southern Giant Petrel
came past the boat, followed by an Indian Yellow-nosed
Albatross.
After spending some time with the
trawler scanning the flock a Southern Fulmar
appeared, giving close up views as it passed us several
times a few metres away. After excellent views of
this bird we set off for a small long lining boat
near by, where we had better views of an Indian
Yellow-nosed Albatross. Shy
and Black-browed Albatross were
behind this boat as well as a Northern Giant
Petrel.
We returned to the larger stern
trawler, who had lifted her nets. A large number of
Cape Gannet had gathered along the trail
of offal being discharged behind her and we witnessed
these birds doing their impressive wing folding dive.
After a leisurely lunch amongst the birds and sunshine
we headed back towards Cape Point, making good time
in the calm conditions. Back in False Bay we travelled
along the cliffs, having a look at the Rooikrans cliffs
sea cave where we found a Crowned Cormorant.
Further along we arrived at the
Castle Rock Bank Cormorant colony which yielded views
of these birds as well as White-breasted
and Cape Cormorant. On the adjacent
rocks we had close up views of the small Cape Fur
Seal colony before a smooth ride brought us back to
Simonstown Harbour.
Bird species seen and approximate
numbers:
Swift Tern coastal
Hartlaub’s Gull - coastal
Cape Gull coastal
Cape Cormorant coastal
Bank Cormorant coastal
Crowned Cormorant coastal - 1
White-breasted Cormorant coastal
African Penguin coastal
Cape Gannet coastal & pelagic 400
White-chinned Petrel 400
Northern Giant Petrel 2
Southern Giant Petrel 5
Pintado Petrel 800
Antarctic Prion 50
Salvin’s or Broad-billed Prion - 1
Sooty Shearwater 500
Great Shearwater 2
Shy Albatross 100
Black-browed Albatross 50 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross
1Northern Royal Albatross 1
Southern Fulmar - 1
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 100
Sub-antarctic Skua - 25
Mammals:
Cape Fur Seal
Trip report by Cape Town Pelagics guide Dalton
Gibbs.
A message from Cape Town Pelagics: A huge thank
you to our experienced skippers who are able to safely
lead us to the best birding areas and skillfully manoeuvre
the boat into just the best position while all on
board are busy concentrating on the birds! Coordinating
a pelagic trip over a year in advance with guests
from all across South Africa and different countries
around the world requires an organised office team.
We thank them for their special eye for detail - and
for the sometimes last-minute rearrangements and frustration
if the weather delays the trip to another day! Our
biggest thank-you is to our Cape Town Pelagics guides
who take time out of their work, often involving seabirds
and conservation, and time away from their families,
to provide our guests with a world-class birding experience.
Cape Town Pelagics donates all it profits to seabirds,
and so all the participants who join the trip make
a contribution towards bird research and conservation
a big thank you from all of us.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
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