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At 07:45am a Cape Town Pelagic trip left
Simonstown on Saturday April 24th headed for Cape
Point, on what looked like another nice day at sea,
guided by Cape Town Pelagics guide Meidad Goren.
As we passed the point we spotted a big group of Cory’s
Shearwaters. The first Sooty Shearwaters and White-chinned
Petrels were found very close to Cape Point, and one
Arctic Jaeger. Very soon we found our first albatross,
a Shy Albatross. For 4 of us it was the first albatross
ever! Steaming further out we found our first Great
Shearwaters, Wilson’s Storm Petrels and Sub-Antarctic
Skuas and as we heard reports of trawlers on the radio
hopes went high but reaching the marked area we found
a big concentration of tuna boats busy fishing using
the pole and line technique. “Unfortunately”
these boats don’t attract large numbers of birds
as discarding is very low in this fishery. Nevertheless,
we did manage to add the Black-browed Albatross and
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross to our list. The number
of Sub-Antarctic Skuas around was also notably high
with at least 35 around the fishing boats.
We drifted in the vicinity of the pole boats awhile
but as this didn’t prove productive enough we
decided to start steaming slowly towards the point
in the hope of spotting more interesting birds. Steaming
on the backs of the swell was smooth and those of
us who felt a bit queasy on the way out were able
now to enjoy the ride. We recorded nice numbers of
Shy and Black-browed albatrosses
before counting our fourth albatross species for the
trip, an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross!
Ten miles from the point we added a Long-tailed
Jaeger to the list and just before point
the skipper spotted a whale which unfortunately we
couldn’t get a second look to identify it. We
stopped to watch the Bank, Cape
and White-breasted Cormorants on
Partridge Rock before heading back to the harbour.
Bird species seen - and approximate
numbers:
Shy Albatross 40
Black-browed Albatross 30
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Juvenile Yellow-nosed Albatross 2
White-chinned Petrel 100
Great Shearwater 40
Sooty Shearwater 20
Cory’s Shearwater 40
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 30
Cape Gannet 50
SubAntarctic Skua 45
Arctic Skua 1
Long-talied Skua 1
Arctic Tern 1
Common Tern 3
Coastal species:
African Penguin
Cape Gannet
Kelp Gull
Hartlaub’s Gull
Swift Tern
White breasted Cormorant
Bank Cormorant
Cape Cormorant
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.
Trip report by Cape Town Pelagics guide Meidad Goren.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
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