Trip Report - Cape Town Pelagics - 8 January 2011 On the morning of 8 January a Cape Town Pelagics tour set out from Simonstown harbour guided by Dalton Gibbs of Cape Town Pelagics. There was very little wind, which was a pleasant change to the strong south-easterly winds that had lashed the Cape for the previous two weeks. Inside the harbour along the bouy lines we found Swift and Sandwich Terns, along with the usual Cape and Hartlaub’s Gulls. Large numbers of Cape Cormorant also shared this perching site. In False Bay the off shore rock stacks had large flocks of Cape Cormorants, with the occasional White-breasted Cormorants dotted between. Swift Terns and Cape Gannets over flew us as we approached Cape Point, which was shrouded in mist. From here as we set out for the deep in thick mist and had limited visibility. White-chinned Petrels and Sooty Shearwater appeared out of the mist briefly, only to be engulfed again. Bits of kelp littered the ocean which was testimony to the strong winds and high sea state that hit the Cape the previous week. Most of the trip out was shrouded in mist, which lifted briefly in places to show further banks of low mist over the ocean. Shy Albatross, Sabine ’s Gull and Cory’s Shearwater appeared in such gaps, but we had difficulty getting good views of these birds. The misty condition made finding a trawler difficult, but information from a nearby yacht put us on a chase to find a long liner. We found the long liner’s bouy markers, but with thick mist could not find the long liner itself. Only upon turning around did we find the long liner actually behind us! She was the “Merritjiedam” out of Hout Bay harbour and was lifting her set line. We travelled along behind her and the mist miraculously lifted in our part of the ocean and we had a mile or two of visibility. There were not many birds behind the long liner, but this was made up by variety and we soon found Shy, Black-browed, Indian and Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross in good calm conditions. Great, Cory’s and Sooty Shearwaters and White-chinned Petrels fought for scraps from the boat, whilst European Storm Petrels put in an appearance in fair numbers. These were soon joined by Wilson’s Storm Petrels in lower numbers. Two Parasitic Jaeger turned up, chasing Sabine’s Gulls that clustered behind food scraps. The conditions and close up food source allowed us to have excellent views and time to take in the field identification points between similar species. The surrounding mist and subdued light also made for excellent photographic opportunities as birds came in close to the boat. We had a leisurely lunch behind the long liner, with Sub-antarctic Skua coming in to see if there was food about, adding to the number of species hanging around the boat. This we totalled as 13 pelagic species all present, namely; 4 albatross, 4 shearwaters, 2 skua/jaeger, 2 storm petrels and 1 gull species. Coupled with these were Cape Gannet, Cape Gull and probably Arctic Tern that had made it out from the main land. When it came time to turn for home we surveyed through all the birds again, making sure we all had made positive identifications of all the species present. Once we left the long liner on the way back home we were plunged into mist again, which followed us until back to Cape Point. Just short of Cape Point however we found a Shearwater. This strongly resembled Manx Shearwater, however a photo of the under wing pattern of this bird closer resembles that of other species of Shearwaters ­ it is hoped to first study photographs taken of the bird before declaring with certainty what species it is. As we reached Cape Point we came out of the mist, which had not penetrated False Bay. A short trip took us to the Castle Rock cormorant colony, where White-breasted, Bank and Cape Cormorants could be viewed on together. On an adjacent we found a single Crowned Cormorant with a group of Cape Cormorants and a pod of Cape fur seals basking. We returned to Simonstown harbour, viewing African Penguins on the Boulders Beach and ended the day with a pair of African Black Oystercatcher bird on the harbours floating buoys. Bird species seen and approximate numbers: Swift tern ­ coastal Common/Arctic Terns ­ 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 - 100 Cape Gannet ­ coastal & pelagic ­ 50 Africa Black Oystercatcher ­ coastal ­ 2 Parasitic Jaeger ­ 2 Sub-antarctic Skua - 1 Sabine’s Gull - 120 White-chinned Petrel ­ 100 Sooty Shearwater ­ 25 Cory’s Shearwater - 75 Great Shearwater - 3 Shy Albatross ­ 25 Black-browed Albatross ­ Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross ­ 2 Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross ­ 8 Wilson’s Storm Petrel ­ 6 European Storm Petrel ­ 40 Manx Shearwater (?) - 1 Mammals: Cape fur seal 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 Dalton Gibbs. To book, simply email or phone us, or submit a booking enquiry online.