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Highlight: 6 Albatross species!
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On Saturday, 30 July 2011, an expectant
group of birders set off from Simonstown harbour aboard
a Cape Town Pelagics trip guided by Barrie Rose of
Cape Town Pelagics.
July has been a relatively mild month as a result
of continued ‘La Nina’ conditions. In
keeping with this climatic condition the peninsula
experienced another out of season South-easter on
Friday but our Saturday pelagic was blessed with calm
conditions between two high pressure systems. The
run up to Cape Point was calm, pleasant and uneventful.
Once around Cape Point we encountered flocks of Sooty
Shearwaters and White-chinned Petrels.
Two miles off, while passing Bellows Rock, we added
Subantarctic Skua and Shy
Albatross. We headed in a westerly direction
across a calm sea passing fair numbers of the birds
already mentioned. At 12 miles we stopped for a really
close view of an Arctic Tern sitting on a piece of
polystyrene. At 20 miles we flushed a Soft-plumaged
Petrel off the sea, one of the very few seen
this winter.
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Eventually at 24 miles we picked up
3 hake long-liners with good numbers of seabirds in
attendance. We spent an hour with the ‘Swellendam’
as he hauled his line, enjoying close-up views of
4 species of albatross (Shy, Black-browed,
Indian Yellow-nosed and Atlantic
Yellow-nosed), Southern Giant Petrel,
Pintado Petrel and Wilson’s
Storm Petrel. Of special interest were a
Manx Shearwater and two Antarctic
Prions.
We moved a further two miles offshore
and took station behind the ‘Kentucky’.
Within minutes we were onto a Northern Royal
Albatross which at first made a wide circuit
and disappeared only to reappear ten minutes later
and provide excellent views as it flew past at 50m.
Within the next 10 minutes a juvenile Wandering
Albatross was picked up sitting on the calm
water at 200m. We edged up to it and spent some minutes
photographing this iconic seabird.
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As we started for home a hake trawler the ‘Monie
Marine’ came into sight. We arrived at the vessel
as it finished processing its catch. There were good
birds in the vicinity and we added Northern
Giant Petrel and an out of season Great
Shearwater.
Heading back to Cape Point with 6 albatross species
in the bag, we were lucky to encounter a pod of 4
Humpbacked Whales. Once inside the
Point we enjoyed a great lunch under the cliffs before
a stop at Partridge Point to take in the roosting
Bank Cormorants and Cape Fur Seals
before heading back to Simonstown.
Pelagic species seen :
Wandering Albatross – 1
Northern Royal Albatross - 1
Shy Albatross – 200+
Black-browed Albatross – 200+
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross – 5
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross - 2
Southern Giant Petrel – 3
Northern Giant Petrel - 1
Giant Petrel sp - 2
White-chinned Petrel – ca 800
Pintado Petrel – 100+
Soft-plumaged Petrel - 1
Antarctic Prion – 2+
Sooty Shearwater – 300+
Great Shearwater – 1
Manx Shearwater - 1
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel – 30+
Subantarctic Skua – 10
Cape Gannet – 300
Arctic Tern - 10
Swift Tern – coastal and to 8mls
Kelp Gull – 10 and coastal
Cape Cormorant coastal and to 10mls
White-breasted Cormorant - coastal
Bank Cormorant – coastal
Crowned Cormorant - coastal
Mammals:
Humpbacked Whale - 4
Cape Fur Seal – 100+
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 Barrie Rose.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
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