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Trip Highlights: Southern Right
Whale and Manx Shearwater
With a group of 10 birders on board
a Cape Town Pelagics boat led by Cape Town Pelagics
tour leader Patrick Cardwell, we set off from Simon’s
Town for the trawling grounds south west of Cape Point.
A near perfect weekend of unusually calm and settled
beach-going weather followed a cold front that prevailed
throughout the week.
The run to the Point itself was
straightforward and relatively wind free with African
Penguins dotted about in ‘rafts’ off Boulders
and a mix of Swift Terns, Kelp Gulls and Cape
Cormorants accompanying us for most of the way.
After a safety stop to radio in
our destination and estimated time of return we headed
off in the general direction of a set of co-ordinates
radioed to us by a sport fishing boat in the vicinity
of a pole fishing vessel some twenty miles west of
our position.
Sea conditions on the way were clear
and calm with sightings of Cape Fur Seals basking
here and there on the surface along with a surprise
sighting of an oceanic Blue Shark and shortly
afterwards a Thresher Shark, with its long
and quite distinctive whip-tail in evidence, as it
breached repeatedly just beyond Bellows Rock. Birdlife
in general was ‘thin’ on the way out, apart from a
single Pomarine Jaeger crossing our line of
travel and several feeding flocks of Common Tern
being harassed repeatedly by Parasitic Jaegers.
For the rest little else was in evidence other
than the usual cast of inshore terns, gulls and cormorants.
Cape Gannets and Sooty Shearwaters were
conspicuous by their lack of abundance in spite of
the presence of schooling baitfish in every direction
around us.
On arriving at the fishing vessel
we found we were not alone as an increasing number
of sport fishing boats had converged on the same co-ordinates
following reports of large shoals of Yellowfin
Tuna converging on the area. This was hardly
surprising as the water colour had switched from dark
green to deep royal blue in keeping with a steady
rise in sea temperature on the way out, with the occasional
flying fish taking to the wing ahead of the bow wave,
to add a tropical touch to the unfolding scene around
us.
Pelagic birdlife was dominated along
the way by Cory’s Shearwaters, a trans-equatorial
summer migrant, flying by in lethargic flight or roosting
on the surface in scattered groups. White-chinned
Petrels were far less numerous with a few birds
weaving back and forth in near windless conditions
between the now flotilla sized fleet of assorted fishing
boats trolling the area in search of tuna. First up
on the albatross list for the day was an immature
Black-browed Albatross followed by an adult
Shy Albatross flapping about in a less than
dynamic flight pattern due to a lack of wind.
Here and there becalmed albatrosses
could be seen in the vicinity and a number of close
up views were obtained of both species as we made
our way westwards in the general direction of a stern
trawler on the distant horizon.
On the way we added Wilson’s
Storm Petrel to the pelagic list followed by the
first of two sightings of Great-winged Petrel careening
above the wake of the ‘Harvest Saldanha’ as she steamed
towards us with her bird-scaring lines very much in
visual evidence. This was indeed an encouraging conservation
sight following the BLSA seabird education initiative.
Above the gantry a Subantarctic Skua circled
in purposeful flight as it eyed the offal shoot while
several White-chinned Petrels criss-crossed
the wake in close association with the usual entourage
of Kelp Gulls. Add to this two Sabine’s
Gulls dipping and swooping to pick up scraps in
the lee of the trawler’s stern and you have some idea
of the unfolding scene. Next up the wake was a full
adult Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross, with
a particularly dark grey head and neck, that provided
a number of repetitive sightings as it orbited around
the trawler along with a number of Shy and
Black-browed Albatross across the age class
spectrum.
After an hour of running parallel
to the trawler, while regularly checking the pelagic
mix for new arrivals within the species mix, a Giant
Petrel passed by at a range too far to ascertain
the colour of the bill tip. For whatever reason the
bird failed to return even after the trawl had been
retrieved. This was most surprising as the surface
was littered with small fish and other food items
along the length of the wake. Surprisingly too, no
Cape Gannets or Cape Fur Seals were
in attendance and neither were any storm petrels observed
pattering about within the assortment of pelagic seabirds
strung out along the wake.
As we were about to move off to
start our return run back to Simon’s Town an adult
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross arrived to give
us four albatross species for the day. On top of this
we were treated to close-up views of a large Sunfish
basking on the surface as another non-bird related
bonus sighting for the day.
By now the wind had died completely
with most seabirds observed on the long run back to
Cape Point loafing on the surface in scattered groups
or flapping about lazily in ones and twos. Roosting
‘rafts’ of Cory’s Shearwaters and White-chinned
Petrels were carefully checked for a possible
Manx Shearwater but nothing unusual was sighted
other than a Northern Giant Petrel which cut
across our wake before turning away with no repeat
views on offer.
As we neared Cape Point we became
aware of large concentrations of bait fish in every
direction and, not surprisingly the presence of game
fish all around us as they targeted the fish shoals
to the delight of hundreds of Common Tern taking
advantage of the feeding frenzy.
A brief stop at Partridge Point
provided good views of Bank Cormorant and Cape
Fur Seal along with a single Black Oystercatcher
feeding on the mussel encrusted boulders exposed
by the low tide.
On the way back to Simon’s Town
a late departing Southern Right Whale appeared
unexpectedly in the vicinity of Ark Rock providing
all on board with an extended view before presenting
its flukes and disappearing out of sight as the grand
finale to the day.
Bird species seen with approximate
numbers for the day is as follows:
Shy Albatross 10
Black-browed Albatross 15
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross 1
Northern Giant Petrel 1
Cape Gannet - 5
White-chinned Petrel 30
SootyShearwater 6
Cory’s Shearwater - 100
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 4
Great-winged Petrel 2
Subantarctic Skua 5
Parasitic Jaeger 6
Pomerine Jaeger 1
Swift Tern 50
Sandwich Tern - 4
Common Tern- 200
Sabine’s Gull 6
Kelp Gull 100
Hartlaub’s Gull coastal
Bank Cormorant 10
White-breasted Cormorant
Mammals
Southern Right Whale
Cape Fur Seal
Fish
Sunfish
Yellowfin Tuna
Blue Shark
Tresher Shark
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 Patrick Cardwell.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
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