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Trip Highlights: 16 pelagic
species including many summer visitors such
as Manx Shearwater,
Long-tailed Jaeger and Sabine's
Gull.
The morning of Friday 17th February dawned over Hout
Bay harbour with a light south easterly wind blowing.
A group of eager birders boarded a Cape Town Pelagics
trip guided by guide Dalton
Gibbs. In the harbour we met up with Cape
and Hartlaub’s Gulls, Cape
Cormorants and Swift Terns.
There was a light swell coming in from the south as
we motored out, passing Chapman’s Peak and soon
reaching the Kommetjie lighthouse. White-chinned
Petrels, Cory’s Shearwater
and a few Sooty Shearwaters soon
turned up in reasonable numbers while the sea water
was 13 deg C.
The swell made the ride a bit bumpy as we set on out
on a south-westerly course, passing numerous groups
of Cory’s Shearwater whilst
we checked the radar. At 20 N miles we found several
radar contacts and headed in their direction, finding
our first Shy Albatross in the process.
We got closer to a trawler, finding a few Black-browed
Albatross and an Indian Yellow-nosed
Albatross; Wilson’s Storm-petrel
also appeared in small groups. The trawler was a stern
trawler, the “Nandi Harvest” out of Saldanha
and she had a few hundred birds behind her. Of note
were the Great Shearwaters in reasonable
numbers. Our timing was good and within a few minutes
after arriving the trawler raised her nets which drew
in a large number of birds. We quickly picked up
Sub-Antarctic Skua, Southern
and Northern Giant Petrels and Atlantic
Yellow-nosed Albatross. These were mixed
in with Cape Gulls, White-chinned
Petrels, Shy and Black-browed
Albatross and Cape Gannet.
Northern Giant Petrel on this Cape Town Pelagics trip
© Dalton Gibbs
Sabine’s Gulls arrived in loose
flocks, with mixed groups of Wilson’s
and European Storm-petrels. A lone
Long-tailed Jaeger put in a close
fly-by past our boat, whilst Atlantic Blue
Shark passed close underneath our boat.
There was another trawler some distance off, along
with three long liner boats. We travelled across to
trail two of these, picking up the same group of species
in different concentrations. After a leisurely lunch
with birds around, we headed off to trail a trawler
again. Here we found large numbers of Wilson’s
and European Storm-petrels amongst
the other pelagic species. The southerly wind was
picking up so we decided to head back, but not before
noticing a very brown looking Shearwater. At first
this showed signs to be something interesting, but
after examining the photographic evidence this was
a very brown form of Manx Shearwater.
The ride back was fairly uneventful,
with us picking up Crowned Cormorant
back in the Hout Bay harbour. With 16 pelagic species
found for the day, this was a great trip.
Wilson's Storm Petrel on this Cape Town Pelagics trip
© Dalton Gibbs
Bird species seen and approximate numbers:
Swift tern – coastal
Sandwich Tern - coastal
Hartlaub’s Gull – coastal
Cape Gull - coastal
Cape Cormorant – coastal
White-breasted cormorant – coastal
Crowned Cormorant – coastal – 4
African Penguin – coastal
Cape Gannet – coastal & pelagic –
30
Sub-Antarctic Skua - 5
Long-tailed Jaeger – 1
White-chinned Petrel – 400
Northern Giant Petrel – 6
Southern Giant petrel – 4
Cory’s Shearwater – 50
Manx Shearwater - 1
Great Shearwater – 100
Sooty Shearwater – 5
Shy Albatross – 500
Black-browed Albatross – 400
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross – 6
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross – 2
Wilson’s Storm Petrel – 200
European Storm Petrel –200
Sabine’s Gull – 100
Mammals:
Cape fur seal
Sub-Antarctic Skua on this Cape Town Pelagics trip
© 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.
Trip Report by Cape Town Pelagics
guide Dalton
Gibbs.
To book, simply email
or phone us, or submit a
booking enquiry online.
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