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Highlights: Hundreds
Wilson’s Storm-petrels
The morning of the 1st April was no April fool’s
joke; being beautifully calm with a mirror reflection
of the mountains around Simonstown. This calm day
came two days after a cold front had blown through
the Cape and we were eager to see what it had brought
closer to the continent. We boarded a Cape Town Pelagics
trip destined for the trawling grounds south of Cape
Point, with Dalton Gibbs our pelagic guide. In the
harbour we met up with the usual Cape
and Hartlaub’s Gulls, Cape
Cormorants and a few Swift Terns.
A lone Sandwich Tern sat on the buoy
line; this was in contrast to the small flocks of
these that we had seen over the preceding months.
False Bay was flat and quiet as we motored at speed
toward Cape Point, with only a few Cape Gannet
about.
As we passed Cape Point we picked
up our first Cory’s Shearwaters
and then a number of White-chinned Petrels.
The sea was a green colour and some 13 deg C, with
small gentle swells as we set off for the deep. At
the 5 NM mark we passed through a current line, where
the water temperature increased sharply and we found
groups of Cory’s Shearwaters
rafting on the water. We scanned these groups and
found nothing new except for a pair of Pomarine
Jaeger that passed us by.
With news of several trawlers at the 27 NM mark we
set off in the calm conditions, picking up a Black-browed
Albatross some 15 NM’s out. Sooty
Shearwater, Great Shearwater
and Wilson’s Storm-petrel turned
up in low numbers as we got closer to the trawler.
The trawler was the “Miriam Makeba” out
of Saldanha Bay. Miriam Makeba was a well-known South
African jazz singer, but as far we could ascertain
had no links to pelagic birds or even fish. We were
not able to consider this conundrum for long, because
as we slotted behind the trawler we were overwhelmed
by hundreds of birds to work through. There were many
Cape Gannet, Black-browed
Albatross, Great Shearwater,
Sooty Shearwater, Shy Albatross
and soon Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross.
Several Sub-Antarctic Skua were about,
amongst hundreds of Wilson’s’
Storm-petrels, who did their water walking
routine along the side of our boat in the calm wind
conditions. After looking through many albatross we
found Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
and then a Northern Giant Petrel.
We stayed behind the trawler for a few hours, working
through the birds that turned up to feed off the offal
dumped overboard. We found a single Sabine’s
Gull, which was in stark contrast where a
few weeks previously we had found dozens. A Spectacled
Petrel was spotted briefly by someone on
board, but the bird flew out of range into the mass
of birds in the trail behind the trawler. A Southern
Giant Petrel appeared, mixed into the hundreds
of Wilson’s Storm-petrels that
blanketed the sea around us. We diligently searched
through these, but could not turn up a European Storm-petrel
which was common not two weeks previously. After enjoying
a fine lunch whilst witnessing the spectacle of the
trawlers nets being drawn up, which drew in hundreds
of birds, we headed over to a nearby long liner. This
boat had a collection of similar birds behind it,
but in lower numbers.
With the day drawing on we headed back for land, with
only a good view of a Pomarine Jaeger of note occurring.
Near Cape Point we found large rafts of Cory’s
Shearwater and worked through these for anything
different, but to no avail. We rounded Cape Point
and headed across False Bay to the Castle Rock cormorant
colony where we found White-breasted,
Cape Cormorants, Crowned
Cormorants and Bank Cormorants.
The nearby seal colony had it usual assortment of
young and adult Cape Fur Seals and
their accompanying smells! We headed back into Simonstown,
passing the Boulders penguin colony, before disembarking
after an excellent day out and sea.
Bird species seen and approximate
numbers:
Swift tern – coastal
Hartlaub’s Gull – coastal
Cape Gull – coastal
Sabine’s Gull – 1
Cape Cormorant – coastal
Bank Cormorant – coastal
White-breasted cormorant – coastal
Crowned Cormorant – coastal – 3
African Penguin – coastal
Cape Gannet – coastal & pelagic –
100
Sub-Antarctic Skua – 12
Pomarine Jaeger - 3
White-chinned Petrel – 2000
Northern Giant Petrel – 2
Southern Giant Petrel - 1
Cory’s Shearwater – 400
Great Shearwater – 500
Sooty Shearwater – 50
Shy Albatross – 200
Black-browed Albatross – 400
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross – 6
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross - 2
Wilson’s Storm Petrel – 2000
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.
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