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Trip Highlights: Three species of albatross, Parasitic Jaeger, Sabine's Gull, Northern Giant Petrel, and a large school of Dusky Dolphin.
After some brief uncertainty in offshore conditions in the run up to Saturday 25th January's pelagic trip, a group of eight eager clients joined Cape Town Pelagics guide Nick Fordyce for a day out at sea in search of sea birds and mammals. Five of the eight clients were experiencing a pelagic trip for the first time. Ian Palmer had joined for his 6th ever pelagic trip, delicately poised on 799 species seen for the southern Africa subregion.
Immediately within Simon's Town harbour there were good birds to be seen. Three African Black-Oystercatchers were foraging along the water's edge near the entrance to False Bay Yacht Club. The Yacht Club's resident Grey Heron was also in town. As we made our way out, we were greeted by a 100 or more Cape Cormorants with at least two White-breasted Cormorants amongst them.
Conditions were somewhat unusual for this time of year with fairly thick fog limiting visibility on the trip from Simon's Town harbour to Cape Point. Nonetheless, along the way we encountered a few coastal species including the southern African West Coast endemic, Hartlaub's Gull, the larger Kelp Gull and multiple flybys of Swift and Sandwich Terns, Cape Gannets and more Cape Cormorants. We also encountered two parties of foraging African Penguins, torpedoing their way through the water, which make for great viewing when compared with the traditional way of viewing them, awkwardly poised on land. We also had the first of numerous sightings of Cape Fur Seals.
Having made the traditional stop at Cape Point, much to the delight of everyone on board, we headed south-west towards the Cape trawling grounds and fabled deep sea canyon. Although the search for a trawling or long-liner vessel ultimately proved fruitless, the search nonetheless took us further south than planned and allowed us to connect with almost all the main targets for the day.
The first truly pelagic species we encountered were Sooty Shearwaters. In many ways they lived up to their names as we first encountered them in the thickest fog of the day. Wind was fairly mild at this point, making the majority of the birds reluctant to take to the air. A bonus for us, as it allowed us to get up close and examine their features in good detail. They were gathered in medium sized groups on the water and at one such site we encountered another pelagic bird, Cory's Shearwater. As the morning played out, we would see a lot more of these birds too.
The lack of wind was not just a problem for the birds. It wasn't blowing the fog away and the fog soon started causing problems for our boat's GPS system. The result was that for 10 minutes we were floating about as our skipper tried to get the system working again. It wasn't all despair though, during this period of being "lost at sea" we were treated to stunning views of 40 or more Sabine's Gulls which were similarly floating about on the water. As we drifted towards them, they slowly took to air, allowing us special close up views of them in flight. They are, in my opinion, one of the most attractive pelagic birds to be seen off the Cape coast. At a similar time, we had another great sighting, a single Arctic Tern which came flying overhead.
Now we started to pick up more species. The first albatross of the day, a Shy Albatross, was seen distantly. Over the next two hours we would encounter quite a few more, probably totally near 20 in the end. We also had encounters with Storm-Petrels, first European and then Wilson's. It was also at this time that we had a succession of slightly frustrating near sightings. Within a period of about an hour we had 3 separate flyovers of Jaegers, all of which were just too brief or picked up too late to confirm for certain. This was most challenging for Ian, who was poised on 799 species for the subregion with Parasitic Jaeger missing from his list.
We were fortunate to connect with another boat who had laid down an oil slick for the purposes of shark-diving. This attracted a decent volume of birds around the boat and allowed us to connect with multiple new species for the day. In addition to repeat sightings of a number of the species already mentioned, we encountered at least two Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses, at least one Black-browed Albatross, two Great Shearwaters and a Northern Giant Petrel which showed very well and allowed us good looks at its characteristic red-tinged beak-tip. Then suddenly, euphoria!! for Ian at least, as we had a flyby, directly overhead, of a single Parasitic Jaeger! 800 for Ian!
Eventually it was time to head back towards the harbour at Simon's Town. On the way back, we encountered a new species for the day, Manx Shearwater. We seemed to hit a sweet spot for them and encountered as many as 7 individuals, a pelagic high count for me! And then we had arguably the sighting of the whole trip. Around 500 Dusky Dolphins were seen and then swam around the boat for about 20 minutes: a truly exhilarating experience!
Closer to home, several additional coastal species were seen including Bank Cormorants, Common Terns and around 50 more African Penguins not far from the Boulders Beach colony. Sitting out on the water, enjoying the scenery, the group was treated to a delicious lunch. All in all, another great day out at sea!
Species seen and approximate numbers:
Shy Albatross - 15
Black Browed Albatross - 1
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross - 2
Northern Giant Petrel - 1
White Chinned Petrel - 300
Sooty Shearwater - 300
Cory's Shearwater - 150
Great Shearwater - 2
Manx Shearwater - 7
Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 20
European Storm-Petrel - 10
Parasitic Jaeger - 4
Arctic Tern - 9
Sabine's Gulls - 40
Coastal species:
Kelp Gull - 45
Cape Cormorant - 200
White Breasted Cormorant - 40
Bank Cormorant - 20
African Penguin - 60
African Black Oystercatcher - 3
Common Tern - 20
Swift Tern - 10
Kelp Gull - 25
Hartlaub's Gull - 5
Cape Gannet - 55
Marine mammals
Cape Fur Seal
Dusky Dolphins - ±500
ebird checklists links
False Bay Yacht Club list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S63833720
cape trawling grounds checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S63833916
coastal checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S63834491
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 Nick Fordyce.
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or phone us, or submit a
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