Trip Report
2 January 2004
Another stunning Hauraki Gulf day with light winds. 11 pax all up including the skipper.
Sandspit to Little Barrier Island
Wind SE 5-6 knots, SST 20-22C
10s Fluttering Shearwaters
10s Bullers Shearwaters
A few Flesh-footed Shearwaters
couple of Pterodromas 1 id as a Pycrofts
1 Arctic skua
several Blue Penguins
several gannets
Little Barrier Island to Mokohinaus
Wind died down during this leg. SST 18-19C
Travelled for a few km north of LBI and stopped to chum.
Several fleshfooted Shearwaters
approx 6 White-faced Storm-Petrels
A few Buller's Shearwaters
We still wanted better views of the Pterodromas for id and there were several small groups of Pterodromas sitting on the increasingly calm water so we moved up close to one of these groups. As we approached we spotted a black and white storm petrel sitting amongst them. It flew up with the Pterodromas as we approached, but we immediately started chumming and it stayed around for until we left about an hour and a half later and was joined by 2 more after an hour, as well as several White-faced Storm-Petrels, Flesh-footed Shearwaters and Buller's Shearwaters. Buller's coming in to the chum and feeding is new for us here altho' seen this off Kaikoura.Great views of birds diving down to feed underwater as the vis was very good.
The black and white storm petrel appeared to be the same as the ones that have been suggested are the NZ storm petrel. They appeared smaller than the wf stormies which were also present and behaved markedly differently. As we chummed it would fly around the boat from 10-50m as at circled the boat. It didn't patter the way wf stormies do and flew very rapidly as at wheeled around the boat. The bird had a slightly streaky breast, no central black stripe, with brown tipped wing coverts giving a diagonal pattern across the top. One of my photos shows this very clearly. A number of people took photos - David Riddell, Brad Robson (Northern Ireland RSPB) and Quentin Paynter took quite a lot of video footage. My photos are not great - I am not a photographer and I was limited by my equipment. We will be collating photos taken from this and previous trips.
Chummed for about an hour but nothing new coming in and a couple of people were feeling the effects of rocking around so we decided to move closer to the Mokohinaus.
As we approached a group of Pterodromas another black and white storm petrel flew up. We didn't positively id this as the same as the other 3 but it seems likely. By now there were large numbers of Pterodromas flying up in front of the boat. We got very good looks at these birds and some were able to be identified as Pycoft's. The dark eye and head and much darker upper body plumage is quite clear in some birds when compared with the much lighter coloured Cook's Petrels.
Stopped at the Mokohinaus and pulled in to a lovely cove for lunch and a cuppa. Most of the group went swimming and snorkelling, and some did a short dinghy cruise through the beautiful rock arches. Red-crowned parakeets were obvious on the steep cliffs moving through the flax and other low veg. Just as were about to leave a kaka flew over. Magic!
We hadn't seen the grey ternlets the last couple of times at Maori Rocks so we weren't hopeful that they would be there. We found them roosting as they did last season on the larger stack. We counted 10 of these gorgeous birds - lots of oohs and aahs. We managed to cruise past quite close to inspect the rocks for any signs of breeding but there were none that we could see.
Totals for this leg were:
10's Buller's Shearwaters
10's Flesh-footed Shearwaters
12+ White-faced Storm-Petrels
3-4 black and white Storm-Petrels (NZ storm petrel?)
100's of gannets sitting on the water
2 sooty Shearwaters
Mokohinaus
several red-crowned parakeets
1 kaka
1 fairy prion
100+ Red-billed Gulls
30+ white fronted terns
10 grey ternlets
While at the Mokohinaus we spotted two dead Flesh-footed Shearwaters floating in the water. We picked them up and one appeared to have a bullet hole in it's chest. The other had no apparant marks. Sadly at this time of the year there are alot of fishers out there. Some with less patience than others with birds trying to take their baits. Interestingly the skipper had commented on the way out that he had heard of fishers who had been shooting birds. We have collected the dead birds and will pass them on to DOC in Warkworth.
Mokohinaus to 100m Line
No wind, SST 23C
Left Maori Rocks and headed further out to deep water for some more chumming. Birds were scattered and sitting on the water, very little flying activity to start with.
Chummed for about an hour and eventually attracted in some Black Petrels around the boat - great to see them so close - along with the fleshies. A few white faced Storm-Petrels also came in and we saw one black and white storm petrel flick through but didn't get really good looks. The jizz and overall impression was for a black-bellied storm petrel with a central stripe down the middle of belly.
By now the water was very very calm and our slick was not the only one the birds were working. There were a number of broad plankton slicks, criss-crossing the sea, some with heavy colouring of orange or yellow plankton (like swirls of paint). We eventually gave up our own chumming and followed some of these slicks as we could see the WF Storm-Petrels working these. Obviously our chum was not as attractive as this natural food. Also the lack of wind would have made it difficult for birds to pick it up?. Very little other bird activity was around at this time although the Black Petrels were still around.
100m to Sandspit
Started the return journey about 6.00PM.
From the Mokohinaus to Little Barrier Island, the Pterodroma numbers increased significantly. Most appeared to be Cook's. Between the Mokohinaus and LBI another black and white storm petrel was spotted at a distance but we were unable to track it.
100's - 1000's Cook's Petrels
Grey-faced petrel
1 black and white storm petrel (id?)
10's Buller's Shearwaters
10's Fluttering Shearwaters
Back in to Sandspit around 9PM
--Karen Baird
Pterodroma Pelagics - Hauraki Gulf Seabird Tours
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