Wollongong Pelagic Trip September 2006

On reading in a book about the wonderful experience of Pelagic birding, I discovered that such an even took place each month from Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. Even more exciting was that the September 06 trip happened on the very weekend in the middle of my annual family holiday to Ulladulla (South coast NSW).

Without hesitation, after getting the nod from Ilona (my wife), I quickly booked on. My brother Mike, who is not one for being left out on such events, soon discovered my plans and to my surprise emailed me his flight times to and from Adelaide. So we were set. Me - driving with the family for the full 1300kms. Him - flying in the day before the trip. I am not sure who was the more intelligent.

After the 2 hour drive up from Ulladulla, and an overnight stay in one of the pleasant holiday villages in Wollongong, Mike and I finally arrived at the dock prior to the 7am departure. Here we were met by Lindsay Smith, the leader of the trip, and the 12 other passengers who had travelled in from all over the world. Other than the Australians, we had a Frenchman, 2 Canadians, a group of Norwegians, and an American who had flown into Sydney from LA the night before! We were all keen to climb onto the "Sandra K" and get on with the adventure, and it wasn't long before we motored out of the Wollongong harbour.

The first birds started to appear in the first 10-15 minutes with scores of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters starting to follow the boat. The research team went straight into action and started catching, recording and banding as many birds as they could with even a little help from us. During the flurry of activity many other species, including 3 other Shearwaters where enthusiastically called from various positions of the boat.

We soon hit what is affectionately known as the “abysmal plain” and the bird numbers died off. This is the area of water out to sea, prior to the sudden drop off, of the continental shelf. It is highlighted by the fact that not many birds exist in this region.

As we pushed on towards the shelf, questions of “what to see next” were soon answered as the first of the Albatross started to come in towards the boat. First one, then another, then dozens of huge Wandering albatross and others arrived to check out the free meal.

Again the team started their catch and release program, this time with a much bigger net and more hands on deck. We were able to view up close 3 variations of this huge bird as well as a number of smaller Albatross.

All too soon it was time to head back to shore. A few birds followed us for some time but dropped out of sight as we got closer to the Harbour. Common and White-fronted Terns made a brief appearance which were a bonus as did a Kelp Gull.

We arrived back a little after the published time of 16.30 and said our goodbyes. Mike headed back to a mates place in Cronulla while I did the 2 hour drive back to Ulladulla, arriving tired but content on the completion of my first Pelagic birding experience.

Birds Seen:

1. Providence Petrel
2. Wedge-tailed Shearwater
3. Flesh-footed Shearwater
4. Short-tailed Shearwater
5. Fluttering Shearwater
6. Wandering Albatross
7. Antipodean Albatross
8. Gibson's Albatross
9. Black-browed Albatross
10. Campbell Albatross
11. Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross
12. Australasian Gannet
13. Little Pied Cormorant
14. Australian Pelican
15. Kelp Gull
16. Silver Gull
17. Crested Tern
18. White-fronted Tern
19. Common Tern