1 Nov 2020

THE PETREL STATION TRIP REPORT

Had another great day out at The Petrel Station on the latest pelagic seabird trip out from Tutukaka (in northern New Zealand). Conditions were a smallish swell and steady 10-15 knot winds through most of the trip which dropped right out later in the afternoon.

The highlights of the trip were:

• 1 South Polar Skua which delivered stunning flybys around the boat for about 10 minutes

• 1 Mottled Petrel that briefly visited

• 1 Wilson's Storm Petrel and 30+ New Zealand Storm Petrels

During the trip we saw 22 different seabird species, and over 11,000 seabirds in total. A nice finale to the trifecta of Petrel Station spring migration pelagics that have gone out in the last 3 weekends :)

If you’re interested in coming out to The Petrel Station then check out the upcoming trip dates and get in touch – it’s always a great day out.

Here’s the full trip results from the day:

Seabirds seen:

• 1 x South Polar Skua

• 2,500+ x Fairy Prion

• 1 x Mottled Petrel

• 60 x Cook's Petrel

• 5 x Grey-faced Petrel

• 30 x Black Petrel

• 65 x Flesh-footed Shearwater

• 5,000+ x Buller's Shearwater

• 12 x Sooty Shearwater

• 2 x Short-tailed Shearwater

• 80 x Fluttering Shearwater

• 40 x Little Shearwater

• 1 x Wilson's Storm-Petrel

• 32 x New Zealand Storm-Petrel

• 12 x White-faced Storm-Petrel

• 1,400+ x Common Diving-Petrel

• 800 x Australasian Gannet

• 14 x White-fronted Tern

• 1,200 x Red-billed Gull

• 12 x Black Backed Gull

• 53 x Pied Shag

• 1 x Little Pied Shag

Other marine life included:

• 2 x Mako Shark

• 8 x Common Dolphin