11 May 2024
THE PETREL STATION TRIP REPORT
Had a fantastic autumn day out on the latest pelagic seabird tour to The Petrel Station, offshore from Tutukaka (in Northland, New Zealand) – the tour was scheduled to be on the eBird Global Big Day so some of NZ's northern seabirds could be added to the global sightings for the day. Conditions on the day were sunny with a solid 15 knot southerly wind all day, and a 1.5-2m swell - awesome seabird conditions :)
During the tour we recorded 25 different seabird species including 6 species of albatross, a juvenile Brown Skua, a sneaky Antarctic Prion, and the tropical Grey Noddy were still around too – autumn is always an interesting season out at The Petrel Station when anything can turn up. See below for the full list of seabirds recorded on the tour.
The oddity pelagic birds of the day were a flock of 8 Silvereye when we were 40km offshore! Then 10 minutes later a Goldfinch came through!
And the phenomenal evening aurora display just made for the perfect day out in nature :)
If you’re interested in coming on an autumn or winter seabird tour to see some amazing albatrosses and other stunning seabirds out at the 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:
3 x Antipodean Albatross (ssp Gibsons)
2 x Northern Royal Albatross
2 x Buller's Mollymawk
1 x Black-browed Mollymawk
1 x Campbell Mollymawk
8 x White-capped Mollymawk
1 x Brown Skua
1 x Antarctic Prion
34 x Fairy Prion
25 x Grey-faced Petrel
17 x Black Petrel
110 x Buller's Shearwater
50 x Fluttering Shearwater
4 x Flesh-footed Shearwater
1 x White-faced Storm Petrel
35 x New Zealand Storm Petrel
3 x Wilson's Storm Petrel
575 x Common Diving Petrel
21 x Grey Ternlet
250 x Australasian Gannet
25 x Red-billed Gull
3 x Black-backed Gull
52 x Pied Shag
1 x Little Pied Shag
1 x Little Black Shag
8 x Silvereye
1 x Goldfinch
Other marine life seen:
1 x Mako Shark
6 x NZ Fur Seal