13 Feb 2023
While this isn't a trip report it’s a very reportable seabird sighting I had on the Tutukaka Coast...
In the middle of Cyclone Gabrielle I had at least 17 Sooty Terns flying around in 40+ knot winds and horizontal rain just off the Ngunguru Sandspit, on the Tutukaka Coast in northern New Zealand. They were swirling around just offshore, and even flying over the foreshore, sometimes within a few metres of me!!
Seeing one Sooty Tern is rare off the New Zealand mainland so this is an absolute treat. 17 was the minimum count and I think it was higher (possibly up to 25-30), but 17 was the most I managed to count together at any one time as conditions were pretty bleak, and they were swirling and zooming around a lot in strong winds.
They hung around for a good hour and then as the cyclone winds changed they headed off and were gone. And checked several time over the next couple of days but they weren’t seen again. What a sighting :)
