17 & 18 Feb 2024
THE PETREL STATION TRIP REPORT
Had two great days out on the latest pelagic seabird tours to The Petrel Station, offshore from Tutukaka (in Northland, New Zealand). Conditions on both days were pretty calm with very light winds and a cruisy 1-1.5m swell.
Highlights of the two days were:
a Wedge-tailed Shearwater (very scarce off mainland New Zealand).
a massive raft of 25,000+ Buller's Shearwater
exceptional range of other marine life including Leatherback Turtle, Manta Ray, Marlin ...
During the tours we recorded 16 different seabird species (and 7 species of other marine life), and enjoyed watching over 40,000 stunning seabirds in total over the 2 days! See below for the full list of seabirds, and other marine life, that we recorded.
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 both days:
Seabirds seen (numbers in brackets indicate how many were seen on each day):
71 x Cook's Petrel (35,36)
4 x Pycroft's Petrel (0,4)
42 x Black Petrel (17,25)
38,500+ x Buller's Shearwater (8,500,30,000+)
3 x Little Shearwater (1,2)
13 x Fluttering Shearwater (8,5)
1 x WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER (0,1)
210 x Flesh-footed Shearwater (60,150)
95 x White-faced Storm-Petrel (63,32)
15 x New Zealand Storm-Petrel (8,7)
97 x Grey Ternlet (65,32)
1,400 x Australasian Gannet (675,725)
565 x Red-billed Gull (315,250)
2 x Black-backed Gull (1,1)
104 x Pied Shag (57,47)
1 x Little Black Shag (1,1)
Other marine life included:
1 x Leatherback Turtle (0,1)
3 x Manta Ray inc one leaping out of water (1,2)
2 x Striped Marlin (0,2)
1 x Hammerhead Shark (1,0)
5 x Sunfish (0,5)
2 x NZ Fur Seal (1,1)
13 x Flying Fish (3,10)
Trevally workups