22 May 2022
THE PETREL STATION TRIP REPORT
Had another awesome day out at 'The Petrel Station' on our latest pelagic seabird trip out of Tutukaka (in northern New Zealand). We had fine conditions, with strong 15+ knot winds all day and some choppy swell which had the birds up and swirling around super close to the boat and putting on a fantastic display.
The highlights of the trip were:
29 New Zealand Storm Petrels off the back of the boat at once
4 species of Albatross
A massive Scorpion Fish (aka Grand Daddy Hapuka) come up from the deep to try and eat a young Buller's Shearwater
A big Striped Marlin swam right up to the boat
During the trip we saw 24 different seabird species (over 1,000 seabirds in total). The full seabird species list is below.
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 Wandering Albatross
1 x Buller's Albatross (Mollymawk)
3 x White-capped Albatross (Mollymawk)
1 x Campbell Albatross (Mollymawk)
1 x Northern Giant Petrel
85 x Fairy Prion
100 x Grey-faced Petrel
1 x Cook's Petrel
3 x Black Petrel
3 x Flesh-footed Shearwater
15x Fluttering Shearwater
25 x Buller's Shearwater
1 x Wilson's Storm-Petrel
29 x New Zealand Storm-Petrel
150 x Common Diving-Petrel
3 x Little Blue Penguin
500 x Australasian Gannet
12 x White-fronted Tern
1 x Caspian Tern
1 x Arctic Skua
35 x Red-billed Gull
4 x Black-backed Gull
46 x Pied Shag
2 x Little Black Shag
Other marine life included:
1 x Marlin
1 x Flying Fish
1 x A fish trying to eat a seabird
3 x Common Dolphin
5 x Seals