25 Apr 2023
THE PETREL STATION TRIP REPORT
Had a great start to The Petrel Station autumn season out on the latest pelagic seabird trip offshore from Tutukaka (in Northland, New Zealand). Conditions on the day were mostly fine, with a good steady SW wind (10 to 15 knots) and a 1.5m swell.
The highlight was 3 Westland Petrels coming to the back of the boat and hanging around for quite a while for great views - they are rarely seen off northern NZ so we had a very happy crew onboard. This is a new species for The Petrel Station tours, and we've now recorded 49 different tube-nose seabird species, and 66 seabird species in total!
Other highlights of the trip were:
5 species of Albatross
7 x Wilson's Storm Petrel, and 40 x NZ Storm Petrel, dancing around the boat throughout the day
During the trip we saw 22 different seabird species, and enjoyed watching just over 2,300 stunning 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:
3 x Northern Royal Albatross
3 x White-capped Albatross
3 x Campbell Albatross
1 x Black-browed Albatross
1 x Buller's Albatross
2 x Northern Giant Petrel
830 x Fairy Prion
45 x Black Petrel
3 x Westland Petrel
70 x Flesh-footed Shearwater
8 x Grey-faced Petrel
45 x Buller's Shearwater
60 x Fluttering Shearwater
40 x New Zealand Storm Petrel
7 x Wilson's Storm Petrel
600 x Common Diving Petrel
250 x Australasian Gannet
52 x Grey Ternlet
265 x Red-billed Gull
3 x Black-backed Gull
32 x Pied Shag
1 x Little Pied Shag
Other marine life included:
10 x NZ Fur Seals
1 tiny Flying Fish