25 Oct 2021

2021SPRINGTRIP REPORT
Written By Scott Brooks

THE PETREL STATION TRIP REPORT

Had another cracker spring day out at The Petrel Station on our latest pelagic seabird trip out of Tutukaka (in northern New Zealand). With 4 days of massive easterlies prior to the trip it wasn't till last minute that we decided we could get the trip out. We were greeted by some pretty hefty residue swell, a thick sea fog for half the trip, mild 7-10 knot winds ... and thousands of seabirds which put on a great show throughout the day.

The highlights of the trip were:

  • A single Grey Petrel which hung around for most of the day (a new species for The Petrel Station)

  • 2 South Polar Skuas (inc another dark morph - very rare for NZ)

  • Approx 45 NZ Storm Petrels seen during the trip and at one stage we had a staggering 35 of them off the back of the boat (the highest count we've had to date).

  • 4 species of albatross/mollymawk

  • A lone Hutton’s Shearwater (another new species for the 'Petrel Station')

  • The unexpected sightings of 9 Godwits doing a fly by :), and 2 Brown Teal in the harbour.

The Petrel Station trips has now recorded 44 different tube-nose seabird species – from just 27 trips!

During the trip we saw 30 different seabird species (the most we've ever had on one trip), and enjoyed over 20,000 seabirds in total. An awesome day out. 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:

  • 2 x Royal Albatross (Northern)

  • 1 x NZ Wandering Albatross (Antipodean)

  • 3 x White-capped Mollymawk

  • 3 x Salvin's Mollymawk

  • 3 x Northern Giant-Petrel

  • 500 x Fairy Prion

  • 15 x Cook's Petrel

  • 45 x Black Petrel

  • 1 x White-chinned Petrel

  • 15 x Grey-faced Petrel

  • 1 x Grey Petrel

  • 18,000 x Buller's Shearwater

  • 500 x Fluttering Shearwater

  • 1 x Hutton's Shearwater

  • 50 x Flesh-footed Shearwater

  • 2 x Sooty Shearwater

  • 2 x Short-tailed Shearwater

  • 60 x Little Shearwater

  • 40 x White-faced Storm-Petrel

  • 45 x New Zealand Storm-Petrel

  • 1 x Wilson's Storm-Petrel

  • 100 x Common Diving-Petrel

  • 1 x Little Penguin

  • 1,200 x Australasian Gannet

  • 2 x South Polar Skua

  • 50 x Red-billed Gull

  • 7 x Black Backed Gull

  • 26 x White-fronted Tern

  • 1 x Caspian Tern

  • 57 x Pied Shag

Scott Brooks
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