THE PETREL STATION TRIP REPORT

Had a great day out on our last autumn pelagic seabird tour to The Petrel Station, offshore from Tutukaka (in Northland, New Zealand) for the 2024 season. Conditions on the day were fine, with a steady 10-15 knot W wind, and a small 1m swell.

Highlights of the tour were:

8 Brown Skua
Huge amounts of Common Diving Petrel
40 NZ Storm Petrel (a big amount so late in the season)
Pods of Long-finned Pilot Whales

As we came back in we encountered a group of 4 Brown Skua that had found a lone Buller's Shearwater and we're giving it a pounding. The Brown Skua were pretty relentless in their pursuit and attack - we left before knowing the final outcome but pretty sure there was only one result. Sometimes nature can be pretty harsh! Brown Skua are pretty scarce to see around the NZ coastline, but we now see them fairly frequently during late autumn and winter seabird tours

During the tour we recorded 17 different seabird species – See below for the full list of seabirds recorded on the tour.

We're now heading into the interesting cooler winter season with the southern seabirds coming our way – if you’re interested in coming out on a pelagic seabird tour to The Petrel Station then check out the upcoming tour dates (which includes a special tour going out on 19 June to celebrate World Albatross Day) and get in touch – it’s always a great day out.