29 Sep 2024

THE PETREL STATION TRIP REPORT

MINDBLOWING EXPERIENCE!!!

200,000 SEABIRDS SEEN YESTERDAY out on the latest pelagic seabird tour to The Petrel Station, offshore from Tutukaka (in Northland, New Zealand).

The highlight of the tour was encountering an enormous gathering of around 185,000 seabirds together in several massive tightly packed feeding workup groups or rafting up in huge loose groups. At times we were completely surrounded by thousands of seabirds right by the boat and they stretched out in the distance as far as we could see. In the mix of seabirds were approx 100,000 Fairy Prion, 75,000 Buller's Shearwater and 10,000 Fluttering Shearwater.

We often encounter large feeding workups during our spring seabird season but this was the most we've ever recorded. The sight, the sound and the smell of this many seabirds was a sensory overload for all onboard (in the greatest of ways). A truly mind blowing experience!!

With comments like' Thanks Scott, that was the best experience of my life!' and 'Overwhelming!' it's really a pleasure to bring people from NZ and around the world out to The Petrel Station to share this outstanding seabird spectacle of nature that we have the privilege of having off our coast.

During the tour we recorded 22 different seabird species, and enjoyed watching just over 200,000 stunning seabirds in total! See below for the full list of seabirds recorded on the tour. Conditions on the day were overcast, with solid 12-15 knot W winds throughout the day and a 1m swell.

If you’re interested in coming out on a pelagic seabird tour to The Petrel Station (offshore from Tutukaka, New Zealand) then check out the upcoming tour dates and get in touch – it’s always a great day out.

Here’s the full trip results from the day:

Seabirds seen:

  • 29 x White-capped Mollymawk

  • 6 x Northern Giant Petrel

  • 100,00 x Fairy Prion

  • 21 x Cook's Petrel

  • 1 x Grey-faced Petrel

  • 1 x Black Petrel

  • 90,000 x Buller's Shearwater

  • 10,000 x Fluttering Shearwater

  • 1 x Hutton's Shearwater

  • 41 x Little Shearwater

  • 2 x Sooty Shearwater

  • 8 x White-faced Storm Petrel

  • 11 x New Zealand Storm Petrel

  • 300 x Common Diving Petrel

  • 1 x Brown Skua

  • 1,000 x Australasian Gannet

  • 250 x Red-billed Gull

  • 13 x Black-backed Gull

  • 54 x Pied Shag

  • 1 x Black Shag

  • 2 x Little Black Shag

  • 2 x Little Pied Shag

Other marine life seen:

  • 40 x Bottlenose Dolphin

  • 36 x NZ Fur Seals

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