30 Oct 2021
THE PETREL STATION TRIP REPORT
Had yet another cracker spring day out at The Petrel Station on our latest pelagic seabird trip out of Tutukaka (in northern New Zealand). We had great winds for the day starting at around 10-15 knots and up to 20+ knots by the end of the day ... which had the birds swirling around putting on a great display.
The highlights of the trip were:
a stunning Chatham Mollymawk
a Long-tailed Skua (a new species for The Petrel Station)
3 Mottled Petrels
around 50 New Zealand Storm Petrels off the back of the boat at once!!
5 species of albatross/mollymawk
During the trip we saw 27 different seabird species, and saw over 8,000 seabirds in total. Another 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:
1 x Royal Albatross (Northern)
1 x White-capped Mollymawk
1 x Salvin's Mollymawk
2 x Campbell Mollymawk
1 x Chatham Mollymawk
1 x Northern Giant-Petrel
400 x Fairy Prion
2 x Pycroft's Petrel
60 x Cook's Petrel
100 x Black Petrel
20 x Grey-faced Petrel
3 x Mottled Petrel
5000 x Buller's Shearwater
250 x Fluttering Shearwater
40 x Flesh-footed Shearwater
3 x Sooty Shearwater
50 x Little Shearwater
28 x White-faced Storm-Petrel
50 x New Zealand Storm-Petrel
2 x Wilson's Storm-Petrel
800 x Common Diving-Petrel
1200 x Australasian Gannet
1 x Long-tailed Skua
1 x White-fronted Tern
350 x Red-billed Gull
9 x Black Backed Gull
53 x Pied Shag
Other Marine life seen:
A large Mako Shark
Some Fur Seals
Some Common Dolphin