| 05 June 2010 | ||
| Cape pelagic trip | ||
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I was once again a guide on a ZEST for BIRDS pelagic trip today. There was very little wind to speak of and the sea was pretty flat as well, but that created another problem for us in that we had thick fog for the initial part of the trip. Once this cleared, we still had fairly overcast conditions and it was only quite a bit later that the sun eventually showed itself and gave us some decent light. Birdwise, the highlight was a single Spectacled Petrel although a late Cory's Shearwater was also of interest and a very lost Crowned Cormorant at 20 nautical miles offshore also created a distraction. This species is typically a coastal species and it looked really out of place out there. Not a single cetacean was seen today, but we did have a large Oceanic Sunfish to add to the fun. |
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| Black-browed Albatross | Shy Albatross | Wilson's Storm Petrel |
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| Cape Gannet | White-chinned Petrel | Sooty Shearwater |
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| Northern Giant Petrel | Great Shearwter | Subantarctic (Brown) Skua |
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| Pintado Petrel | Spectacled Petrel | Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross |
| Full list of species recorded on the day | ||
| Links to pages with additional photos highlighted in red | ||
| Common Name | Scientific Name | Additional notes |
| Birds - 22 species | ||
| Subantarctic Skua | Catharacta antarctica | |
| Kelp Gull | Larus dominicanus | |
| Hartlaub's Gull | Larus hartlaubii | |
| Swift Tern | Sterna bergii | |
| Cape Gannet | Morus capensis | |
| Crowned Cormorant | Phalacrocorax coronatus | 1 at 20 miles offshore! |
| White-breasted Cormorant | Phalacrocorax lucidus | |
| Bank Cormorant | Phalacrocorax neglectus | |
| Cape Cormorant | Phalacrocorax capensis | |
| African Penguin | Spheniscus demersus | |
| Southern Giant Petrel | Macronectes giganteus | |
| Northern Giant Petrel | Macronectes halli | |
| Pintado Petrel | Daption capense | |
| White-chinned Petrel | Procellaria aequinoctialis | |
| Spectacled Petrel | Procellaria conspicillata | |
| Cory's Shearwater | Calonectris diomedea | 1 individual - late in the season |
| Great Shearwater | Puffinus gravis | |
| Sooty Shearwater | Puffinus griseus | |
| Black-browed Albatross | Thalassarche melanophris | |
| Shy Albatross | Thalassarche cauta | |
| Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross | Thalassarche carteri | |
| Wilson's Storm-Petrel | Oceanites oceanicus | |
| Mammals - 1 species | ||
| Cape Fur Seal | Arctocephalus pusillus | |
| Other sightings - 1 species | ||
| Oceanic Sunfish | Mola mola | |