A quick report back on the Zest for Birds pelagic trip that went out on recently by Trevor Hardaker – Zest For Birds.
Date: 12 August 2023
Departure point: Hout Bay
Conditions: A nice clear and bright day with little to no wind and a long period swell in the 2 – 2,5m range made for a fairly comfortable ride throughout the day. Temperatures were mild and sea temperatures ranged from just over 13 deg C at the coast to around 16 deg C out in the deep.
Journey log: We headed out in a southerly direction from Hout Bay and, at our furthest point, we were around 38 nautical miles from Hout Bay and just over 23 nautical miles from the closest bit of land which was Cape Point.
Other details: It was the usual Zest for Birds crew with Cliff Dorse and I guiding the trip and Grant Scholtz skippering the boat. We were fortunate to find several working trawlers out in the deep and managed to spend lots of time with a couple of them, arriving at the first one at just after 09h00. We eventually left the trawlers again at around 13h15 and were back in the harbour just after 15h00. Despite the large numbers of birds seen on the day, we were unable to pick anything unusual up out of the bunch and, perhaps most surprizing, was just a single, rather unfriendly, Wilson’s Storm Petrel seen throughout the entire day!
Birds seen on the trip:
Shy Albatross
Black-browed Albatross
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
Northern Giant Petrel
Southern Giant Petrel
White-chinned Petrel
Pintado (Cape) Petrel
Sooty Shearwater
Wilson’s Storm Petrel
Cape Gannet
African Penguin
White-breasted Cormorant
Cape Cormorant
Crowned Cormorant
Hartlaub’s Gull
Kelp Gull
Swift Tern
Common Tern
Subantarctic (Brown) Skua
Non-avian distractions on the trip:
A number of Cape Fur Seals
Humpback Whales
Oceanic Sunfish
Photo Credit: Trevor Hardacker
