Off Port Macdonnell and on the way back to Deb's, South Australia.

What a way to spend World Albatross Day.

Australia, Day Four.

 

A nippy start to the morning.

 

Dawn at the Port.

Sue, Dave, Deb and Myself made our way down to the Port from the accommodation and met up with the rest of the group who were also going out on the Pelagic.

Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta).

Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta).

Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta).

We loaded up and left the port but not before starting the day list off with a couple of lifers for me, Great Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) and Black-faced Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens) along with good numbers of Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae).

Buller's Albatross (Thalassarche bulleri).

Buller's Albatross (Thalassarche bulleri).

As we headed out further we picked up Australian Gannet (Morus serrator), a single Hutton's Shearwater (Puffinus huttoni) and then a moment I had waited for, for a long time, the sighting of my first Albatross which was a Shy (Thalassarche cauta) and was followed by an immature Buller's Albatross (Thalassarche bulleri).

Not sure which way to point the camera.

Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos).

Further out we reached the shelf and started to set out the berley bag and straight away more Albatross's came into the wake, most were Shy but once we started the chumming they were joined by adult Buller's and an adult Yellow-nosed (Thalassarche chlororhynchos).

Fairy Prion (Pachyptila turtur).

Fairy Prion (Pachyptila turtur).

Fairy Prion (Pachyptila turtur).

We continued to drift for some time and more species came in including Wilson's Storm (Oceanites oceanicus) and Grey-backed Storm-(Garrodia nereis) and Great-winged Petrels (Pterodroma macroptera), Fairy Prion (Pachyptila turtur), Northern Giant-Petrel (Macronectes halli), Northern Royal (Diomedea sanfordi) and Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris).

Grey-backed Storm-Petrel (Garrodia nereis).

Wilson's Storm-Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus).

Later again I was over the moon when the shout went out for a Cape Petrel (Daption capense), the bird hung around the boat for some time and was later joined by a second bird.

Cape Petrel (Daption capense).

Cape Petrel (Daption capense).

The final species that I managed to add was a very confiding Brown Skua (Stercorarius antarcticus) which happily took food from the hand of the Aiden the deckie.

Great-winged Petrel (Pterodroma macroptera).

We cruised on for a way to catch up with a trawler which had lager numbers of Albatross following it, both Campbell (Thalassarche impavida) and New Zealand Wandering Albatross (Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni) were seen briefly but I missed both.

Northern Giant-Petrel (Macronectes halli).

Northern Giant-Petrel (Macronectes halli).

Northern Giant-Petrel (Macronectes halli).

After a while we headed back to port but unfortunately I tried to relocate for return and slipped, cutting my head above my one eye, we reached port and said goodbye to everyone after a brilliant day of birds but less so with the camera.

Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) immature.

Deb took me to the local hospital where they patched up my eye and then she drove us back to Eagles View, on the way we had great views of a smart looking Eastern Barn Owl (Tyto delicatula) which I got some nice photo's of but after making a big cockup I lost them and quite a few from the Pelagic.

Northern Royal Albatross (Diomedea sanfordi).

Northern Royal Albatross (Diomedea sanfordi).

We also saw a single Southern Boobook (Ninox boobook) before getting back quite late. 

Thanks to Sue and David for organising the trip and allowing a Brit onboard and to all the others for a great day and of course thanks to Deb for getting me down there.