A Field Notebook: Hauraki Gulf Pelagic

Tuesday, 20 November 2018

Hauraki Gulf Pelagic

New Zealand storm petrel

Another awesome pelagic trip today, this time into the Hauraki Gulf, North Island, New Zealand. Completely different to the pelagic I had with Josh on Sunday, but just as good. Whereas Sunday was about albatrosses and whales, today was about petrels, especially New Zealand storm petrel. This is a species which for 180 years was considered extinct until the people who run this pelagic rediscovered it and today I saw about 10.

New Zealand storm petrel.

White-capped albatross, the only albatross we saw on this trip, but fortunately it was a different species to those we saw on Sunday, making it the 8th species of albatross seen on the holiday.

Black petrel.

Cook's petrel

Flesh-footed shearwater.

Flesh-footed shearwater

Fluttering shearwater.

Sooty shearwater.

Flesh-footed shearwaters and sooty shearwater (the smaller bird with the dark bill).

Kelp gull.

Little penguins. Also today common diving petrels which looked a lot like little auks in flight but were virtually unphotographable!

Fairy prions

Fairy prion

Fairy prion and white-faced petrel.

White-faced petrel.

White-faced petrel. These birds skim across the water, barely touching it with their feet. Notice how there's hardly a rippled on the water. Here's a short video taken on the day.