Second Venture Out to Sea

Yesterday, after a long and well needed nap, I took a 20 minute walk to the Peninsula south of the Albatross Backpackers. My plan was to test out my new 17-40 wide angle lens I bought on an impulse while purchasing a new camera body (went with the Canon 60D in the end…why not?). I didn’t get too many…any…good photos, but I did get a rather unexpected close up look at a Blue Penguin perched on a rock next to the road. Blue Penguins, or Little Penguins as they are known elsewhere, nest in burrows all over New Zealand and its surrounding islands, Tasmania (where I’ll be harassing them in a week), and certain parts of Southern Australia. As you can read from my previous post we spotted one on the bird trip yesterday morning, but this was the first one that was standing a few meters from my position. Shortly after this the almost full moon began its ascent into the sky, like a big golden coin emerging from the deep. The moonlight washed out any chance of photographing the stars, but Orion to the north and the Southern Cross to the south were clearly visible on this cloudless night.

At dawn this morning I was out the door again, ready for another morning of Southern Ocean birding. This time there were 7 other people signed on for the tour, 2 guys from Britain, 1 dude and a couple from Australia, 1 guy from I think from Spain, and a mother and daughter pair from New Zealand who showed up 5 minutes late. Same routine as yesterday, only today the swell was up from a strong wind last night, the sky was crisp and free of clouds. About 15 minutes into the trip, even before the sun had time to wake up and swap places with the moon, the mother from NZ began hurling her oily breakfast into the sea (the late people are always trouble). Her partially digested deposits however attracted the attention of our first of many Wandering Albatross. She would alternate between aiming her massive Canon lens at the giant bird and spitting up tasty bile, she had the whole system worked out.

Not as many Westland Petrels as yesterday and no sign of a White-Chinned Petrel, but I was able to add 2 more albatross species to my list. As we gathered around the stern to photograph the Wandering Albatross and Giant Petrels fighting over the chum amongst the chirping Cape Petrels, a slightly different looking albatross gliding just beyond our view caught my eye. It appeared whiter around the tail area, and the wings were a more uniform black color, lacking the white speckles of the wandering. I called out to Gary to get his opinion, and he confirmed it was a Royal Albatross, equally as impressive as the wandering and very similar in appearance. I was stoked. We also spotted a Flesh-footed Shearwater and had some beautiful looks at Buller’s Shearwaters in the golden light.

 As we starting getting settled for the short run back to the beach, yet another albatross caught my attention. It looked like a Salvin’s but with a bright yellow and black bill. As it circled the boat I knew instantly what it was, but couldn’t think of the name.

“Gary….this albatross flying at out 6…it looks like a. “

“Yep”, he responded “That’s a Buller’s Albatross”.

Sweet as! I was hoping to see the Buller’s today, I was ecstatic. What a gorgeous looking bird. The bill color is such a brilliant contrast to the sleek white to grey plumage. I was satisfied with trip #2, smiling the whole way in.

Species to add to yesterday’s list:

Royal Albatross
Buller’s Albatross
Sooty Shearwater
Flesh-footed Shearwater