16 Oct 2023
THE PETREL STATION TOUR REPORT
Had a great day out on the latest pelagic seabird tour to The Petrel Station, offshore from Tutukaka (in Northland, New Zealand).
The highlights of the tour were:
Several massive seabird feeding workups totally over 50,000 seabirds! (mostly Buller's Shearwater, Fairy Prion and Fluttering Shearwater chomping on Krill).
100+ White-capped Albatross - a huge amount for this far north in NZ
A Mottled Petrel blasted through at a distance - a sign that migration season is underway
During the tour we saw 21 different seabird species, and enjoyed watching approx 55,000 stunning seabirds in total! See the full tour list below.
Conditions on the day were fine, a small 0.7m swell, and variable winds 7-12 knot NW winds. It was a bit quieter out deep, but that was more than made up for by several massive feeding workups of seabirds that we encountered during the day.
If you’re interested in coming out to The Petrel Station then check out the upcoming seabird tourdates and get in touch – it’s always a great day out.
Here’s the full tour results from the day:
Seabirds seen:
100+ x White-capped Mollymawk
1 x Northern Giant petrel
13,000 x Fairy Prion
46 x Cook's Petrel
1 x Mottled Petrel
1 x Cape Petrel
2 x Black Petrel
35,000+ x Buller's Shearwater
1 x Hutton's Shearwater
3,000 x Fluttering Shearwater
6 x Sooty Shearwater
39 x Flesh-footed Shearwater
18 x Little Shearwater
12 x New Zealand Storm Petrel
19 x White-faced Storm Petrel
700 x Common Diving Petrel
1300 x Australasian Gannet
3 x Little Blue Penguin
700 x Red-billed Gull
7 x Black-backed Gull
39 x Pied Shag
Learn more about the seabird species seen on this tour:
Albatross • Petrels • Shearwaters • Storm Petrels • Prions • Skuas • Other Seabirds
Other marine life included:
8 x Bottlenose Dolphins
32 x NZ Fur Seals