18 Mar 2023
THE PETREL STATION TOUR REPORT
Had another awesome day out at 'The Petrel Station' on our latest pelagic seabird tour out of Tutukaka (in northern New Zealand). Conditions on the day were mostly fine, with a light wind (5 to 10 knots) and a 1m swell.
The highlights of the tour were:
3 Wilson's Storm Petrels, and 55 New Zealand Storm Petrels, dancing around the boat throughout the day
During the tour we saw 19 different seabird species, and enjoyed watching just short of 1,000 stunning seabirds in total! The full seabird species list is below.
If you’re interested in coming out to The Petrel Station then check out the upcoming seabird tour dates and get in touch – it’s always a great day out.
Here’s the full tour results from the day:
Seabirds seen:
1 x NZ Wandering Albatross (Gibsons)
1 x White-necked Petrel
75 x Cook's Petrel
3 x Pycroft's Petrel
300 x Fairy Prion
35 x Black Petrel
50 x Flesh-footed Shearwater
85 x Buller's Shearwater
35 x Fluttering Shearwater
55 x New Zealand Storm-Petrel
3 x Wilson's storm petrel
1 x White-faced Storm-Petrel
9 x Common Diving Petrel
1 x Little Blue penguin
70 x Australasian Gannet
63 x Grey Ternlet
85 x Red-bill Gull
7 x Black-backed Gull
Learn more about the seabird species seen on this tour:
Albatross • Petrels • Shearwaters • Storm Petrels • Prions • Skuas • Other Seabirds
Other marine life included:
10 x Common Dolphin
3 x Flying Fish