24 Oct 2020

THE PETREL STATION TOUR REPORT

Had another great day out at The Petrel Station on the latest pelagic seabird tour out from Tutukaka (in northern New Zealand). Conditions were calmer than expected with only light winds of 5-10 knots throughout the day, and a small swell.

The highlights of the tour were:

• A dark morph South Polar Skua came in close for great views and awesome flybys. Dark morph plumage is extremely rare in New Zealand with only one ever confirmed record!

• 2 Wilson's Storm Petrels, and the always entertaining NZ Storm Petrels that were constantly flitting around the boat

During the tour we saw 21 different seabird species, and over 10,000 seabirds in total, and had another fun day out.

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 Campbell Mollymawk

• 1 x SOUTH POLAR SKUA (dark morph)

• 1 x Cape Petrel

• 4,000+ x Fairy Prion

• 30 x Cook's Petrel

• 4 x Grey-faced Petrel

• 40 x Black Petrel

• 4500+ x Buller's Shearwater

• 25 x Flesh-footed Shearwater

• 2 x Sooty Shearwater

• 150 x Fluttering Shearwater

• 35 x Little Shearwater

• 26 x New Zealand Storm-Petrel

• 2 x Wilson’s Storm Petrel

• 5 x White-faced Storm-Petrel

• 350 x Diving-Petrel

• 700 x Australasian Gannet

• 450 x Red-billed Gull

• 6 x Black Backed Gull

• 47 x Pied Shag

• 1 x Little Pied Shag

Other marine life included:

• 1 x Blue Shark