30 Oct 2021

THE PETREL STATION TOUR REPORT

Had yet another cracker spring day out at The Petrel Station on our latest pelagic seabird tour out of Tutukaka (in northern New Zealand). We had great winds for the day starting at around 10-15 knots and up to 20+ knots by the end of the day ... which had the birds swirling around putting on a great display.

The highlights of the tour were:

• a stunning Chatham Mollymawk

• a Long-tailed Skua (a new species for The Petrel Station)

• 3 Mottled Petrels

• around 50 New Zealand Storm Petrels off the back of the boat at once!!

• 5 species of albatross/mollymawk

During the tour we saw 27 different seabird species, and saw over 8,000 seabirds in total. Another awesome day out. 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.

View fullsize

Chatham Mollymawk

View fullsize

Long-tailed Skua

View fullsize

Mottle Petrel

View fullsize

NZ Storm Petrel skimming on ocean

View fullsize

Leucistic Fairy Prion

View fullsize

Fairy Prion

Here’s the full tour results from the day:

Seabirds seen:

• 1 x Royal Albatross (Northern)

• 1 x White-capped Mollymawk

• 1 x Salvin's Mollymawk

• 2 x Campbell Mollymawk

• 1 x Chatham Mollymawk

• 1 x Northern Giant-Petrel

• 400 x Fairy Prion

• 2 x Pycroft's Petrel

• 60 x Cook's Petrel

• 100 x Black Petrel

• 20 x Grey-faced Petrel

• 3 x Mottled Petrel

• 5000 x Buller's Shearwater

• 250 x Fluttering Shearwater

• 40 x Flesh-footed Shearwater

• 3 x Sooty Shearwater

• 50 x Little Shearwater

• 28 x White-faced Storm-Petrel

• 50 x New Zealand Storm-Petrel

• 2 x Wilson's Storm-Petrel

• 800 x Common Diving-Petrel

• 1200 x Australasian Gannet

• 1 x Long-tailed Skua

• 1 x White-fronted Tern

• 350 x Red-billed Gull

• 9 x Black Backed Gull

• 53 x Pied Shag

Other Marine life seen:

• A large Mako Shark

• Some Fur Seals

• Some Common Dolphin