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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andrew Whitehouse" data-source="post: 1377458" data-attributes="member: 3550">Day Fourteen: December 6th, Hauraki Gulf pelagicA great thing about New Zealand is that it's really good for seabirds.  A further good thing is that you see different seabirds in different parts of the country.  So despite having done plenty of pelagic birding in Kaikoura, Picton and Stewart Island I was expecting to get a lot of new birds in the Hauraki Gulf.I got picked up by a Swedish birder in Warkworth in the morning and we drove the few kilometres to Leigh.  Once again the weather was very fine with just a light breeze.  This was good news, as I was likely to be out on the sea for the whole day. We set off around 8:45 in the morning and headed towards Little Barrier Island.  Soon we began to see small groups of Fluttering Shearwaters and then, on arriving in an area of sea called the Northwest Reef, thickset and chocolate-brown Flesh-footed Shearwaters drifted in.  We also began to see the first of numerous Cook's Petrels, which breed in large numbers on Little Barrier.  These are slender and quick-winged petrels, cutting the air with winnowing beats of their wings.Chris Gaskin, our leader for the day, started baiting the sea at the reef and soon we were seeing more Flesh-footed Shearwaters and Cook's Petrels and occasional Buller's Shearwaters and Black Petrels.  These last are another dark petrel similar to the Westland Petrels I'd seen at Kaikoura but with a paler bill tip and a slighter build.The bird that everyone wants to see on these pelagics is the New Zealand Storm Petrel.  This bird was, until around five years ago, only known from a handful of 19th century specimens but was then rediscovered in the Hauraki Gulf.  Although they've been seen regularly in recent years, it's still not known where they breed.  They can sometimes take some looking for but not, it seemed, today.  The first stormie to appear was, amazingly, a New Zealand Storm Petrel.  Soon there were two, then a distant third.  These are smart birds too, with white underwings and a white belly with dark streaks.  They have a distinctive jinking flight action too, not quite like any other storm-petrel I've seen.  So, it was good to get the 'big one' under the belt.  In fact we didn't see any more all day.  It was a bit later when we began to see the much commoner White-faced Storm-petrel but these eventually appeared in quite large numbers.  These are fantastic, characterful birds too that drift over the sea like ballet dancers with long dangling legs.  Often with them were small numbers of Fairy Prions.We passed through drifts of Cook's Petrels off Little Barrier and I had reasonable views of a Short-tailed Shearwater - rather like a Sooty but darker on the underwing, and smaller and, not surprisingly, shorter tailed.  As we headed north towards the Mokohinaus we found a huge raft of shearwaters.  Most were Buller's but there were a few Sooty Shearwaters too.  We anchored at the Mokohinaus for lunch and then headed a little further north to Maori Rocks, where there's a small breeding colony of Australasian Gannets.  After circling the rocks Chris noticed a few Grey Ternlets were roosting on the ledges.  This was the first time he'd seen them this summer.  I think they arrive here after nesting in the Kermadec Islands.  These are striking looking, small terns with soft grey plumage and deep, dark eyes.  Nearby we noticed two Little Shearwaters dashing over the sea, and we saw another later on.  Red-crowed Parakeet and Tui were both seen around the Mokohinaus.  A wonderfully cooperative group of Common Dolphins were bow riding for a time.During the afternoon we saw a similar range of species around the boat, although Common Diving Petrels appeared in numbers later on.  Eventually we arrived back at Leigh around 8pm, with Chris thinking the trip was perhaps a bit below par, particularly for Pterodroma petrels.1&2. The best I could do with New Zealand Storm Petrel.  If you can imagine it with a head, then that's sort of what it looks like.3&4. Flesh-footed Shearwaters5. Fairy Prion</blockquote>

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