View from the sea

Anson and I went on a pelagic (ocean) birding trip last weekend.  It was great weather and the birds were awesome!  We were out for 3 hours in total.  Link to my photo album is on the right.

The list for the boat:

Southern Royal Albatross: 2
White-capped Albatross: 20+
*Salvin's Albatross: 1 
(Southern) Buller's Albatross: 15+
Black-browed Albatross: 1
Northern Giant Petrel: 2
Sooty Shearwater: 1000+ 
*Common Diving Petrel: 1
*Fairy Prion: 400+
Blue Penguin: 1

Black-backed gulls

Red-billed gulls

White-fronted terns

Spotted shags

Stewart Island shags

Little black shags

*Royal spoonbills

(* means it was a new bird species for me)

I did not get to see the black-browed albatross but did see a reef heron while we were waiting for everyone to board.  It was my first time seeing an adult royal albatross...the sightings were brief but fantastic!  And I saw my first Hector's dolphins, which are the rarest dolphins in the world and the smallest marine dolphin.