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Rarities and the 1984 Season:

For local birders, it is the lure of local rarities that makes the pelagic trips so popular. Almost anything can turn up, including the following, characteristically in winter, species recorded in the Western Cape: (Southern) Royal Albatross (3 records at sea), Buller’s Albatross (1 record at sea), Dark-mantled (2 confirmed records at sea, 2 on land, 10 washed up dead on beaches) and Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses (2 confirmed records at sea, 3 beached), Antarctic Petrel (2 beached), White-headed Petrel (2 at sea, 1 beached), Atlantic Petrel (very scarce, no figures available), Kerguelen Petrel (very scarce, except in 1984), Blue Petrel (very scarce, except in 1984), Slender-billed Prion (very scarce, except in 1984), Fairy Prion (1 beached), Grey Petrel (very scarce), Little Shearwater (scarce), Black-legged Kitti-wake (2 at sea, 1 on land) and South Polar Skua (scarce). Rarities seen in summer include White-bellied Storm Petrel (very scarce) and Laysan Albatross (1 at sea).

In July 1984, a remarkable seabird irruption occurred from South Africa to faraway Australia and New Zealand. This was possibly linked to the El Niño weather conditions prevailing during the previous season, and was associated with many beached seabird corpses. There were sightings of birds ordinarily very rare at sea, including large numbers of Kerguelen Petrel, Blue Petrel and Slender-billed Prion. The most bizarre record was surely that of the dazed Dark-mantled Sooty Albatross found atop an apartment block in suburban Cape Town!

Go To:

Introduction | Winter Trips | Summer Trips | Rarities and the 1984 Season
Organising a Pelagic Trip | Seawatching from the Peninsula
Seasonal Table for Seabirds off the Cape

Links to Special Features:

Seabirds off the Cape | Changing Albatross Taxonomy | The Longline Killer
Select Specials

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Claire Spottiswoode, Callan Cohen, Peter Ryan and Eve Holloway
of Birding Africa and the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology.
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