More than 80 different species of seabirds breed in Aotearoa New Zealand, and a third of these are endemic to NZ (found nowhere else). Our seabird diversity is greater than any other place on the planet. That’s pretty bloody cool. Unfortunately, many of these seabirds fall victim to deep sea fishing, getting caught in trawling nets, which sucks. This is an issue that the vast majority of us will never see firsthand, which can make it difficult to get people to care about.
I have to admit, I’ve been somewhat ignorant to the majesty and ruggedness of seabirds. This comes down to the fact that I’ve never gotten to go in a boat far offshore, to their wild habitat. People don’t care about what they’ve never seen before, and this is certainly the case for our seabirds. Up until this pelagic trip, I didn’t have any understanding of how epic an albatross looks soaring just above the swell of a churning ocean, effortlessly skimming above white-capped waves. I had no clue how enchanting tiny little white-faced storm petrels are, as they dance along the surface of the ocean. Well, this trip opened my eyes and then some.
I had been looking forward to my first proper pelagic trip for ages. The voyage had been organised by Leon Berard, a mega talented wildlife photographer based in Wellington. The weather forecast had been pretty touch and go all week, but we ended up with awesome conditions. There was a decent swell at times, but we got about two hours of perfect glassy conditions.
I’ve never seen so many seabirds in my life! So many, in fact, that I doubt I will accurately be able to name all of the different species. For many of these species, it was the first time I’d laid my eyes on them. A real highlight was seeing perhaps a hundred Salvin’s and white-capped mollymawks. There were so many that I didn’t actually know where to point my camera, which is an excellent problem to have as a wildlife photographer.
Birds we saw include (but are not limited to because there were just so many!):
I ended up with over 1,500 photos from the six hour trip, which took a fair bit of time to work my way through. Here are a few that haven’t been edited, but hopefully show a glimpse of how wonderful this experience was.
