Bremer Bay Bird Expedition

This April we will run three birdwatching trips out to the Bremer Canyon with experienced seabird guides. This is a rare opportunity to use Naturaliste Charter’s whale watching catamaran, the Alison Maree, after the Orca tour season concludes.

The Bremer Canyon is rightly famous for the spectacular Orca viewing throughout the Summer and Autumn, but the birding can be just as exciting! The trips will head out to the Bremer Canyon targeting pelagic seabirds and hoping for a different assemblage to the recent December trips.  This is a new time of year for dedicated seabird trips to the canyon, but there are many records from the Orca trips. Species we have a good chance of seeing include Wandering (Snowy and Gibson's), Indian Yellow-nosed, Black-browed (inc. a chance of Campbell ssp. impavida) and Shy Albatrosses, Great-winged and Soft-plumaged Petrels, Flesh-footed, Short-tailed and Hutton's Shearwaters, and Wilson's and White-faced Storm-Petrels.

We will also be hoping to see some of the autumn passage migrants including South Polar Skua, Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, Arctic Tern, and large numbers of Wilson's Storm-Petrels. Furthermore, if we are lucky enough that the Orca have made a kill, the large oily slicks generated from these predation events can attract hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of seabirds to feast on the scraps.

We also hope to have some luck with rarities as always; Amsterdam and Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses, Great Shearwater, and Grey Petrel have all been recorded on Orca tours in April. There is also a chance of cetaceans, such as Sperm Whale, Blue Whale, Long-finned Pilot Whales, Orca, and other dolphin species.  However, please note that these trips are not Orca tours - while there is a chance of Orca, we will not be targeting them so if your main target is Orca we'd recommend booking onto an Orca tour instead.

Other oceanic wildlife semi-regularly recorded on these trips includes sunfish, Blue Sharks, various whaler and hammerhead sharks, Long-nosed Fur Seals, and Australian Sea Lions (we will stop to check the small colony on Glasse Island on the way back in).

For any visiting birders, Bremer Bay is a great birding location with exciting species such as Western Whipbirds, Western Fieldwrens, Red-eared Firetails, Hooded Plovers, Brush Bronzewings, Southern Emu-wrens and Rock Parrots all occurring around the outskirts of town. In addition, Malleefowl, Purple-gaped and White-eared Honeyeaters, Southern Scrub-Robin, Shy Heathwren, Blue-breasted Fairywren, and Regent Parrots are all regular on half-day outings from Bremer. And most south-west endemics can be readily targeted on the drive from Perth to Bremer and back. Feel free to check-in with the pelagic leaders for details on sites to try for these birds.  

These trips will be guided by Dan Mantle, Plaxy Barratt, John Graff, and Stu Ford. They are very knowledgeable seabird guides who have considerable experience running seabird trips in Western Australia. They will be helping to point out any interesting seabirds or cetaceans that we come across.  

Meeting Time: 7.00am for a 7.15 am departure. (Duration: Approximately 8 hours).

Departure Point: Bremer Bay Harbour at the end of Swarbrick Rd, Bremer Bay.

Map Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/GvkCtASzLhCTF71M9 

Please bring your own lunch and snacks.

Inclusions

• Expert Commentary from Sea Bird Experts

• 8 hour on board a 23m Purpose Built Catamaran

• Tea, Coffee, Milo, Water & Biscuits