White-headed petrel

01/06/08 White-headed petrel, Pterodroma lessonii, seen off Kaikoura

During the OSNZ AGM weekend a group of ‘break-away-birders’ organised their own pelagic with Oceanwings on 1 June 2008, to head out a little deeper – see the trip report and additional photos here. This trip proved its worth with sightings of some great birds, including the first WHITE-HEADED PETREL seen from an Oceanwings pelagic. This bird gave good, but brief views, with the image below being snapped by Steve Wood. Other good birds included two Antarctic fulmars, and three grey-faced petrels (not often seen down here). A ‘white-throated’ white-chinned petrel also put in an appearance, and was presumably a bird from outside of New Zealand waters.