24 Nov 2025
THE PETREL STATION TOUR REPORT
Had a great day out on the latest pelagic seabird tour to The Petrel Station, offshore from Tutukaka (in Northland, New Zealand).
The highlight of the tour was when were met with a moving wall of around 90,000 Fairy Prions at a massive feeding workup. It was pure sensory overload ... the sight of tens of thousands of Fairy Prion tightly packed together, the sound of rapidly beating wings and constant chatter, the musty seabird smell drifting over us, even the rush of wind they created as they streamed by ... absolutely mind-blowing and totally unforgettable experience for all onboard. And just 20 minutes later we came across another feeding workup of 35,000! ... add the other 90,000 plus another 5,000 from earlier in the day, and that’s a mind-blowing 130,000 FAIRY PRIONS in a single day — the most we’ve ever recorded 😁.
In total we recorded just over 138,000 stunning seabirds, and 23 seabird species (see the full species list below). Conditions on the day were fine, with 5-10 knot winds and a 1.5m swell.
Keen to join us for some unique spring seabird action? Our ‘Spring’ tours are in full swing (with now only 3 spaces left), and our ‘Summer’ tours are already filling up too ... Check out our upcoming seabird tour dates and get in touch – It’s always a great day out!
Here’s the full tour results from the day:
Seabirds seen:
2 x White-capped Albatross
130,000 x Fairy Prion
149 x Cook’s Petrel
2 x Pycroft's Petrel
28 x Black Petrel
3,200 x Buller’s Shearwater
20 x Fluttering Shearwater
1 x Hutton’s Shearwater
7 x Little Shearwater
44 x Flesh-footed Shearwater
6 x Short-tailed Shearwater
4 x Sooty Shearwater
33 x White-faced Storm Petrel
12 x New Zealand Storm Petrel
350 x Common Diving Petrel
1 x Little Blue Penguin
4 x Grey Noddy
1 x Pomarine Skua
3,250 x Australasian Gannet
870 x Red-billed Gull
3 x Black-backed Gull
81 x Pied Shag
1 x Little Pied Shag
Other marine life encountered:
2 x Bryde’s Whale
1 x Whale sp.
1 x NZ Fur Seal