Bremer Bay Bird Expedition

The Bremer Bay Bird Expedition is a dedicated offshore pelagic seabird trip run by Naturaliste Charters aboard the Alison Maree, a 23-metre purpose-built catamaran, departing from Bremer Bay Boat Harbour on Western Australia's south coast. The vessel steams approximately 60 kilometres offshore to the Bremer Canyon — a submarine canyon at the edge of the Australian continental shelf where water depths plunge rapidly to over 4,000 metres. This is fundamentally different from the operator's main Killer Whale expeditions: dedicated birdwatching days are led by four specialist ornithologist guides (Dan Mantle, Plaxy Barratt, John Graff, and Stu Ford), all with extensive Western Australian offshore seabird experience. The vessel stops to berley (chum) around the 1,200-metre depth contour, deploying fish oil and scraps to attract tubenoses to the stern for extended close-range observation.

The Bremer Canyon is one of Australia's most productive offshore seabird environments — a fact explained by the oceanography. The canyon acts as a conduit for deep, cold, nutrient-rich water to upwell toward the surface, fuelling extraordinary concentrations of prey. The same upwelling that draws Killer Whales (Orca) from January to April for the Bremer Canyon predation events also draws seabirds in abundance: the scraps from orca prey items create a continuous food subsidy for scavenging tubenoses, and the current lines that form above the canyon edge concentrate prey fish and squid accessible to diving shearwaters and foraging storm-petrels.

Flesh-footed Shearwater is the most reliably abundant species at the berley, arriving quickly and often in large numbers. Short-tailed Shearwater, Hutton's Shearwater, and Little Shearwater also gather. Albatrosses are the headline attraction: Wandering Albatross (including the Gibson's and Antipodean forms, whose distinction from each other is a focus of debate among Australian seabird researchers), Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross, White-capped (Shy) Albatross, and Black-browed Albatross all occur regularly, with the possibility of Campbell Albatross and Northern Royal Albatross for exceptional days. Great-winged Petrel is abundant; Grey-faced Petrel and Gould's Petrel are also recorded. Wilson's Storm-Petrel, White-faced Storm-Petrel, and Black-bellied Storm-Petrel are the three storm-petrel species most often seen. White-chinned Petrel is a rare visitor, with a confirmed December 2023 record. Northern Giant Petrel scavenges around any bycatch or orca kill sites. Bridled Tern and Sooty Tern occur in summer. Long-tailed Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger (Arctic Skua), and Brown Skua are regular attendants. Australasian Gannet is common in coastal and shelf-edge waters. The eBird hotspot (L29149607, "Bremer Bay Pelagic--Bremer Canyon only (offshore)") records 36 species ever observed on these offshore trips.

Naturaliste Charters also announces occasional dedicated birdwatching departures from Augusta (near Cape Leeuwin, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet) in austral winter; check the operator's website for current schedules. Seabird trips can be booked online via the Rezdy system at naturalistecharters.rezdy.com/583274/bremer-bay-bird-expedition or by calling +61 8 9750 5500.