Black-bellied Storm-Petrel |
A
pod of wonderful whales and a big fish were the stars of the show for
the August 13 pelagic trip off Mooloolaba on the Sunsine Coast, with
nice birds including Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, Masked Booby, Kermadec Petrel and
good numbers of Sooty Tern.
Providence Petrel |
We
departed the marina on a crisp winter morning at 6.45am with a gentle
5-8 knot E-SE breeze that varied little during the day. A Fluttering
Shearwater and a Brown Booby were seen early on the way out along
with small numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Australasian
Gannets. We reached the shelf at 9am, stopping 32 nautical miles
offshore in 360 metres - S 26, 36, 075; E 153, 43, 477 - and began
laying a trail of berley.
Wilson's Storm-Petrel |
Small
numbers of Providence Petrels and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters soon came
into the slick, to be joined before long by a couple of Wilson's
Storm-Petrels. The gentle breeze in a swell of under a metre did not
bode well, but an intermediate phase Kermadec Petrel livened things
up. After drifting slowly for a while be decided to move 1.5km
eastwards to lay another berley trail.
Sooty Tern |
A
second intermediate phase Kermadec Petrel appeared, but both birds of
this species kept their distance. A couple of Sooty Terns showed
before we noticed in the distance what appeared to be a good flock of
birds.
Hutton's Shearwaters |
We
headed towards it, encountering a decent flock of Hutton's
Shearwaters. Feeding on what appeared to be schools of fish 37
nautical miles offshore in 900 metres were good numbers of
Wedge-tailed and Hutton's Shearwaters along with an unusally solid
number of Sooty Terns.
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel |
A
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel made a welcome appearance, soon to be
joined by another. Then a large Manta Ray came to the boat and
hovered close by for a while. We didn't know whether it was attracted
to us or the berley, but several in the group donned a snorkel (water
temperature a mild 21) to get a better look at the huge fish.
Manta Ray Watching |
Manta Ray |
Another
Brown Booby flew by as did a single Tahiti Petrel, a scarce visitor
in winter.
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel |
Not long before pulling up stumps, a booby/gannet appeared on the horizon. We thought at first it was too distant to identify, but later examination of Raja's photographs indicated it was a Masked Booby. As
we were preparing to head back, a pod of Short-finned Pilot Whales
turned up, entertaining us for some time as adults of both sexes and
juveniles, clearly curious, circled the boat. We turned around at 1pm,
returning to the marina at 3.10pm.
Short-finned Pilot Whale |
PARTICIPANTS:
Lachlan Tuckwell (skipper), Greg Roberts (organiser), Luke Bennett,
Devon Bull, Phil Cross, Jo Culican, Erin Donaldson, Rick Franks,
John Gunning, Nikolas Haass, Elliot Leach, Raja Stephenson, Ged
Tranter, Jamie Walker, Chris Watts.
Short-finned Pilot Whale |
SPECIES
TOTAL [MAX AT ONE TIME]
Kermadec
Petrel 2 (1)
Providence
Petrel 12 (4)
Tahiti
Petrel 1 (1)
Wedge-tailed
Shearwater 60 (20)
Hutton's
Shearwater 80 (40)
Fluttering
Shearwater 1 (1)
Black-bellied
Storm-Petrel 2 (1)
Wilson's
Storm-Petrel 10 (3)
Australasian
Gannet 12 (5)
Brown
Booby 2 (1)
Masked Booby 1 (1)
Masked Booby 1 (1)
Sooty
Tern 30 (14)
Crested
Tern 20 (4)
Silver
Gull 2 (2)
Short-finned
Pilot Whale 10 (6)
Inshore
Bottle-nosed Dolphin 2 (2)
Pantropical
Spotted Dolphin 1 (1)
Humpback
Whale 2 (1)
Lovely photos! Thank you so much for sharing, and warm greetings from Montreal, Canada. :)
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