Sunshine Coast Pelagic March 2019

Common Noddy

We departed Mooloolaba Marina at 6.45am on Sunday March 24, 2019 with a degree of trepidation as the forecast of a 10knot north-westerly did not bode well. We soon encountered good numbers of birds close inshore, however. Among them were substantial flocks of Common Terns, evidently attracted to schools of bait fish.

Common Tern

Quite a few Little Terns, Hutton's Shearwaters and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were among the flocks and we picked up at least two Black Noddies and two Brown Noddies as well. We spotted three Brown Boobies perched atop a fishing trawler.

Black Noddy

Brown Noddy

After spending more time than usual inshore, we heading east to beyond the shelf and began laying a berley trail 31 nautical miles offshore in 400m. A mild swell of under 1m and a gentle W-NW breeze of 10knots was the order of the day, pretty much as predicted. Very little was about, with a few Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and the occasional Flesh-footed Shearwater checking out the boat.

Flesh-footed Shearwater

A Tahiti Petrel appeared, followed by another a little later. A Bronze Whaler shark was a welcome visitor. With so little about we decided to turn around at 12.10pm and try our luck closer to shore.

Bronze Whaler

Tahiti Petrel

We saw a Pomarine Jaeger and a Brown Booby in flight as we headed west.

Brown Booby

Pomarine Jaeger

As we approached the coast the tern flocks reappeared, albeit in smaller numbers than in the morning. Brown Noddy and Hutton's Shearwater were again in the mix, along with a few White-winged Terns. A Green Turtle showed nicely if briefly. The wind picked up sharply to 15 knots in the afternoon but from the same direction. We returned to the marina at 3.30pm.

Hutton's Shearwater

PARTICIPANTS: Toby Imhoff (skipper), Greg Roberts (organiser), Eric Anderson, Louis Backstrom, Margie Baker, Tony Baker, Sarah Beavis, Luke Bennett, Judy Coles, Graeme Collum, Richard Fuller, Nikolas Haass, Catherine Hirsch, Mary Hynes, Bianca Keys, Sue Lee, James Martin, Maggie Overend, Julie Sarna, Raja Stephenson, Marie Tarrant, Brad Woodworth, Matt Wright, Jasmine Zeleny.

SPECIES: Total (Max number at one time)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 80 (10)
Flesh-footed Shearwater 2 (1)
Hutton's Shearwater 50 (15)
Tahiti Petrel 2 (1)
Brown Booby 2 (1)
Pomarine Jaeger 1
Crested Tern 200 (80)
Common Tern 600 (300)
White-winged Tern 6 (4)
Little Tern 10 (4)
Common Noddy 4 (1)
Black Noddy 2 (2)

Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (4)