BirdLife Australia Sunshine Coast Pelagic Trip January 2020

Tahiti Petrel

We departed at 6.35am on January 19, 2020 from the new Sunshine Coast Afloat dock on the Mooloolah River, exiting the river mouth 20 minutes later. A mild northerly wind of 10-12 knots was blowing but we were up against a pretty rough 1-2m swell as we headed east due to unsettled weather offshore in recent days. We saw little on the way out other than an unidentified jaeger and a smattering of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Crested Terns.

Crested Tern

This was the first BirdLife Australia Sunshine Coast outing for the year so quite a few on board were new to the joys of pelagic birding. After crossing the shelf we stopped at 9.25am 36 nautical miles offshore in 500m (26.3639S, 153.4472E) and began laying a trail of burley. We soon had a fine slick behind the boat but birds did not appear to be hungry. We'd seen a couple of Tahiti Petrels just before the shelf and they proved to the most common bird out wide, with as many as five at once around the boat.

Tahiti Petrel

Later in the morning a single Red-tailed Tropicbird was seen distantly; the poor images we managed led us to believe this bird initially was a White Tern. We also saw a handful of Sooty Terns out wide.

Sooty Tern

A Brown Booby, normally a species we see closer in, put in an appearance. Another was seen later perched on a trawler. A Risso's Dolphin was the only cetacean of the day. Birds and mammals aside, a Convolvulus Hawk-moth made a highly unusal appearance, loanding on the boat before succumbing to the elements.

Brown Booby

Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Crested Terns were about but in small numbers; we saw many more on the way back.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

The wind freshened up to 12-15 knots late-morning but unfortunately it was from the wrong direction – north. It dropped off sharply around lunchtime and with little around we pulled up stumps at 12.30pm to try our luck further in. A few nautical miles to the west of our last drifting point we had a distant pair of Lesser Frigatebirds. Then much further in, about 15nm offshore, a fine Masked Booby offered good views to all. We arrived back at the berth at 3.45pm. So notwithstanding the wind direction, a good day all round.

Masked Booby

OBSERVERS: Greg Roberts (organiser and leader), Eric Anderson, Tyde Bands, Luke Bennett, Judith Coles, Patrick Colley, Michael Dawson, Jan England, Hans Erken, Alex Ferguson, Richard Fuller, Brian Gatfield, Marie Gittins, Nikolas Haass, Merri Kuerschner, Helen Leonard, James Martin, Gillie Matthew, Maggie Overend, Karen Rose, Jamie Walker, Paul Zellerer.

SPECIES (Maximum at one time)
Tahiti Petrel 30 (5)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 120 (15)
Brown Booby 2 (1)
Masked Booby 1
Lesser Frigatebird 2 (2)
Crested Tern 80 (10)
Little Tern 2 (1)
Common Tern 2 (1)
Sooty Tern 3 (2)
White Tern 1
Risso's Dolphin (1)

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)

Sunshine Coast Pelagic December 2018

Brown Booby

We departed Mooloolaba Marina at 6.30am on Wednesday December 12, 2018 under clear skies, negotiating a gentle swell as we headed east. The trip had been postponed due to rough weather from Sunday December 9. We saw a few Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and a Flesh-footed Shearwater on the way out. A small flock of Common Terns flew by as well as a Sooty Tern in relatively shallow water before we reached the shelf at 9am. We began laying a berley trail in 340 metres, 32 nautical miles offshore: 26.38.127S; 153.43.577E.

Common Tern

We drifted slowly in a south-westerly direction, trialling our latest berley mix of diced chicken skins, some fish offcuts that had been smashed up pretty thoroughly, and an abundance of tuna oil. We had a good slick with floating berley all day, but birds were few and far between. The forecast easterly of 10-15 knots did not materialise; instead we had barely a breeze the whole time we were out wide, the wind picking up a little on the way back in.

Tahiti Petrel

We had the odd Tahiti Petrel checking us out and a smattering of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters along with the odd Flesh-footed Shearwater, a single Short-tailed Shearwater and a couple of Sooty Terns. We also had a nice if somewhat distant pod of feeding Short-finned Pilot Whales. We turned around at 12.30pm to allow a bit of time to search closer to shore.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Short-tailed Shearwater

We threw out a bit more berley on the Barwon Banks and stopped at a couple of spots closer in. A Brown Booby flew by and small numbers of Common Tern, Little Tern and White-winged Tern were seen, along with a couple more Short-tailed Shearwaters.

White-winged Tern

PARTICIPANTS: Paul Beer (skipper), Cory Spring (deckhand), Greg Roberts (organiser), Margie Baker, Louis Backstrom, Tony Baker, Sarah Bevis, Rob Collins,  Phil Cross,  Michael Daley, Robin Duff,  Richard Fuller, Geoff Glare, Simon Husher, Mary Hynes, Bob James, Rob Kernot, Elliot Leach, James Martin, Sean Nolan, Tina Rider, Carolyn Scott, Jamie Walker.

BIRDS: Total (Max at one Time)

Tahiti Petrel 10 (2)

Wedge-tailed Shearwater 70 (15)

Flesh-footed Shearwater 4 (1)

Short-tailed Shearwater 3 (1)

Brown Booby 1

Crested Tern 120 (40)

Little Tern 2 (2)

White-winged Tern 6 (4)

Common Tern 25 (8)
Sooty Tern 5 (2)

Short-finned Pilot Whale 8 (3)

Sunshine Coast Pelagic November 2018

Providence Petrel

We departed Mooloolaba Marina at 6.25am on Sunday November 11, 2018 under sunny skies with an unusually cool south-easterly (for this time of year) that kept up for the rest of the day at 10-15 knots. As we headed east we encountered a few small groups of migrating Short-tailed Shearwaters heading south and several Wedge-tailed Shearwaters before coming across an unusual congregation of four Pomarine Jaegers over the Barwon Banks.

Pomarine Jaeger flock

We stopped over the shelf at 9am in 600m, 32 nautical miles offshore (26.42.645 S; 153.42.689E), where we began laying a berley trail. A mild swell of about a metre and a small chop in the sea with steady winds made for pleasant conditions. We saw our first Providence Petrel shortly before stopping and quite a few were about out there, although it is getting late in the year for this species.

Providence Petrel

We had a new berley mix with extra tuna oil and finely chopped chicken skins that float well. We soon had a good slick behind the boat which was checked out by the odd Wilson's Storm-Petrel. The birds generally however did not appear to be hungry.

Wilson's Storm-Petrel

We saw more Short-tailed and Wedge-tailed shearwaters as the morning progressed and a Sooty Tern turned up.

Short-tailed Shearwater

Sooty Tern

We had just two Tahiti Petrels for the day, a surprisingly small tally. Also of interest was the very small number of Crested Terns.

Tahiti Petrel

Another Pomarine Jaeger showed before we turned around at 12.30pm after drifting 4 nautical miles to 350m. We stopped a couple of times on the way back to try our luck. We had a couple of Brown Boobies perched atop a trawler and a single Flesh-footed Shearwater, along with more Short-tailed and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. We returned to the marina at 3.25pm.

Brown Booby

PARTICIPANTS: Paul Beer (skipper), Zoe Williams (deckhand), Greg Roberts (organiser),

Louis Backstrom, Margie Baker, Tony Baker, Jane Cooksley, Jo Culican, Robyn Duff, Cecile Espigole, Paul Fraser, Richard Fuller, John Gunning, Nikolas Haass, Christian Haass, James Hermans, Andy Jensen, Sel Kerans, James Martin, William Price, Trevor Ross, Esme Ross, Raja Stephenson, Carolyn Stewart.

SPECIES: TOTAL (Maximum at one time)

Providence Petrel 25 (4)

Tahiti Petrel 2 (1)

Short-tailed Shearwater 80 (20)

Wedge-tailed Shearwater 30 (3)

Flesh-footed Shearwater 1 (1)

Wilson's Storm-Petrel 12 (3)

Brown Booby 2 (2)
Pomarine Jaeger 5 (1)

Sooty Tern 1 (1)

Crested Term 2 (1)

Offshore Bottle-nosed Dolphin 3 (2)

Sunshine Coast Pelagic August 2018

Providence Petrel

With a forecast wind direction of W-NW - about as bad as it gets - following several days of westerlies, we had some challenges ahead of us as we left Mooloolaba Marina at 7am on Sunday August 5, 2018. A Wedge-tailed Shearwater and a couple of Hutton's Shearwaters were seen on the way out. So were good numbers of Humpback Whales, including a group of about 12 that were hanging around a fishing boat. A pair of Brown Boobies were perched on a trawler nearby.

Brown Booby pair

Humpback Whale

We reached the shelf in 400 metres 32 nautical miles offshore at 9.40am (26.41,61 S; 153.13, 431E) and began laying a berley trail. During the 3.5 hours that we drifted off the shelf we had Providence Petrels about and a few Hutton's Shearwaters, but it was otherwise pretty much a bird-free zone. The wind was blowing a comfortable 10-12 knots on a swell of 1.5 metres making for pleasant conditions, but the north-westerly failed to produce the goods as might be expected.

Hutton's Shearwaters

The occasional Australasian Gannet and a few more Hutton's Shearwaters were seen on the return journey and we arrived back at the marina at 3.50pm.

Australasian Gannet

PARTICIPANTS
Greg Roberts (organiser), Toby Imhoff (skipper), Zoe Williams (deckhand),
Warren Bennett, Robyn Combes, Jo Culinan, Phil Cross, Alex Ferguson, Richard Fuller, Steve Grainger, Nicholas Haass, Judith Hoyle, Alan Kind, Wayne Kroll, James Martin, Gillie Matthew, Deb Metters, Stewart Meltlon, Rachel Oh, Gavin O'Meara, Xiatong Ren, Carolyn Scott, Raja Stephenson, Shen Zang.

SPECIES  Total (Maximum at one time)

Wedge-tailed Shearwater 2 (1)
Hutton's Shearwater 15 (4)
Providence Petrel 20 (3)
Brown Booby 2 (2)
Austrasian Gannet 5 (2)
Crested Tern 80 (20)
Pied Cormorant 2 (2)

Humpback Whale 30 (12)
Offshore Bottle-nosed Dolphin 20 (6)

Sunshine Coast Pelagic June 2018

Shy Albatross

With fresh memories of a rocky ride on our May 2018 pelagic a week ago, fingers were crossed for a smoother run as we departed Mooloolaba Marina at 6.55am on Sunday June 3 with a brisk 10-knot SW breeze blowing. The wind picked up as we headed out but it was behind us so the trip was relatively comfortable. We encountered a smattering of Crested Terns and Australasian Gannets and two fly-by Hutton's Shearwaters before spotting two Humpback Whales – the first of the season.

Humpback Whales

We were 19 nautical miles offshore in 60 metres when we spotted the first Providence Petrel of the day. Then we picked up a Shy Albatross in 115m 25 nautical miles offshore sitting on the water behind a trawler whose crew were cleaning its catch from the night before. This was the first record of the species for a Sunshine Coast pelagic and the bird was of the race cauta, a scarce visitor to south-east Queensland.

Shy Albatross

Shy Albatross

We began laying a berley trail on the edge of the continental shelf 32 nautical miles offshore in 350 metres (S26.3.1; E 153.43.4) at 9.55am. By this time we had a steady S-SW wind of 15-20 knots and a hefty swell of 2-3 metres which remained the order of the day. We soon had Providence Petrels and Wilson's Storm-Petrels coming to the slick and quite a few of both were about the boat while we out wide.

Providence Petrel

Wilson's Storm-Petrel

It wasn't long before an Antarctic Prion made an appearance and we had this species come and go several times while we were on the shelf.

Antarctic Prion

Antarctic Prion

A Grey-faced Petrel was looking good as it approached the boat – the second sighting of this species for a Sunshine Coast pelagic following last week's first. Satellite tracking of Grey-faced Petrel suggests it does not stray north of Brisbane (it is seen regularly on the Southport pelagics) and today is likely the most northerly Australian record of the species.

Grey-faced Petrel

Grey-faced Petrel

We'd been floating for a couple of hours before a Black-bellied Storm-Petrel showed up, with one or two birds about for the next hour before we turned around to head back at 1.15pm. We had drifted 4.7 nautical miles in a north-westerly direction to 150 metres.

Black-bellied Storm-Petrel

Black-bellied Storm-Petrel

On the way back we had a flock of Hutton's Shearwaters with 2 Fluttering Shearwaters among them; the image here was the best I could manage of the latter. We arrived back at the marina at 4.05pm. Elist.

Fluttering Shearwater

PARTICIPANTS:

Greg Roberts (organiser), Toby Imhoff (skipper), Zoe Williams (deckhand),

Eric Anderson, Margie Baker, Tony Baker, Warren Bennett, Jane Cooksley, Ken Cross, Phil Cross, Rick Franks, Richard Fuller, Malcolm Graham, Geoff Glare, John Gunning, Nikolas Haass, Bob James, James Martin, Paul Marty, Steven Pratt, Allan Pratt, Liam Pratt, Trevor Ross, Esme Ross, Raja Stephenson.

SPECIES: Total (Maximum at one time)

Shy Albatross 1

Grey-faced Petrel 1

Providence Petrel 60 (8)

Antarctic Prion 6 (2)

Hutton's Shearwater 15 (12)

Fluttering Shearwater 2 (2)
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel 2 (1)

Wilson's Storm-Petrel 30 (5)

Australasian Gannet 30 (6)

Silver Gull 4 (4)

Crested Tern 80 (30)

Humpback Whale 2 (2)