Mooloolaba Pelagic 7th of November.

I just thought I'd share a few shots from the recent Mooloolaba Pelagic trip on the 7th of November. 

This was my third Pelagic trip and my second out of Mooloolaba. The two and a half hour trip out was rough with waves hitting the bow, sending spray over the top of the cabin dousing everyone with salt water who were unlucky enough to not have a seat inside. We had a few that suffered from seasickness and they just found a spot to curl up and wish the day would end.

We arrived at the Continental shelf 30 nautical miles from Mooloolaba and started chopping up the Shark liver and waited for the birds to start to arrive. It didn't take long. The Shearwaters (three species) were first followed by the Tahiti Petrels and Terns.

There were eleven species for the day but I missed photographing the Brown Booby so only two new species/ticks for me..Bridled Tern and Tahiti Petrel.

Full list can be found here: http://ebird.org/ebird/australia/view/checklist?subID=S25757116

Portrait of a Wedge-tailed Shearwater.

Notice how big the nostrils are? As with anything in nature there has to be a reason which lead me to Google "Shearwater Nostrils" quite interesting results....a suggestion that that seabirds use odour maps to navigate over vast expanses of visually featureless oceans.

http://www.livescience.com/51409-seabirds-smell-navigation.html

Crested Tern.

Wedge-Tailed Shearwater.

Tahiti Petrel.