Recent Sightings
Not So Recent Sightings
2004 to March 2008
MARCH 2008
· Saw Indo Pacific Dolphin & calf right up in Lime Pocket and Tripcony Inlet area – very unusual, plus some Azure Kingfishers. Plus Jabiru spotted feeding off the tidal flats, and healthy looking cows spotted on Bribie at Lime Pocket.
· Clean Up Australia Cruise done with 20 volunteers on-board. Collected about 30 large bags of rubbish with 21 of these bags just from Glass Mountain Creek. This area was cleaned last year by us so this amount of rubbish has accumulated just over the last 12 months. 99% of items collected were beer bottles. We cleaned about 1 kilometre of shoreline on the day however there is another 80+ kilometres of shoreline in the Passage so hate to think what the total amount of rubbish would end up being!
· A treat for the volunteers – saw A GREAT BIG TURTLE swimming healthily as well as one of our beautiful local DUGONGS! YAAAAYYY!! We rock!
· Big Ted (Loggerhead Turtle rescued in October last year here in Pumicestone Passage. He is about 80-100yrs old) was finally released back into the wild last week by The Australian Wildlife Hospital. Big Ted has spent the last 4+ months being helped through Floating Sickness and getting his health back up to scratch to continue living out in the wild and to continue to breed. Many thanks to Lee and the team at TAWH at Australia Zoo. Awesome Job!!
FEBRUARY 2008
Dugongs sighted regularly as well as the Black Necked Stork on a couple of occasions. Weather windy and/or rainy so not too much cruising happening.
JANUARY 2008
Dugongs have been spotted regularly, plus bottlenose and Indo-Pacific dolphins. Jabiru (Black Necked Stork) have been sighted regularly feeding on the exposed banks in Pumicestone Passage. We watched a stork actually fish in the shallows and it brought up a nice size meal for itself. The local fishers would have been jealous!
JANUARY 2008
A pod of dolphins sighted early on playing. Weather atrocious and not a lot of cruises went out. BAD NEWS – Brook (female turtle rescued in November) euthanized as she was getting worse. She was found to have SEVERE impaction in her gut of rubbish equal to ‘a large concrete block’. This would have been happening over many months and once this was found, it was obvious that absolutely nothing could have been done for her. Her vital organs were also found to be heavily polluted with toxins from the waters. There were many tears shed for beautiful and gentle Brook. Lots of turtles have been sighted pre-Christmas with quite a few rescues taking place from strandings and boat strikes.
DECEMBER 2007
Very few sightings. A couple of sightings of dugong & dolphin early in the month. Possibly too much boat traffic? Not sure. Updates on Brook (turtle rescued in Nov) – not a lot of change but hopeful. She is a female green turtle about 70 years and of breeding age. Australia Zoo working hard to help her get better. We went to visit her and were able to scratch her beautiful back flippers which she seemed to enjoy. She looked at us with beautiful soft eyes and seemed very trusting of us.
NOVEMBER 2007
Still seeing the dolphins but sightings getting less. Recently a turtle was saved by Dave at Bribie Boat Hire which has gone to Underwater World, the plastics have been removed from him and he is being rehabilitated over a few months before he will be released back into the wild. Well done Dave, and may nature smile on your business!! A large turtle (about 1m shell) was also spotted up near Donnybrook with Floatation Sickness and was reported to the wildlife hospital so hopefully he will be helped so that he can continue to swim these wonderful waters. DO NOT LEAVE RUBBISH PARTICULARLY PLASTICS AND STYROFOAM – ONCE THIS GETS INTO THE SEA, MARINE ANIMALS MISTAKE IT FOR FOOD AND WHEN EATEN WILL KILL THEM VERY SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY.
OCTOBER 2007
Dolphins still being sighted plus on the really high tide during the Skids Run on 28th a dugong was sighted up near Mission Point which is quite a way north of where we normally see them. Obviously they felt safe enough with the huge high tide to venture further up in search of sea grass!!
LATE SEPTEMBER 2007
Yes, the dolphins are still around doing their thing. Still seeing them mate and they are very risqué!! There is a pod that feed regularly under the Bribie Bridge and they seem to be training the young to feed. The boats anchored under the bridge fishing do not seem to disturb them and they give everyone a great show.
We are also seeing dugong regularly, with the last week of September seeing some very friendly dugong swim toward the boat (while the motors were off and boat drifting) and they were within 10 metres of us to have a good look. The best sights we’ve seen of dugong yet!
EARLY SEPTEMBER 2007
Boy, is spring in the air!! We are regularly seeing pods of dolphins not only swimming, but doing what comes naturally!! We have had very clear images of male dolphin personal anatomy and they are (like all males) very proud to show it off!! They have been very playful while ‘doing their thing!!’ We have also had sightings of our beautiful dugong and hope there will soon be some ‘Go-slow’ zones around their feeding grounds here in Pumicestone Passage to ensure safe feeding for them in the future.
We also recently saw a very large turtle – but it was dead. It was almost a metre across and was floating up near Mission Point. It’s shell was smashed from top to bottom and side to side which looked suspiciously like a boat strike, but we will never know. An extremely sad sight of such a wonderful animal.
AUGUST 2007
Still seeing lots of dolphins and the water is so clear at present. We are seeing them swim under the boat with fish in their mouths!! We can see the sea grass really clearly and turtles are starting to pop their heads up.
AUGUST 2007
There are a lot of dolphins to be seen at present with sightings just about every cruise. Today we have seen 3 magnificent dugong at different spots as well as numerous dolphin, some turtles, and a baby jabiru in it’s nest.
JULY 2007
Back in the water and we are sure the boat now goes faster that it looks so much better.
Seeing lots of dolphins around. Passengers recently mentioned they say a dugong as well.
JUNE / JULY 2007
Boat has been out of the water and had a beautiful re-spray, re sign written, new clear blinds, and beautiful new blue carpet!!
MAY 2007
Much more wildlife activity at present. The last couple of weeks we have had at least 1 sighting of dugong per cruise with today (3rd May) sitting and watching a dugong for quite some time with it surfacing slowly and leisurely about 5 times. There was also a pod (about 12) of Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins being surprisingly playful and again we sat and watched them for some time. We actually watched these dolphins chase a large stingray across the top of the water – the stingray ‘skipped’ along the top of the water about 5 times to elude these dolphins chasing it. Boy, what a sight!!
Very re-assuring to see so much activity again after some quiet months earlier in the year. Jabiru (Black Necked Stork) are again visiting and are on the nest in Lime Pocket ready to start their breeding season this year. Stay tuned for updates on their additions.
APRIL 2007
Recently found a beautiful juvenile turtle that had drowned after being caught up in a crab dilly. His shell was only about 40cms long and he only had 1 back flipper. It was very sad as he had been spotted regularly by a local boat owner and was considered part of the family. Seeing the odd dugong each week.
MARCH 2007
Still very quiet, although starting to see the odd dugong, dolphin and turtle. Hopefully once the weather cools down and the water cools down a bit, there may be more activity. Some rain recently may also help flush out and clean things up a bit.
JANUARY 2007
Still very quiet with dugong sightings possibly due to boat activity and also Lyngbya in the local waters.
Have had a couple of sightings of dugong over the last couple of weeks, with one being a very large dugong with a lot of wounds and scars on his back. May start to see a bit more wildlife now.
Skids run up to Caloundra saw some Brumbies on the island and quite a few eagles and kites in the skies throughout the cruise.
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2006
Not a lot seen over the last few weeks. A few dolphin pods here and there. This could be due to the amount of boat activity that is in the waters at this time.
OCTOBER 2006
These birds were recently sighted on a 5hr Birds Queensland cruise. Many thanks to this organisation for forwarding this invaluable information to us.
68 bird species where seen during the cruise and at Mission Point:
(B) – breeding
Australian Brush Turkey, Black Swan, Chestnut Teal, Brown Booby, Darter, Little Pied Cormorant, Pied Cormorant, Little Black Cormorant, Australian Pelican, White-faced Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, Striated Heron, Australian White Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, Osprey, Whistling Kite, Brahminy Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Common Greenshank, Grey-tailed Tattler, Great Knot, Red-necked Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Pied Oystercatcher, Black-winged Stilt, Red-capped Plover, Masked Lapwing, Silver Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Crested Tern, Crested Pigeon, Rainbow Lorikeet, Pale-headed Rosella, Tawny Frogmouth (B), Laughing Kookaburra, Sacred Kingfisher, Collared Kingfisher, Dollarbird, White-throated Treecreeper, Variegated Fairy-wren, White-browed Scrubwren, Mangrove Gerygone, Striped Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Mangrove Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater, Eastern Yellow Robin, Eastern Whipbird, Golden Whistler, Rufous Whistler, Leaden Flycatcher, Magpie-lark, Rufous Fantail, Grey Fantail, Willie Wagtail, Olive-backed Oriole, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Torresian Crow and Silvereye.
WOW!!! Isn’t it amazing what you will see when you know what you are looking for!!
Thanks again Birds Queensland.
OCTOBER 2006
Baby dolphins have been sighted this month with their pod teaching them to fish and play. Also seeing more turtles mating, ……. AS WELL AS DUGONG MATING UP ON THE SANDBANKS AT LOW TIDE!!! – wow what a sight!! Many comments about how fantastic the cruises are, and people are having a really great time with friends and family, relaxing and enjoying the truly magnificent scenery here in the Passage.
SEPTEMBER 2006
This month has seen more dolphins and some turtles mating as well as the numerous birds species.
AUGUST 2006
In the last couple of weeks we have seen pods of 2 different types of dolphin (some were very frisky and looked like they were getting up to some hanky panky!). Also have seen some turtles mating and have seen 3 or 4 dugong regularly.
Mum dugong with a baby suckling on her was sighted for about 20 minutes one day. They were just floating on the top of the water with mum on her back while baby suckled. They were not concerned with boat and were happily dozing in the sun. We kept the boat some distance from them however good viewing was to be had from the upper scenic deck on the boat.
Jabiru’s are nesting with the babies almost fully grown and we expect them to take off over the next few weeks to leave the nest free for the eagles to come and breed.
JULY 28 2006
New owners have taken over Ferryman Cruises this month – thank you Trevor for all your amazing work, and we look forward to continuing to showcase this magnificent waterway to the people of the world.
APRIL 2006
Only a few days into April and we have enjoyed several great encounters with Dolphins, and the Jabiru;s are well settled in the Osprey nest.
MARCH 2006
The windy days early in the month did not treat us kindly for sightings. Once the weather settled down we started recording lots of Dugong and the Dolphins are well and truly back in town. The other great news is the Jabiru;s are back in the Osprey nest. This is going to be the 5th year we have had these magnificent creatures breeding in the park.
FEBRUARY 2006
So far only two sightings of a Dugong cow and calf and one pod of Indo Pacific Dolphins. We are only halfway through the month and according to our records we start to see more from here on.
JANUARY 2006
Sightings down which goes hand in hand with all the extra boating activity. We did have a few pods of Dolphins in and several dugong sightings through the month but not as many as we get once outside the holiday period.
DECEMBER 2005
Had the misfortune of coming across a large Green Turtle that had been killed looking at the crushed shell looked very much like a boat strike? This is not the sort of experience you want you passengers to have and fortunately it is not something we see often.
NOVEMBER 2005
Obviously the water has warmed up with more Dugong sightings then previous months. These are the months for dolphin shows boy can they perform with complete air somersaults and tail walks part of the show.
OCTOBER 2005
We noticed a distinct increase in birdlife almost from one day to the next particularly with the Eastern Curlews. Weather was kind to us for most of the month and Dolphin activity starting to crank up.
SEPTEMBER 2005
Great to be out on the water and alive during these months. We start to see more movement with the bait fish so more dolphin activity. Some times you don’t see more dolphins then other months but they are much more active among themselves.
AUGUST 2005
I suppose the main excitement of the month came with the return of the Jabirus to the Osprey nest. We had the same old confusion when the Jabirus arrived with the Osprey still wanting to use the nest but as has happened in previous years the Jabiru’s won out.
JULY 2005
Beautiful winter weather Dugong sightings down but plenty of dolphins around. Only finding the birdlife on the intermediate banks and obviously numbers down due to large numbers of migratory birds not here.
JUNE 2005
Great weather in early part of month with some nice sightings but lots of rain in a few days towards the end put the turbidity up which kept the dolphins out.
MAY 2005
This month has seen very little rain and quite a bit bait fish movement so our Dolphins are also becoming more active. Dugong are still turning up with calves on one Thursday we recorded 8 sightings. Great news as far as the recording of Dugong sightings go, a chart depicting the sightings since 1993 is currently being put together by Uni student in Armadale Annabel Cuthbertson this with a table that we can continue to update will be on my web site in the near future. We are now seeing the Jabiru’s on a regular basis so I would say they will move back to the Osprey nest when the time is right. The last cruise for the month gave us 5 dugong at the back of Little Goat Island and Indo Pacific Dolphins at the wreck of the SS Avon this was particularly pleasing because we had quite a few children aboard.
Water temp has dropped plenty of bait fish and more Dolphin presence but Dugong sightings have dropped off a little. The large numbers of our migratory bird species have well and truly left us with only a few of each specie left to view.
Not too many sightings of Dugong this month but what we saw was very special and on all occasions the adults had calf’s with them with one cruise finding 3 adults and two calf’s in exactly the same spot as the cruise two days prior. WE have now had the Jabiru chick standing on the nest with an adult what a great sight. Also had a visit from a wedge tail eagle probably visiting from the Glass House Mountains area.
MARCH 2005
It was a pleasure to have 35 of our local volunteers joining a cruise to Poverty Point to inspect the new camping facilities.
This cruise was special for many because it was the first time they had seen Dugong and it was a big one so now,
they can relate to some of the special experiences when cruising on the Ferryman. Lots of Dugong sighting throughout the month and great to have lots of Dolphins pods back in Ballaycara Retirement Village had an exceptional day with Dugong then Dugong and calf Bottlenose Dolphins followed by Indo Pacific dolphins.
JANUARY 2005
The weather continued to be fantastic into the New Year no doubt at all our general sighting are down and a lot of this can be put down to all the extra boating traffic. A lone Jabiru entertained us on one cruise by dancing on the intertidal banks for food. Very disappointing to see so many people ignoring the signs regarding the bird roost at Kakadu Beach. The month ended with some rain and a few windy days thrown in but even on the days that were well short of perfect we had great sightings of dugongs particularly on Sunday 30th behind Little Goat Island, only a couple of dolphin pods in for the last few days of the month.
DECEMBER 2004
A week of heavy rain raised the sediment in the water between the higher torpidity and the extra fresh the Dolphins for a couple of weeks were scarce. Dugong sighting were still happening on a regular basis and in most cases with calves. Osprey were spotted back in the big nest north of Lime Pocket and we saw the Jabiru’s feeding on the banks. Fantastic weather over Christmas but only seeing Dolphins on about half our cruises with the presence being shared between Indo Pacific’s and Bottlenose.
NOVEMBER 2004
During the month we had quite a bit of fresh water arrive this tends to keep the dolphins out for awhile but the fresh has no effect on the Dugong. We have had the pleasure of seeing lots of cows with calf’s and the benefit of having two Dugong together is the first one on the surface lets you focus on the right spot. to get a good look at the second.
OCTOBER 2004
The weather was very kind to us for the month except for the burn off periods which blocked out the Glass House Mountains on several cruises.
We enjoyed lots of dolphins during the month with one very large pod of about 20 including quite a few juveniles the dugongs also had calf’s with them.
David Gibson the historian from Newstead House joined us on one cruise and had the pleasure of seeing several dugong for the first time. Considering his knowledge of Flinders and Flinders reference in his log of encountering a large seal type creature in the Pumicestone River [dugong] he was able to relate to this reference by Flinders now having seen them for himself.
SEPTEMBER 2004
For those aboard on Fathers Day had the pleasure of viewing a wonderful display from a pair of bottlenose dolphins, the dolphins are very playful this time of the year and do put on some great displays. Regular sightings of Dugong tell us that the water temp has moved back up so a few more are back in the park feeding. The Federal Minister for the Environment was in the area on Friday 24 so I had the opportunity to push the case for the marine park to be acknowledged as a dugong habitat. We only had Jabiru's on the intertidal banks feeding this month so I guess we will have to wait until next year to see them back up in the nest. One sighting that stirred the passengers on the top deck was a close encounter with a python curled up on the end of a mangrove branch over hanging the top of the Ferryman, with the commotion I thought I had lost someone overboard!.
AUGUST 2004
The first Thursday was a day if you had to design one this would be the result perfectly clear water conditions like a sheet of glass and dolphins and Dugong a plenty. We viewed the marine park floor through out the cruise and at one stage had a very large turtle at a guess over the top of the shell close to a metre swimming parallel to the Ferryman in about one and a half metres of water for about 30 seconds what a sight..
JULY 2004
I spent the best part of this month on holidays as well, the A team as they like to be called experienced quite a bit of windy weather so sighting were down.
JUNE 2004
I spent half of this month away but the feed back form the Ferryman crew was they had lots of sightings. Before I left we enjoyed the company of Dolphins and we also had the wonderful sighting of the two Jabiru chicks standing on the nest.
MAY 2004
What a great month for weather, the lack of Dugong sightings suggests to me that the drop in water temperature may have sent this wonderful creature out to deeper waters for more warmth! Tuesday May 25 was a day to make up for all the perfect days without spotting any marine life we had Dugong mother & calf cruising into the park and Bottlenose dolphins everywhere and with the water nice and clear it was truly a spectacle with many mid-air summersaults and tail walks.
APRIL 2004
April fools day was perfect, lots of Dolphins and dugongs, many of our migratory bird species have made a move.
The Jabiru was kind enough to stand on the nest on several of our visits which is much better than having to view it's head peering over the rim of the nest.
MARCH 2004
Several Dugong cows and calf's were sighted in the area of the junction with one day recording as many as 6.