Moonbird Education

04/05/2026

Loving this program and our fabulous volunteers of Friends of Griffiths Island out and about as the fledglings take flight!!!

Wondering what the fledglings of Griffiths Island have been getting up to?

Our volunteers have been out surveying mornings, evenings, late night and super early mornings...

Our largest count last week was 800 fledglings and our average evening count is 40-50. We expect the last group to depart this week! As the wind increases and weather shifts into a cooler pattern.

This fledgling found on a morning walk was returned to the safety of its burrow.

Moyne Shire Council

20/04/2026

My favourite time of the year! Let the citizen science begin!! ❤️

It's time to watch out for our Short-tailed Shearwater fledglings as they take their first flight.

The first of the young 3 month old fledglings have been seen in town under street lights - drawn in by the bright lights.

We ask our community to switch off outside lights (non essential) watch out on the roads, check under cars and around houses. You can sometimes find them in unlikely places. With poorly developed eye sight they confuse artificial lights for the moon.

We are working with the Moyne Shire Council to reduce light pollution reducing light glow at Martin's Point and Griffiths Island.

Message us on FB if you find a shearwater in or around town, or call 0417 124 814.
Moyne Shire Council Phillip Island Nature Parks Friends of Griffiths Island

26/01/2026

Shearwater at sunset walks are magical. Well done team FoGI for a fantastic walk!! With the most wonderful participants Friends of Griffiths Island

26/01/2026

Wonderful vision captured of the Short-tailed shearwater on our FoGI walk on Saturday night. Thank you for posting Time In Nature Photography. The magical return of the shearwaters on sunset is a wonderful experience. Stay tuned for more walk details Friends of Griffiths Island

14/12/2025

Rockpool ramble

Rockpool Rambles on Griffiths Island - Port Fairy And Surrounds Griffiths Island sits on the edge of the Great Southern Reef, one of the richest cool-water marine systems on Earth. Its rockpools hold an incredible variety of intertidal life, including the striking nudibranchs, elephant snails, limpets, crabs, and other species adapted to changing tides and chilly waters.We encouraged to exploration with care, keeping to rocks rather than slippery seaweed, and enjoy the fascinating biodiversity of this unique coastal environment....

Rockpool Rambles on Griffiths Island – Port Fairy And Surrounds Griffiths Island sits on the edge of the Great Southern Reef, one of the richest cool-water marine systems on Earth. Its rockpo…

12/12/2025

Super seaweeds

Great Southern Reef - Port Fairy. Our coastline is internationally recognised for its exceptional seaweed diversity—over 98% of the species found here occur nowhere else in the world. These cool-water marine seaweed flourish in nutrient-rich southern waters, displaying a range of colours from deep reds and browns to bright greens.From large kelp forests to delicate sea lettuce and long, ribbon-like lady fingers, seaweeds provide the foundation of the Great Southern Reef ecosystem....

Great Southern Reef – Port Fairy. Our coastline is internationally recognised for its exceptional seaweed diversity—over 98% of the species found here occur nowhere else in the world. These c…

18/06/2025

Sign to show your support to reduce plastics! Sign for the seabirds, all marine life and the health of our oceans and for us!! 💙

Over 90 nations have signed on to a ministerial declaration called 'The Nice wake up call for an ambitious plastics treaty'. It is a renewed commitment to forge a strong Global Plastics Treaty. 🤝

It includes support for a lifecycle approach to plastic pollution – including capping global plastic production, phasing out toxic products and chemicals, and financial mechanisms to support implementation.

The declaration, made at this week's United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, sets a floor of what is needed to begin ending ocean plastic pollution.

ℹ️ Global Plastics Treaty negotiations ended without a final agreement last year. The next round of negotiations, INC-5.2, will take place in August this year. Australia must back this latest declaration up with strong leadership at the upcoming negotiations. 🌊

You can help build support for a strong Global Plastics Treaty by signing our petition now: https://www.marineconservation.org.au/actions/global-plastics-treaty/ ✍️

17/06/2025

Last season posting for 2025-
What a wonderful fledgling monitoring season. Our island was quietly buzzing with excitement as our fledgling departed in late April and early May.
Our peak counts saw over 300-500 fledglings observed stretching wings, building strength and moving about after 3 months of life underground.
The shearwater fledglings set off in two main groups waiting for the winds, timing and the moonlight to build, guiding them on their first ocean journey. Flowing the ancient flight lines, guided by the moon, they are off on a 15,000km journey to feed in the Arctic circle. The fledgling will be arriving in their summer feeding grounds very soon- taking only 3-4 weeks to fly their first migration...

01/05/2025

One of favourites... returning a fledgling! That has been disorientated overnight. Captured by our fabulous volunteers and returned to a burrow on the colony. We have another to return tonight!

01/05/2025

What an amazing team of volunteers to work with Friends Of Griffiths Island... monitoring all hours of the night!! To help the shearwaters on their first flight... well we have one group gone and now we wait... and monitor some more...

Update from Tracey

What an amazing season we have had so far... It appears that the first group of fledglings have flown with the last front on Tuesday-Wednesday night. Our counts confirmed this with lower numbers recorded last night. The wind prediction is looking a little variable. The last of our chicks may wait until Sat-Sunday night or for the larger front on Sun-Monday. We hope our first departures join the Dean Marr Island fledglings that we saw yesterday flying past! Such a good season so far! Thanks to everyone for your monitoring and volunteering for the first flight!!