Thursday 22 March 2012

Manic morning

large falcon coming out of the sun!
I stepped on deck in the early morning light to be greeted by a Little egret coming up from the south and flying high over the ship. Five minutes later a large, pale falcon sp. came out of the sun like a well trained fighter pilot, went hurtling past the bridge at ridiculous speed and re-appeared some 300 metres ahead of me and just kept going NW- gone in 10 seconds! I toyed with the idea that I had just glimpsed my first ever Lanner?, but I must admit to not really having a clue and don't think I'll ever knowA swallow bravely followed in its' flightpath several minutes later. 
Sea watching was great too! 3 nice lines of shearwaters- 26 Cory's and 5 Balearics came down wind and I also recorded 4 great skuas, 2 gannets, 3 Med. gulls, 4 LBB gulls, and a yellow-legged gull. A distant humpback whale (Megaptera novanglea) was a great distraction for over an hour as it breached repeatedly and lunge fed at the surface. Several schools of tuna sp. also provided additional interest. Then it was 10:00 hours and time for coffee and cake!

large, pale falcon just kept going!
The afternoon was spent watching the shearwaters as they danced over the waves!

2 comments:

  1. Hi, Andy. I like your blog. Would it be possible for you to give the approximate geographical location of each of your entries? It's not clear to a newcomer like me where you were.

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  2. Hi Ian, thanks for the feedback- yes I can certainly put in the occasional latitude and longitude to highlight significant changes in my position- a good suggestion, thanks.

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