Olive-Ridley turtle

Last day of my survey work today, so lots of 'computer work' to tidy up and finish- spreadsheets, day report, weekly report, monthly report, final report…….after sorting that lot out I then had time to do what I'm supposed to do and actually survey marine fauna!

Anyway, we had a nice close pass from an Olive-Ridley turtle today. Also a mini-surge in bird migration with pomarine, arctic and long-tailed skuas past the vessel- also a few more Sabines gulls and my first Arctic terns of the voyage. In very calm conditions I also saw a few rafts of grey phalaropes sitting on the sea, a number of black terns and a couple of Leach's petrels.

I should get off the vessel tomorrow and commence my 3 day journey home- looking forward to getting back to the UK for some spring migration and much anticipated visits to the Outer Hebrides and Cornwall! Hopefully catch-up with some cracking migrants at PG and the Lizard!!

Olive-Ridley turtle

close-up showing the scute layout

Black tern

Sabine's gull

El Dorado

The dorado (Coryphaena hippurus)), also known as the dolphin- fish or mahi- mahi,  is one of my all time favourite marine fish species. They are often seen associating with large tuna, billfish and dolphins- particularly during feeding frenzies when they often leap high out of the sea. They also frequent floating objects where they lurk in the shade- ready to pounce on unwary prey. Spectacularly coloured, fast and agile, these fish can often be seen pursuing flying fish that rise up from the sea surface in an attempt to avoid being eaten! Dorado often accompany ships in tropical waters- frequently riding the pressure wave off the bow. The chromataphores- cells in their skin, allow them to change colour like a chameleon when they become excited or agitated. Yesterday I saw two of these awesome ambush/pursuit predators slowly swim alongside the vessel, burst into an incredible underwater sprint, then explode through the sea surface as they attempted to catch the flying fish that were being constantly flushed ahead of the ship- difficult to capture the explosive nature of the hunt on film (especially with no polarising filter) but a few shots were achieved. My next big challenge is to try and photograph the flying fish! 

It has gone very quiet on the seabird front with just a few transient pomarine and long-tailed skuas. 

long-tailed skua

long-tailed skua

Skua passage

Skua passage has been building slowly over the last week with 20-30 birds seen most days- usually single birds but occasional flocks of 3-4. Yesterday morning the pace increased and I counted 250+ birds passing the ship  in the first two hours of daylight. Most of the individuals concerned appeared to be pomarine skuas, although a few arctic skuas were also noted. The highlight however was the presence of several long-tailed skuas. Interestingly I saw a flock of 30 or so skuas that appeared to be migrating low over the water in the company of Cory's shearwaters- all the birds working their way WNW using lazy, languid wingbeats in the almost still air. At one stage the birds rested momentarily on the sea before resuming their passage. It was also interesting to see 3 poms. scrapping over an eel that had been caught by one of the birds. The bright tropical sunlight is very flat and I am struggling to find a suitable camera setting but have managed a few shots.

a great spectacle!

long-tailed skua

Arctic skua

long-tailed skua

Poms at play!

long-tailed skuas

pomarine skua

Cetacean central

After 8 days at sea, pelagic birding has been very low key and I have only recorded a handful of distant 'Calonectris' shearwaters- presumed to be Cory's but all rather distant (not sure if Cape Verde shearwater disperses this far south?). I also saw a very distant 'probable' tropic bird sp. and a single skua- a long-tailed I think- cold grey tones, long, slender wings, buoyant, tern-like flight…..

I have been much busier with cetaceans though and have recorded 7 confirmed species:- sperm whale, clymene dolphin, short-finned pilot whale, an impressive pod of circa 500 melon-headed whales. Frasers' dolphin, rough-toothed dolphin and spinner dolphin- not a bad haul and I should not complain but the days are very long without a constant stream of seabirds to ID and record!

spinner dolphin

spinners

spinners

Frasers' dolphin with calf (foreground), melon-heads behind

melon-headed whales- note the white lips

long-tailed skua-probably?

The curse of the corncrake

I first heard a distant corncrake in the late 1970's- a single bird calling from a cereal crop field in Dorset on a lovely late spring evening. Naturally the field was vast and there was no way I was ever going to see the bird but it was a lovely experience. Fast forward 30 years or so and I found myself in the outer Hebrides for the first time in June 2000 for a fly fishing holiday on the island of South Uist. I caught a few trout, enjoyed a few drams and heard a lot of corncrakes- they were everywhere it seemed, with birds calling from every strip of grass, every patch of nettles and every drainage channel full of flag irises. After dinner, most evenings I would pick up my binoculars and try and stalk a bird in the hope of seeing one. When a bird called I took a few very slow, quiet steps along the adjacent tracks towards it, waited patiently when it stopped it's monotonous 'crex crex'  call, then repeated the process- over and over and over again! Often I felt as if I was tantalisingly close to the bird, only for it to evaporate through the vegetation and then start calling much further away. The task was exasperated by the way in which the bird would be able to 'throw' it's voice, often aided by swirling air currents- sometimes giving the impression that the bird was much closer than it probably was. Initially this was just a bit of birding fun- but I needed to see a corncrake before I could add it to my 'life list'. Anyway, the holiday ended and I still needed to tick off a corncrake. Since 2000 I have visited South Uist on 6 or 7 occasions and have also visited North Uist, Benbecula and had several extended visits to Lewis- all these islands holding good numbers of corncrakes in the summer months. I have spent countless hours over the last decade or so on each of these visits trying to see this wretched bird with the 'fun' going out of the encounters many moons ago. Recently I returned to Lewis to spend a few days birding at Eorpie, port of Nis and the Butt of Lewis. On the first evening I heard a corncrake calling from the edge of loch Stiapabhat. I enjoyed views of garganey, gadwall and a black-tailed godwit and tried to ignore the rather annoying 'crex crex' call. The following day as well as enjoying some decent weather and good birding, a couple more corncrakes were heard- but I had given up trying to see one. A day later I stopped to try and get some phone signal near the tea room when yet another corncrake started calling from a patch of rough vegetation. I checked my sms rare bird alerts, casually strolled towards the vegetation and to my disbelief a corncrake lifted its' head above the leaves and launched itself into the air- it flew quite high past one of the crofts giving good flight views and leaving me once again totally bemused at the ups and downs of birding. Later I had the added bonus of a glaucous gull and a fantastic experience when an adult long-tailed skua settled on the rough pasture just west of the lighthouse- happy birding days indeed!