31 Oct 2022

31 Oct 22 - Indonesia - Banda Sea Cruise Day 5 - Flying Fish On The Crossing From The Tanimbar Islands To The Babar Islands

This is the fourth & final Blog Post detailing the Flying Fish we saw on the crossing from the Tanimbar Islands to Babar Island. The previous three Blog Posts covered the Seabirds, an Olive Ridley Turtle & Cetaceans that we saw.

Regular readers who read the Atlantic Odyssey Blog Posts will know that I also really enjoyed seeing & photographing the Flying Fish we saw in the warmer Atlantic waters. I was looking forward to the Banda Sea Cruise as I was expecting to see good numbers of Flying Fish at regular intervals: I was not disappointed. At this point, I have not been able to identify any of the Flying Fish that we saw, so I am using my own nicknames for the different species.

The commonest species of Flying Fish were these Indonesian Clearwing Flying Fish. They were a gregarious small species of Flying Fish that clearly feed in large shoals as suddenly we could see a hundred or more erupt out of the water on either side of the boat. They were the smallest Flying Fish maybe about six inches long, with a plain clear wing with a white trailing edge and no small fins on the body close to the tail. All these features were very similar to the Small Clearwing (Exocoetus volitans) that we saw in the tropical Atlantic from the Atlantic Odyssey. I noted about twelve hundred on this first crossing.
Indonesian Clearwing Flying Fish: These small Clearwing Flying Fish were sometimes encountered in large shoals. It was great to suddenly seen a hundred or so take to the air
Indonesian Clearwing Flying Fish: Note the small size, clear wing with a white trailing edge and lack of small fins on the body close to the tail
Indonesian Clearwing Flying Fish: Another individual demonstrating some of the nice reflections the flat calm seas provided
Indonesian Clearwing Flying Fish: They launch themselves out of the water, glide for many twenty or thirty metres, then reach the water. Often the smaller Indonesian Clearwing Flying Fish would re-enter the water, alternatively, they would kick again to travel a greater distance
Indonesian Clearwing Flying Fish: This could produce some lovely images
Indonesian Clearwing Flying Fish: Back into the air for another twenty metres, which would give them a good distance & probably safety from an underwater predator that could have spooked them
The second species of Flying Fish were these Indonesian Large Flying Fish. They would erupt out of the water on their own or in small groups involves only a few individuals. They were noticeably larger than the Indonesian Clearwing Flying Fish and closer to twelve six inches long, with a plain darker wing with a white trailing edge and small fins on the body close to the tail. All these features were very similar to one of the larger Flying Fish, Four-winged Flying Fish (Hirundichthys affinis), that we saw in the tropical Atlantic from the Atlantic Odyssey. I photographed ten on this first crossing.
Indonesian Large Flying Fish: Note, the plain darker wing with a white trailing edge, two tone body and small fins on the body close to the tail
Indonesian Large Flying Fish: Another individual
Indonesian Large Flying Fish: Another individual
Indonesian Large Flying Fish: Another individual showing off the two tone body
Indonesian Large Flying Fish: Just showing off for the photographer
Indonesian Large Flying Fish: Another individual showing off
As I was sorting the photos out, I realised I had photographed more than one large species of large Flying Fish. This is the second species that I saw. I didn't notice this species when we were on the Lady Denok so they must have been a similar size to the Indonesian Large Flying Fish. It's difficult to confirm how many we saw, but I photographed three individuals. They were superficially similar to the Indonesian Large Flying Fish, but they had dark wing tips & dark spots near the trailing edge of the wing. Like The Indonesian Large Flying Fish they had small fins on the body close to the tail. I've nicknamed them Indonesian Spot-winged Flying Fish.
Indonesian Spot-winged Flying Fish: Note, the dark wing tips & dark spots near the trailing edge of the wing
Indonesian Spot-winged Flying Fish: Note, the small fins on the body close to the tail
Indonesian Spot-winged Flying Fish: Another individual
I've saved the best looking of the Flying Fish, to the end. I've nicknamed this as Indonesian Yellow-winged Flying Fish for obvious reasons. The photos confirmed I saw at least five of these lovely large Flying Fish which an obvious broad yellow forewing and plain dark grey rear wing and small dark and pale-edged fins close to the tail.
Indonesian Yellow-winged Flying Fish: This is a lovely Flying Fish with this obvious broad yellow forewing and plain dark grey rear wing and small dark and pale-edged fins close to the tail
Indonesian Yellow-winged Flying Fish: Another individual
Indonesian Yellow-winged Flying Fish: Another individual showing off for the camera
Finally, we are approaching the Babar Islands group
It will be back to land birding in the next Blog Post as we spent the late afternoon with some bonus Birding on the Eastern end of Babar.