24 Jan 24 - ORCA Saga Caribbean Calypso Day 7 - An Unexpected Migrant Steals The Show

We were frustrating at first light on our first morning after leaving Tenerife to find that the visibility had dropped to only a couple of miles, from the fourteen miles to the horizon that we expected on perfect conditions. While it was possible to see more than a couple of miles, it wasn't easy and it would be very easy to miss Cetaceans surfacing beyond that distance. This was down to Saharan dust in the air. At dawn we were around two hundred miles South West of Tenerife & double that to the North African coast. The Saharan dust continued to be a problem causing hazy visibility for the next few days, albeit the visibility picked up to a few miles after that first morning.

Around mid-morning, I was off-duty on the starboard side when a shout went up from the port side. I hurried over to find a small pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins had popped up close to the side of the ship. Unfortunately, they stayed underwater as they enjoyed the bow wave on the port side of the ship: so my only views on this occasion were glimpsed through the water.

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin: You can just make it out swimming bottom right to top left

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin: This is what they can look like when they want to perform in waters off the Canaries on the West African Pelagic (4 May 18)

The undoubted highlight of the day came just before lunch when another port shout was heard for an Owl that was off the port stern side of the ship. I quickly got onto it as it started to circled the ship at height and shouted it was a Short-eared Owl. Well that wasn't on my prediction list for the trip. It circled the ship several times and seemed to be looking for somewhere to land, before we lost it from view at the back of the ship. By this point, our most recent thirty minute survey period was up & we decided to head down for lunch.

Short-eared Owl: The pale straw-brown patch in the outer primaries on the upperwing are a good sign this is a Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl: I love the bright golden eye colouration

Short-eared Owl: This is the nominate flammeus subspecies which occurs across Northern North America, Northern Europe to Northern Asia. The nearest breeding range is in the Spanish mountains to the East of Northern Portugal. They winter as far South as North Moroccan & Western Sahara and are a scarce to rare visitor to the Canaries

Short-eared Owl: Presumably, this individual was blown out to sea by the same winds blowing Saharan dust beyond the Canaries

Short-eared Owl: Note, the clean white underwings, albeit this individual appears whiter than others I've seen, and the broad black tips to the underwing primaries

Short-eared Owl: Note, the clean white lower body which would be browner in a Long-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

I had a good look around the upper decks for the Short-eared Owl as it quietened down on deck when the restaurants opened for dinner that evening. This was followed by another early look around the decks on the following morning. There were no subsequent sightings over the following days and we concluded that the Short-eared Owl hadn't landed on the ship. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people on the upper decks when the Short-eared Owl was seen, as the weather was warm enough for sunbathing, and it clearly hadn't felt comfortable landing on the ship. This saved the worry of whether it would be possible to provide it with any food given we were to be at sea for six days. We did see a Baja Ferry heading towards the Canaries when we returned from lunch. If it saw that ferry, which didn't have open top decks, it might have been able to get a ride and been in the Canaries the following day. If not, sadly the chances of it finding land were bleak, given the Canaries were the nearest land and that was two hundred and fifty miles North East of us.

Short-eared Owl: A final photo of this gorgeous Owl

Here is a comparison photo of a Long-eared Owl, taken in Turkey in Summer 2015.

Long-eared Owl: Note, the much richer treacle golden-brown colouration on the upperwing, especially the outer primaries, as well as, on the body and underwing. Also, the barred outer primaries on the underwing. Turkey (29 May 15)

We discovered a few stowaways on the ship during the day. Firstly, a Canary Red Admiral flew around the upper deck a couple of times without landing. This is a brighter marked species than our Red Admiral and it has less extensive white in the wing tips. A large Dragonfly passed along the deck at least twice: a Vagrant Emperor or Lesser Emperor would seem to be the most likely option. I had thought it was a Hawker at the time, but there aren't any Hawker species on the Canaries. The best stowaway was a Striped Hawk Moth that we also saw on a few occasions over the first two days at sea. I only saw it briefly land once and unfortunately, it was on a sunbathing passenger: so I decided that was not the right opportunity to try & take a photo. The Saharan dust had made the day more frustrating on our first day at sea after Tenerife. But the appearance of the Short-eared Owl, the stowaway insects and the brief views of the Atlantic Spotted Dolphins had made it a good day.

Striped Hawk Moth: This more docile individual was found in a drinks cooler at the Dead Sea, Israel, before being released (7 Apr 14)

The Saharan dust continued into our second day at sea after Tenerife. I had a distant sighting of a Band-rumped Storm-petrel. There are now three species of Band-rumped Storm-petrel breeding in the North Atlantic, and it wasn't possible to resolve this to a specific species. A second Storm-petrel sighting was even briefer and that remained as a Storm-petrel sp. A Cory's Shearwater, more views of the stowaway Striped Hawk Moth & our first two Flying Fish completed the wildlife list for the day.

The Wildlife List at the end of the second day: Despite the limited number of sightings, we still persevered with our dawn to dusk deck watches, barring meal breaks

That evening saw the first of the formal evening dinners. On the weekly formal nights many of the passengers dress up in dinner jackets and fancy dresses. This was expected clothing for the speciality restaurants on the formal nights, but a suit and tie were OK in the normal restaurant, which was a positive for me as I have no interest in ever wearing a dinner jacket. As the ORCA team were considered part of the entertainment team, we were not allowed in the speciality restaurants, even if we were invited by a passenger.

The first of the formal dinner evenings: I always wore a jacket to dinner, but I added the optional tie for the evening

The food was superb and and it always looked fantastic

After the meal, we bumped into Penny and Terry as they came out of one of the posh restaurants

It was great to see that the ship were advertising our deck watches

29 Jun 15 - Turkey - Storks, Sparrows & Owls

We started the morning with a couple of Birding stops around Akseki town, where we saw a Middle Spotted Woodpecker and some Kruper's Nuthatches. After good views of these species, we carried onto Sugla Lake. There was a couple of White Stork nests on posts close to the lake. A closer view confirmed there were a few Spanish Sparrows nesting in base of the White Stork nests.

White Stork nest: With a group of Spanish Sparrows nesting in the base of the White Stork's nest

Another White Stork nest with a juvenile

White Stork nest with a juvenile: This is the nominate ciconia subspecies which occurs in Europe & West Asia and winters to tropical & Southern Africa. The other subspecies occurs in Turkestan and winters in Iran & India

This Adult White Stork drifted over, but didn't land on a nest

Spanish Sparrow: Male. This is the nominate hispaniolensis subspecies which occurs in Cape Verde, the Canaries, Madeira, Southern Europe & North Africa. The other subspecies occurs from Iran & Transcaspia to East Kazakhstan & Afghanistan

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Spanish Sparrow: Female. The Females would be tricky identify if they were on their own

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Nigel photographing one of the White Stork nests

We carried onto the lake, which proved disappointing as it was a large body of water, with narrow reed edges.

Sugla Lake: It was disappointing as there wasn't a lot of nice edges to the lake

Sugla Lake: A small patch of reeds further out in the lake

Little Egret: This is the nominate garzetta subspecies which is widely spread across Eurasia, East & Southern Africa

Azure Damselfly: It was disappointing when I check the options for blue Damselflies in Turkey to find this was an Azure Damselfly, a species that breeds in my garden pond

We stopped for lunch somewhere along the road from Sugla Lake to Karaman.

Spiny-tailed Lizard: This species looks to be a good fit for these Lizards

Spiny-tailed Lizard: They are found in North Turkey & South to Anatolia & the Taurus Mountains, as well as, Georgia, Russia & Azerbaijan

Simon and Nigel keeping up the ice cream eating traditions from our previous trips: I'm sure I would have joined them in this tradition

After a lunch stop, we carried on driving East for a couple of hours, before a roadside stop near Karaman. The highlights here were Black-headed Buntings and Cretzschmar's Buntings, neither of which were new to the trip. I think the stop was to relieve the tedium of the drive to Eregli and probably as a comfort break. It wasn't a long stop before we carried on towards Eregli, which was another hour of driving East of Karaman.

A habitat shot at the roadside stop

Black-headed Bunting: Male. This monotypic species occurs from Italy & the Balkans, Greece & Turkey to South East Ukraine, South West Russia & the Caucasus, to North Israel, North Jordan, North West Syria, North Iraq & Iran to India

Cretzschmar's Bunting: This monotypic species occurs from South Albania, Greece, Crete, Turkey & Cyprus to Israel & West Jordan. They winter in North East Africa & Arabia

Cretzschmar's Bunting

Roughtail Rock Agama: This is a common Agama species across Greece, Turkey, North Syria, North Iraq & the Lebanon

There were also some Blue Butterflies, but I've not managed to figure out which species they were.

Turkish Blue sp.: I've been unable to figure out which species of Blue Butterfly this is

Turkish Blue sp.: I've been unable to figure out which Blue this is

Turkish Blue sp.: This looks like a different species. Again, I've been unable to figure out which species of Blue Butterfly this is

Our next stop was when we pulled off on a side road for a few minutes' drive, before stopping at some tall trees. This was a breeding site for a pair of Long-eared Owls which had been successful with fully grown youngsters. We quickly found a couple of Long-eared Owls sitting in the trees.

Long-eared Owl: This is the nominate otus subspecies which occurs in Europe, Asia & North Africa

Long-eared Owl: Unfortunately, one of the other punters got a bit too close for this individual and it flew off to trees about a couple of hundred metres further along the road. We left it in peace at this point

Long-eared Owl

As we got closer to Eregli, the landscape changed into an extensive grassy plain. There seemed to be little birdlife, apart from a party of at least ten Lesser Kestrels.

The extensive grassy plain near Eregli: If we had had the time, it would have been interesting to stop and spent thirty minutes to see if it was a birdless as it appeared. Perhaps there were Larks out in this grassland

Lesser Kestrel: This monotypic species occurs from the Mediterranean basin to E China. They winters to South Asia & Southern Africa

Lesser Kestrel

The hotel in Eregli was the poshest of the trip. However, it had a very poor selection of food, to offset the better quality of the rooms.