27 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Twenty Nine: Risso's Dolphins

It was a cooler start to the morning with some early morning drizzle & a Northerly headwind, so it was only in the mid twenties on the thermometer. But after some grotty early morning light, it dried up & warmed up a bit. By this point on the cruise, the passengers had adopted different strategies to their daily routine. Some had decided they wouldn't get any Bird Ticks & were only occasionally glimpsed at meal times. Others stuck to chatting in the Observation lounge about the current lack of Birds. Many had adopted a broader strategy of enjoying the Cetaceans, Flying Fish, Sea Turtles & other sealife to give them a reason to be on deck. Others decided it was time to relax a bit, whilst keeping on deck in case something good came along.

Billy: One of the Birdquest punters keeping himself ready for a shout of something good

A game of Deck Charades: Richard & Bridget trying to figure out what household device Mike was (a teapot)

The Birding was quiet. In total, I saw around 35 individuals of 8 species with two-thirds of these being Leach's Storm-petrels. Few of these individuals presented opportunities for photos, but at least being on the bridge wing looking for Cetaceans & other wildlife, then I was in the right position if something did come close.

Bulwer's Petrel: One of three I saw all day

Leach's Storm-petrel

Long-tailed Skua: Adult. The avian highlight of the day occurred as this Long-tailed Skua flew by. If you weren't on deck at the time, then you wouldn't have seen it

Long-tailed Skua: Adult

Long-tailed Skua: Adult

Long-tailed Skua: Adult. This was pretty much the views we had as it was soon heading away from the Plancius

During the morning there were some distant parties of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins & Spinner Dolphins. But none came within several hundred metres of the Plancius & the photos failed to even make the record shot category. However, things finally picked up when we encountered a small pod of our first Risso's Dolphins of the trip.

Risso's Dolphin: They have a tall falcate dorsal fin

Risso's Dolphin: Variations in the dorsal fin shape

Risso's Dolphin:

Risso's Dolphin: They are clearly sponsored by Mcdonalds & have been on a supersize deal for some time

Risso's Dolphin

Risso's Dolphin: I had to zoom out the crop to catch the splash

Flying Fish sp. (Cheilopogon sp.): This seems to be one of the dark-winged Flying Fish with a pale wing bar, but it doesn't look like the Blacksail Flying Fish that we saw between Tristan da Cunha and St Helena

21 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Twenty Three: At Sea From St Helena To Ascension Island (Back At Sea)

Having left St Helena the Plancius was back to the 'at sea' routine. The most obvious sign was the morning wake up call wasn't until about 15 minutes before breakfast at 08:00. I was typically up around or soon after dawn so I typically had an hour or so on deck before breakfast. Additionally, there was often a Happy Hour in late afternoon which many of the passengers enjoyed. The prospect of any new Seabirds Ticks had now receded until we were closer to Ascension Island. But, it was worth being on deck as there were still chances of interesting Cetaceans, Sea Turtles, Sharks & Flying Fish. It was to be a shorter period at sea as it was only 2.5 days of sailing between the two islands. It proved to be a busy & hot day on deck with an air temperature on deck of 26C at breakfast time, which had increased to 33C by lunchtime.

Belgium Birders Olivier & Filiep flank Expedition staff member Hans

Taiwanese Longliner Yuh Yeou No 666: We were not pleased to see this longliner. The Expedition staff went away to check the exact position in case the longliner was inside the 200 nautical mile limit of the St Helena waters

The morning started in a frustrating way. After spending some time on deck before breakfast, I went down to grab a leisurely breakfast. I was the first back on the top deck only to find Hans had seen a South Polar Skua. It had appeared twice around the ship. Even more galling we quickly picked up a distant large Skua again off the starboard side. It was most likely the final pass of the South Polar Skua, but it never came closer to clinch the identification. I was going to have to keep waiting to see my last Skua species. But we did see the first Long-tailed Skuas of the Odyssey & they gave better views.

Long-tailed Skua: Adult. With this clean-cut black cap & pale lower face & breast this must surely be a Long-tailed Skua

Long-tailed Skua: Adult. As it took off then the long tail was obvious & confirmed the identify beyond doubt

Long-tailed Skua: Adult. An upperwing shot showing the pale grey-brown secondaries & secondary coverts

Long-tailed Skua: Adult. Another adult from later in the afternoon

Long-tailed Skua: Adult

Overall, the Birding was fairly quiet. I only saw a couple of dozen individuals of seven species despite being on deck for around ten hours. But what I did see were species that were more typical of the South Western corner of the Atlantic Western Palearctic, although we wouldn't get to the Western Pacific boundary until 29 Apr 18. There were a few Bulwer's Petrels. I had seen a handful around St Helena & failed to get any photos. The only photos I managed to get today were in really harsh light, but at least the photos are identifiable.

Bulwer's Petrel: They are small Petrels, with long, narrow, pointed wings and a long, narrow, pointed tail

Bulwer's Petrel: This photos shows the secondary coverts are paler than the primaries

Bulwer's Petrel: Confirmation of how long & thin the wings are

Bulwer's Petrel: A fairly typical angled shape of a Bulwer's Petrel as it turns: they are very acrobatic in flight & generally keep low to the water's surface

Cory's Shearwater: This is the borealis subspecies which breed on the Atlantic islands of the Azores, Madeira, Canaries & Berlenga Islands (which lie off the Lisbon coast)

Cory's Shearwater: Another view of the same individual

Cory's Shearwater: The same individual. The white would extend further into the hand if this had been a Mediterranean Island breeding Scopoli's Shearwater (the nominate subspecies of Cory's Shearwater)

We were seeing Flying Fish throughout the day. But they were mainly Small Clearwings & a few Four-winged Flying Fish.

Four-winged Flying Fish

In the early evening we passed some of the most atmospheric clouds I've seen. Fortunately, we missed the rain squall.

Rain clouds

Sunset: The skies had changed 45 minutes later to produce another dramatic sunset

Sean Browne, John Shemilt & Chris Mills taking the Happy Hour approach to Birding

While the Seabirds had been OK, the Cetaceans were superb throughout the day. However, I will cover the Cetaceans in subsequent Posts.