20 Jan 26 - ORCA Canaries Cruise - The Sign Of Things To Come

At the back end of the 2025, I was offered an experienced surveyor place in the ORCA team on the Saga cruise to Cape Verde and the Canaries on the Spirit of Discovery. I met Chris Whitell, the Team Leader, and Fiona West, the Wildlife Officer, in Pompey on 19 Jan. Unfortunately, our fourth team member had dropped out at the last moment. However, we all felt that we would be able to cope with the surveying for Cetaceans and passenger engagement with a team of three. I arrived at lunchtime at the time we had been advised by the ORCA office. My arrival was greeted by one of the Saga team with the statement "you are early". Apparently, the Spirit of Discovery had arrived three hours late into port, due to bad weather and our departure was delayed by a similar time.

Myself, Fiona West and Chris Whitell (26 Jan 26)

Chris and Fiona were already there and the Saga team quickly allowed us onto the ship. The unflappable Saga team coped excellently with the delayed timings. A couple of hours later, the passengers who had been advised of the later departure, started boarding and we were allowed into our cabins. After going through the mandatory safety drill, we headed off to dinner as the ship left Pompey about 19:00.

Wave Knight (A389): Having worked on software packages on the Type 42 Destroyers in the Pompey dockyard back in the mid to late 80s, I always enjoy looking at what Royal Navy ships I can see in the harbour

The news that evening from the Captain wasn't sounding hopeful for surveying. He told us all the upper decks, the deck 12 restaurant and the upper deck Britannia lounge would all be closed from 23:00 due to the weather, as we were expecting four to five metre swells overnight. It was certainly a bumpy first night at sea. The predicted swell looked pretty accurate as it got light. It didn't really matter too much that the upper decks were closed, as the sea state was close to being a sea state 7: at which point we stop surveying as we would miss most sightings. It was clear that it had been a wise move to close these decks as there would have been a risk that some of the less agile passengers could have fallen. Fortunately, there are also two lower decks which have restaurant and lounge areas, as well as, the playhouse theatre. At the introductory meeting with the ORCA team and the other entertainers, we were told that we would be expected to eat in the cabins when the upper deck restaurant was closed. Normally, the ORCA team are not allowed to book room service, but room service was to become the norm for the ORCA team on sea days to allow the other passengers priority in the lower restaurants.

Historical tower: The dockyard has historical buildings that would probably have been demolished in a commercial dockyard

Chris and I looked out from the cabin balcony at various times during the morning, but there were only the occasional Gannets and Kittiwakes flying past. In between, I spent the morning producing a slide about Gannets. As a team, we have to produce a daily slide, which is displayed on the ship's TV system for the passengers on our sightings. Due to the weather, a Gannet might be the most likely species the passengers would see from their cabin windows.

The Spirit of Adventure is the sister ship of the Spirit of Discovery

At the end of the morning, we were told that the outer deck of deck 6 would be briefly opened to allow us to see the Spirit of Adventure doing a close sail by. She is the identical sister ship of the Spirit of Discovery. It was an opportunity for some of the passengers and myself to enjoy a brief period of fresh air.

Fiona starting her overview of the importance of the surveying data that ORCA collects

Apart from our time on deck, one of the key activities for the ORCA team is the initial and final lectures. These are given by the Wildlife Officer on the first and final afternoons of the trip. The first lecture is a good opportunity to introduce the ORCA team, provide some information about the importance of the surveying that the Marine Mammal Surveyors gather and how it is used to improve protection for Cetaceans. It is also an opportunity to highlight some of the Cetacean species we might see during the trip.

Fiona's slide of potential Cetacean species that we could see

It had been a disappointing first day at sea with no opportunity for surveying, but we had managed to engage with a number of the passengers.

14 Dec 25 - Patagonia 25 - A Long Drive South

After spending the morning exploring dirt tracks to the South of Chasico on my Pampas Meadowlark quest, I finally got back onto tarmac roads near to Bahia Blanca. It was now lunchtime and I had a four hundred and fifty mile drive South to Trelew for the lunchtime flight on the following day. Fortunately, it was a good and generally quiet highway. I made a quick stop at a salt lake near to Bahia Blanca, which hosted a large flock of over two hundred and fifty Baird's Sandpipers.

Baird's Sandpiper

A few miles after the salt lake, there was a roadside pool with a reasonable selection of Waterbirds to make it worth a quick stop.

Chilean Flamingo: This is the widespread Flamingo in South America and the monotypic species occurs from the Andes of the South of South America to South Brazil & South Argentina

Coscoroba Swan: This monotypic species occurs from South Brazil to Paraguay, Uruguay, Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

Black-necked Stilt: This is the melanurus subspecies which occurs from inland central Peru & Bolivia to South East Brazil, South-central Chile & Argentina

The next stop was around Parque Eolico Villalonga, which is a wind farm about sixty miles North of Viedma. This was a local eBird hotspot for Hellmayr's Pipit around the wind farm. There must be an engineer who sees them there. I spent about thirty minutes looking in the wider area, but I drew a blank. Time was pressing and I needed to continue South. My final stop was for a roadside comfort break when I was back in the arid habitat near San Antonio Oeste. This is similar habitat to Las Grutas. There were a few Birds around, including my final Tick of the Argentinian trip: a Tufted Tit-spinetail. I nipped back to the car for the camera, but I couldn't relocate it when I returned to look for it.

Brown-hooded Gull: There were a few Brown-hooded Gulls in the garage the following morning. They breed in inland & coastal South East Brazil, central Chile & Argentina South to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

I continued driving South until dusk, when I was about sixty miles North of Puerto Rawson. I found another large garage to park up in for the night. It was an early start on the following morning to get to the Commerson's Dolphin rib office, in case they were planning on going to sea. Unfortunately, they were closed up again. I spent a couple of hours exploring the coastline for Commerson's Dolphins with no success.

The big Dinosaur was still showing well on the edge of Trelew

My final Birding stop was Laguna Chiquichano in Trelew. There were some eBird records for Red-crested Cardinal, which I've only seen as introductions in Hawaii. I didn't have any success. It was time to head to the airport to return the car and check in for my flight back to Buenos Aires.

Laguna Chiquichano

This was a great display to see at the airport: Albeit the live moggie that was curled up in the display area looked unrealistic

The Jet Smart flight left on time for Buenos Aires and it was a good flight back. The only snag was the Trelew flights were from the domestic airport, which had worked well with the flight back from Ushuaia, but I needed to get a coach back to the international airport on the far side of the city. Thanks to the traffic it was a slow journey. Once at the international airport, I arranged a pick up from the owner of the private house, that I had stayed with on my first night in Argentina. The following morning, I was dropped back at the international airport for the flight back to the UK. It had been a great trip.

The Club de Pescadores building is at the start of a long pier: You pass this interesting building as you arrive or depart the domestic airport

In hindsight, I should probably have considered staying in Argentina for another ten days and trying to catch up with a few more species that I had missed on my first Argentinian trip in 1998. But that would have made it an even more expensive trip, so perhaps the short Patagonian dash was the right move.

6 May 26 - A Brownsea Wood Mouse

I was chatting to a visitor by the Dorset Wildlife Trust Brownsea gazebo, when they spotted a Mouse that was feeding in the low vegetation next to the path. A quick scan with the Bins and I was able to confirm it was a gorgeous Wood Mouse. They are a species, that I see erratically, but not uncommonly in my garden, but it is a species I never tire of watching. It was quick approachable and allowed me to take some photos, but I only ended up with one reasonable photo thanks to the surrounding bits of vegetation obscuring parts of the face or body. It finally ran across the track, where we had one final view behind the gazebo.

Wood Mouse: This was my first sighting of a Wood Mouse on Brownsea

14 Dec 25 - Patagonia 25 - A Morning In The Pampas

I was down to my last full day of Birding on my whistle-stop return trip to Patagonia. I had booked the flight home a week before Christmas to grab one of the last reasonably priced tickets. But as the Antarctica trip was a last minute decision to book, I hadn't really planned what I would do in Patagonia. Initially I planned the time to look for Commerson's Dolphins around Puerto Rawson. Having managed to bump into them in the Beagle Channel, I could focus on other options. The main target was the Franciscana Dolphins which I had seen at the El Condor River mouth, near Viedma on the previous afternoon. This gave me the time for a long three hours drive North to look for the range-restricted Pampas Meadowlark near Bahia Blanca. I ran out of light before I reached Bahia Blanca and I had pulled over soon after dark at a large garage for the night, about one hundred miles short of Bahia Blanca. I left at first light for the final leg of the drive.

The Pampas around Chasico

After reaching Bahia Blanca, I headed out North West on RN35 before turning right to the small settlement of Chasico. This seemed to be the best option to try and see some Pampas Meadowlarks. This scarce range-restricted species is vastly outnumbered by the commoner Long-tailed Meadowlarks. To add to the challenge the area has many miles of similar-looking arable fields and separating the two species isn't straight-forward. Pampas Meadowlark are a bit smaller than Long-tailed Meadowlarks, with a shorter tail and shorter, straighter bill. Plumage-wise, they have a deeper crimson throat and breast, with a narrower black border and a rounded lower edge to the breast. They are best told in flight, when its possible to see their diagnostic black underwing. The first thing was to look at lots of Long-tailed Meadowlarks to get my eye in on them.

Long-tailed Meadowlark: There was some variation in the Long-tailed Meadowlarks as they were a mixture of adults and immatures sitting on the fence posts. This is the nominate loyca subspecies which occurs in Chile & Eastern Argentina as far South as Tierra del Fuego

White-browed Blackbird: This monotypic species occurs from South East Peru to Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil & North Argentina

I took the dirt track back towards Bahia Blanca and it was a case of stopping and grilling every Long-tailed Meadowlark party, whilst driving miles through identical-looking fields. After a couple of hours of looking and one candidate that disappeared before I could confirm it, I finally found a Pampas Meadowlark, which I was happy was the real deal. Unfortunately, it flew to another fence post about two hundred metres back on the private ranch, before I could get any photos. I continued to watch it for a few minutes with the telescope, but it didn't move back towards the dirt track. It was time to move on. It took me another hour of driving before I ended up back onto a tarmac road. There were plenty of other Birds along these dirt tracks, however, I didn't spent long on photographing them.

Greater Rhea: This is the albescens subspecies which occurs in the Pampas of Argentina South to the Rio Negro

Spotted Tinamou: They are also known as Spotted Nothura. This is the annectens subspecies which occurs in the moist grasslands of East Argentina

Crested Caracara: This is the plancus subspecies previously known as Southern Crested Caracara which occurs from the Amazon basin to East Peru, Tierra del Fuego & the Falklands. It has now been relumped with Crested Caracara which occurs as far North to the Southern United States & some of the Caribbean Islands

Chimango Caracara: This is the nominate chimango subspecies that occurs from South Brazil & Paraguay to central Argentina & central Chile

Burrowing Owl: This is the nominate cunicularia subspecies which occurs from South Bolivia, South Brazil & Paraguay to Tierra del Fuego

Burrowing Owl: They are normally happy to post for a photo, but not this one

Campo Flicker: This is the campestroides subspecies which occurs from South Paraguay to South East Brazil, Uruguay & North Argentina

As I was driving back to Bahia Blanca on the dirt tracks, I stopped to photograph a Pipit on a fence post. This time I took some photos before looking at it properly. It proved fortunate that I did, as it flew off, before I could have done both. When I was sorting out the photos, it was a pleasant surprise to find it was a Chaco Pipit: which was a bonus Tick.

Chaco Pipit: They are also known as Pampas Pipit. This monotypic species occurs locally in the Chaco of East Paraguay & North Argentina

Correndera Pipit: This is the nominate correndera subspecies which occurs from coastal South East Brazil to Uruguay, Paraguay & North Argentina. It was photographed later in the day near to the Parque Eolico Villalonga wind farm on the drive South to Trelew and provides a useful comparison of the Chaco Pipit to this widespread species

Finally, I was back at Bahia Blanca. The next challenge was the four hundred and fifty mile drive South to Trelew to catch my lunchtime plane back to Buenos Aires on the next day. There wasn't any time to lose in heading South, but I had a bit of time for some quick roadside stops. I will cover the last part of the trip in the final Blog Post.

25 Mar 26 - Early Spring Godwits On Brownsea

When I was starting Birding in my early teens, I began by thinking that the Godwits would be difficult to identify when feeding on the coast, when I looked at the poor field guides I had in those days. In reality, Bar-tailed Godwit and Black-tailed Godwit are two very different species.

Bar-tailed Godwit: They appear to have pale grey upperparts due to the nice pale edgings to all the feathers and a slightly buffy wash to the breast. In their Summer plumage, they have a pale brick-red breast which continues down to the vent and this colouration is paler than the darker brick-red seen on the breasts of Black-tailed Godwits

Bar-tailed Godwit: It's not often to see them feeding close to the Avocet hide, so this was a good opportunity to get some close photos

One of the great things about the Brownsea Avocet hide is sometimes Waders feed really close to the hide and are generally unconcerned by the people in the hide, except when the windows are opened or closed. This coupled with some nice light, ignoring the harsher early morning light on some days, can produce some nice photographs.

Bar-tailed Godwit: Both species are able to put their whole head in the water to get to some food

Bar-tailed Godwits have a much paler upperpart colouration which is amplified by the nice pale edgings to all the feathers. They are smaller than Black-tailed Godwits and when they are seen standing out of the water, they look to me like their legs are too short for their body. They prefer to feed on sandier areas in Poole Harbour with the Shore Road area by Sandbanks being their favourite area, where a high Winter count will be around one hundred and fifty individuals. When they turn up at Studland, they are on the sandier parts of the bay. On the high tide, they roost on Brownsea, but generally they prefer to roost up with the Curlews rather than their namesakes.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Surprisingly I find that the identification problem with roosting Bar-tailed Godwits on Brownsea isn't Black-tailed Godwit: it's Grey Plover. That seems daft when first said, as Grey Plovers are long-legged, dumpy Waders with obvious short bills, that would not be confused when feeding on a mudflat.

Grey Plover: I've not got a good photo of a Winter Grey Plover, so this is the similar, but paler-looking American subspecies from Hobson Beach Park, California (20 Nov 14)

Bar-tailed Godwits and Grey Plover often roost together on Brownsea at the back of the lagoon. When roosting, they often have their bills tucked into the backs as they sleep, so the bill length doesn't immediately eliminate the other species and they often seem to roost at the most awkward angle to the hide to make their immediate identification a bit harder. They are a similar body size and leg length and have similar pale grey, scaly upperparts. It doesn't take long to separate the two species, but it's not as easy as separating the two Godwit species.

Black-tailed Godwit: In their Winter plumage (right), they have more uniform darker-grey upperparts than Bar-tailed Godwits. As they moult into their Summer plumage, they show a darker brick-red breast, a paler belly, with chestnut and blackish-centred feathers on the upperparts

This is the very common Godwit species in Poole Harbour, with a new record count of over five thousand individuals recorded in the Winter of 2025-26. Black-tailed Godwits are larger than Bar-tailed Godwits, with a longer bill and noticeably longer legs. They have more uniform darker-grey upperparts than Bar-tailed Godwits in their Winter plumage. As they moult into their Summer plumage, they have a darker brick-red breast, a paler belly, with chestnut and blackish-centred feathers, which gives a darker mottled appearance to the upperparts. They are normally found on the open mudflats throughout Poole Harbour, with large flocks roosting up and feeding on the Brownsea lagoon on the higher tides.

Black-tailed Godwit: This one has just found its next meal

It is easy to separate the two Godwit species in flight, as Black-tailed Godwits having a long broad white bar down the centre of the wing and a white base to a black tail, whereas Bar-tailed Godwits have a fairly uniform upperwings, with only a faint whitish wing stripe, a white rump and a finely barred tail.

13 Dec 25 - Patagonia 25 - Franciscana Dolphin

I had started the first full day of my mini-break in Patagonia in the dunes a few miles to the South of Las Grutas. After seeing a few Ticks here, I had driven West to the town of Viedma, before heading along the Southern side of the Rio Negro river to the small coastal town of Balneario El Condor. As I reached the outskirts, I turned left to the hamlet of El Pescadero. Tall dunes separate the Rio Negro estuary from the approach road.

The view across the Rio Negro from the El Pescadero dunes

Whilst looking for information on possible sites to see Commerson's Dolphin in Argentina, I found a Mammal report by Dominique Brugiere, which said that the Rio Negro estuary was a good place to look for Franciscana Dolphins. Obviously, I was keen to look for a new Cetacean and this was one of my key targets for the Patagonian section of my trip. I arrived about 17:30 and was quickly looking from the top of the dunes. The river is about a half mile across, before it broadens out into the estuary just down river of El Pescadero. The top of the dunes provided a good viewpoint.

Looking towards the Rio Negro estuary from the El Pescadero dunes

Within a few minutes a head popped up. Unfortunately, it was just a South American Sealion. I took a few photos then carried on looking.

South American Sealion

Chimango Caracara: I didn't see a lot of Birds from the Dunes save this Chimango Caracara, flocks of Burrowing Parrots and a few distant expected river species like Neotropic Cormorants and Gulls

Chimango Caracara: This is the temucoensis subspecies which occurs from South Chile & South Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Cape Horn Archipelago

After about fifteen more minutes of looking, I spotted a pale dorsal fin appear in the centre of the river and downstream of my position. It was unobtrusive and quickly disappeared. However, I was sure that was going to turn out to be a Franciscana Dolphin. After a bit of searching, I managed to confirm there were two Franciscana Dolphins and to watch them in the telescope. It reminded me of the pair of Amazon River Dolphins I had seen on the River Orinoco in Venezuela back in Apr 1999, which were feeding unobtrusively in the river and just breaking the surface to breath. These Franciscana Dolphins had a similar behaviour to their riverine cousins, whilst having adapted to live in a much more saline environment.

Franciscana Dolphin: They are a pale grey colouration with a fairly triangular dorsal fin

I had expected that I would have to spend several hours that evening and the following morning to look for the Franciscana Dolphins. Seeing them quickly was a real bonus, as it would allow me to move on in search of the last target species I had considered for this Patagonian leg.

Franciscana Dolphin: They are also known as La Plata Dolphins and they occur from the La Plata area to the East of Buenos Aires to the Rio Negro

Franciscana Dolphin: This is my forty-sixth species of Cetacean. The Handbook of the Marine Mammals of the World Ed 2 lists eighty-nine extant species, but two or three have since been described since this was published

Franciscana Dolphin

Franciscana Dolphin: Finally, they appeared closer than a half mile away. However, it was a brief set of surfacing and this was the only photo I managed to get

I walked back to car via a different route and I saw a few local Birds and some Cavys. The identification of these small Rodents isn't straight-forward, but Southern Mountain Cavy seems to be the regular local species.

Picazuro Pigeon: This is the nominate picazuro subspecies which occurs from East Brazil & Bolivia to South-central Argentina

Chalk-browed Mockingbird: This is the modulator subspecies which occurs from South East Bolivia to South Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay & North Argentina

Southern Mountain Cavy: I saw several of this cute Guinea Pig-sized Rodent

Southern Mountain Cavy

After having my fill of views of the Franciscana Dolphins, it was time to continue heading North. First I had to back track to Viedma to cross over the Rio Negro. There were a couple of Patagonian Maras feeding in the fields next to road.

Patagonian Mara: I remember seeing several around the Valdez Peninsula on my first trip in 1998. These two were the only ones I saw on this short Patagonian trip

Patagonian Mara: They are one of the largest Rodents, standing about eighteen inches tall at the shoulder

The sat nav took me across this lovely old bridge in Viedma

I got lucky while looking for fuel in Viedma, when I found this old historical train by the roadside on Juan de la Piedra, in the Northern suburbs of Viedma.

The historical locomotive, La Maragata: The train is close to the Carmen De Patagones station

The historical locomotive, La Maragata: She dates back to 1922 and was built in the UK. She was designated a historical monument in 1970

I carried on driving North towards my next destination near the large town of Bahia Blanca. This was about three hours drive away, however, I pulled over soon after dark at a large garage for the night, about one hundred miles short of Bahia Blanca. The lights on the hire car weren't great. I decided to get some sleep and start at first light for the final leg of the drive. It had been a long, but worthwhile day.