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

This is the third Blog Post detailing the Cetaceans we saw on the crossing from the Tanimbar Islands to Babar Island. The previous two Blog Posts covered the Seabirds & an Olive Ridley Turtle. A final Blog Post will cover the Flying Fish.

Regular readers of the Blog will know that I'm a big fan of Cetaceans and I was looking forward to the Banda Sea Cruise as I was expecting to see a variety of species at regular intervals: I was not disappointed.

I will start with Risso's Dolphins which are relatively easy to identify with their pale grey and generally scarred colouration and high, narrow and strongly falcated dorsal fin. They have a very wide range in all the oceans, except for the cold Arctic and Antarctic oceans.

Risso's Dolphin: The pale grey colouration & scarring on the body allow this Dolphin to be identified as a Risso's Dolphin. It was seen at 10:52 local time

Risso's Dolphin: Another photo of the previous individual showing the classic Risso's Dolphin's thin & high-curved dorsal fin

Risso's Dolphin: This is a different individual that we saw earlier in the morning at 09:46 local time. This was a Risso's Dolphin based upon the pale grey body & the scarring

[Note - After I wrote this Blog Post, James Eaton came back to query my identification of the next Dolphins, which I had stated I thought they were Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins & James stated "Your Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins photo - are you sure as to the identification, the beak looks so long and slender that it appears more like a Spinner to me? Remember, Spinners in Indonesia aren’t so long-beaked. It also looks very dark, though it could be the lighting". There was also feedback from Dan Brown stating "To me the IndoP BNDs are Spinners. The beak looks way to slim for BND, the colouration is also pro Spinner and the dorsal is pretty typical in shape for Spinner as well. Other IDs all look good". As a result of this feedback, I've corrected the identification of these Dolphins to Spinner Dolphins].

Spinner Dolphin

Spinner Dolphin

Spinner Dolphin: Four of a party of five Spinner Dolphins that we saw at 07:30 local time

Spinner Dolphin

At 11:16 local time we encountered a logging Cetacean. I've a number of photos of it looking exactly the same as the second photo, followed by the last two photos where it turned before diving.

[Note - At the time I wrote this Blog Post, I said this was a probable Dwarf Sperm Whale. Having looked at the Post again today, I'm struggling to see why I was so cautious. Looked at it again, I'm now confident this logging Cetacean is a Dwarf Sperm Whale. There was also positive feedback from James Eaton "Dwarf Sperm - agree. Looks the same as one I encountered in 2018 off Babar. That was also logging, classic behaviour" & from Dan Brown stating "Other IDs all look good". I've removed the probable labelling].

Dwarf Sperm Whale: The initial view

Dwarf Sperm Whale: To me this looks like the classic profile for a Dwarf Sperm Whale

Dwarf Sperm Whale: Another photo of it logging

Dwarf Sperm Whale: It came up for another view as we started to pass it

Dwarf Sperm Whale: A final view of the dorsal fin & it was gone

23 Dec 18 - Index To My Sperm Whale Posts

This Blog Post is an Index to all the Blog Posts covering my Sperm Whale sightings. The following Blog Posts cover all my Rorqual Whale, Baleen Whale, Sperm Whale, Beaked Whale, Beluga Whale & Narwhal, Blackfish, Atlantic Dolphin, Pacific Dolphin and Porpoise Posts. The taxonomy follows the Marine Mammals of the World (Second Edition) book. There are links to the Posts against each entry below. Alternatively, you can click on a particular species in the Keywords section on the right side of the Blog to show all Posts for the selected species. Finally, selecting the Cetaceans Keyword to show all Cetacean Posts. I will continue to add to the photos and links as I write new Cetacean Blogs.

This Post covers the following species: Sperm Whale, Pygmy Sperm Whale and Dwarf Sperm Whale.

Sperm Whale: A party of females & youngsters at sea between St Helena and Ascension Island (21 Apr 18)

Sperm Whale: Two at sea between St Helena and Ascension Island (22 Apr 18)

Sperm Whale: Sperm Whales breaching and spyhopping at sea between Ascension Island and Cape Verde (26 Apr 18)

Sperm Whale: At the Estancia Harberton museum, Argentina (27 Mar 18)

Dwarf Sperm Whale: At sea between Tristan da Cunha and St Helena (16 Apr 18)

Dwarf Sperm Whale: At sea between Ascension Island and Cape Verde (28 Apr 18)

28 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Thirty: A Frustrating Cetacean Day

On the fourth day at sea between Ascension Island and Cape Verde, we started the day with some close views of Cymene Dolphins & more distance views of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins. Additionally, there had been good, but short, views of Sea Turtles during the morning. We had a good Cetaceans list by the end of the day, but despite seeing most species, it was a frustrating day for me for Cetaceans. There was been a shout for some Dolphins on the port side of the Plancius. I didn't react immediately as I assumed they were more Clymene Dolphins or Pantropical Spotted Dolphins. Then I heard they were Rough-toothed Dolphins. I headed over to the aft side of the top deck & had brief bins views of the small pod heading rapidly down the side of the ship. I had seen them, but briefly. It was the only ones I saw on the Odyssey & there weren't any seen on the follow-on West African Pelagic. Some of the others who were better positioned managed to get some decent photos of the pod. Late morning, there were a couple of Orcas seen at long range on the port side: one of which was breaching. Again, I saw them with the bins, but failed to get any photos other than the splash the breaching Orca made.

Splash from the breaching Orca

Just before lunchtime, we had views of a couple of Dwarf Sperm Whales. One was logging on the surface, while the second slowly surfaced next to it. Again, it was good to get some photos of them, but the views weren't fantastic.

Dwarf Sperm Whale: A second individual starts to surface to the left of the logging individual

Dwarf Sperm Whale

Dwarf Sperm Whale

Dwarf Sperm Whale

Dwarf Sperm Whale: A close crop of the right hand individual

Dwarf Sperm Whale

While everybody was at lunch, I was heading down to the Observation lounge to top up on coffee & biscuits, when I ran into Marijke & several of the Expedition staff who appeared from the staff mess room. Apparently, there was a shout of a close Whale. There wasn't time to head back to the bridge wing, so I headed out to one of the forward decks to see a couple of Short-finned Pilot Whales right next to the bows. There was time to grab a few photos, before we were sailing past them. I then headed back to get the coffee & biscuits. After lunch, Marijke explained the full story. She had gone to the opposite side of the Plancius to me & also seen a Short-finned Pilot Whale go down her side of the Plancius, followed by a large pool of blood. Apparently, some of the Birders who were at the bows had also seen a close Orca, which both Marijke & I had missed. What Marijke thinks is that one of the Short-finned Pilot Whale calves became separated from the rest of the pod and was attacked by the Orca. I ended up getting a good close photo of one of the Short-finned Pilot Whales going down the starboard side. But it was frustrating & sad to hear of the demise of one of the pod.

Short-finned Pilot Whale: This photo shows the blunt head shape and the right-hand flipper can be seen. This is shorter in length than the overall length of the dorsal fin. Long-finned Pilot Whales have a flipper length that is similar to the overall dorsal fin length

In late afternoon, we had brief views of a Gervais's Beaked Whale.

Gervais's Beaked Whale: Quite a few people managed to miss this completely, so getting a record shot photo was doing better than many. Fortunately, Hans or Marijke managed to get decent photos to confirm the identification

Overall, it had been a fairly frustrating day with generally poor photos of the Whales, not to mention the unfortunate Short-finned Pilot Whale.

16 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Eighteen: At Sea From Tristan Da Cunha To St Helena - Surfboard

About 45 minutes before the excellent Strap-toothed Beaked Whale sighting in the afternoon, we saw another Cetacean. This was another learning experience for me. It was on its own & quietly logging (i.e. hanging around still) at the surface. All the Cetaceans we had run into so far on the Odyssey had been actively swimming, diving & resurfacing or were even more active Dolphins. It was likely to be a Tick for me as this wasn't a behaviour I was familiar with. It was a small Dolphin sized Cetacean.

Surfboard: All I saw initially was a fin

Surfboard: This was followed by a view of most of the body in front of the fin. The wet tail is reflecting a lot of sunlight

Surfboard: Another view showing the pale spots were changing between photos confirming this was down to reflected light. Note the bulging head, flat appearance & the dorsal fin isn't reflecting much light now

Surfboard: A closer view of the head

Surfboard: A closer crop of the last photo confirming there is a large notch in the dorsal fin

This was quickly called as a Surfboard by Marijke & Hans. Marijke said that Dwarf Sperm Whales & the closely related Pygmy Sperm Whales are often nicknamed as Surfboards due to their appearance as upturned surfboards. The two species look & act very similar. Both are prone to logging on the surface & quietly sinking when they are ready to hunt again or are disturbed. Due to their inactivity on the surface, a day with really calm seas is needed to stand much chance of seeing them. Dwarf Sperm Whales are up to 2.7 metres and Pygmy Sperm Whales tend to be a bit larger at 2.7 - 3.8 metres. Therefore, they are approximately the size of a Bottle-nosed Dolphin, but they are much harder to see due to the inactive behaviour. Dwarf Sperm Whales have a fairly large flat head & a flat back with a fairly prominent dorsal fin. The rear body tapers rapidly & is strongly angled downwards. It is hard to see the rear body & tail as they tend to sink, rather than fluke like the vastly bigger Sperm Whale. Dwarf Sperm Whales have a larger, more erect & pointed dorsal fin whereas, Pygmy Sperm Whales have a lower & more rounded fin. Based on the dorsal fin shape this was my first Dwarf Sperm Whale. It was good to speak to Glenn Overington about this Cetacean sighting as Glenn found the first UK record of Dwarf Sperm Whale in Mounts Bay in Autumn 2011.

Dwarf Sperm Whale: After spending sometime stationary on the surface, it quietly sunk below the water line

Dwarf Sperm Whale: Nearly gone

Marijke said there was a suspicion about them among some Cetacean watchers & we should refer to them as Surfboards, rather than calling them by their proper names: suggesting we would be pushing our luck in finding others if we used their proper names too soon. Despite having a rationale scientific background, I don't believe in commenting on the lack of punctures I've had on a foreign trip for the same reason. We still blame Birding mate, Keith Turner, for his rash comments on the final day about how lucky we had been with only 1 puncture in the month in Kenya in 1987: the next puncture was within the hour, with a final one about two hours later. I was happy to stick with Surfboards when discussing what we would like to see on future calm days or calling a potential future candidate.

Dwarf Sperm Whale: That's just about it. I had seen in previous Odyssey reports there were a number of good Cetaceans we could potentially bump into on the trip, but while I was clearly keen to see as many Cetaceans as possible, I wasn't as optimistic I would see them. So I was really pleased to have seen my first Dwarf Sperm Whale. Whereas, I was fairly confident we would connect with just about all the potential new Seabirds

Dwarf Sperm Whales have a potentially large range and occur in all the Tropical oceans as far South as South African & Australia and as far North as Spain & Japan and tend to occur offshore. Pygmy Sperm Whales have a similar range, but they seem to prefer temperate seas so they have occurred a bit further North as far as Scotland. They occur both around the continental shelf, as well as, in deep waters. Not a lot is known about their feeding habits & diet, but both appear to have similar diets of Cephalopods i.e. Squid, Octopus, as well as, other seafood like fish etc.