26 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Twenty Eight - Melon-headed Whale

I thought we weren't going to see much else in the way of good Cetaceans, after enjoying a stunning performance by Sperm Whales during the afternoon of the day we crossed the Equator. However, we had one more Cetacean treat when a dispersed party of Blackfish were seen on the port side in the late afternoon. None were close & they were not appearing very often. Checking the photos later & discussing with other observers, I completely failed to get onto the nearer pods of around twenty False Killer Whales which were a few hundred metres off the Plancius. But I did get onto around twenty of the fifty or so more distant Melon-headed Whales. I've seen Melon-headed Whales before in the Philippines on the ferry between Batangas, Luzon & Waya, Mindoro & on the return ferry a few days later. But that was back in 2002 and I can't remember much about those sightings: especially as my only camera had died a few weeks before. So, I was pleased to get another sighting of some Melon-headed Whales, even if they weren't close.

Melon-headed Whale: Melon-headed Whales are a Dolphin-sized Blackfish with a maximum size of 2.8 metres. They have a distinctive head shape without a beak and without the melon overhanging the jaws as it does in the much larger False Killer Whales (which are 5 - 6 metres in size)

Melon-headed Whale: The dorsal fin is positioned about halfway along the body & is tall & slightly falcate

Melon-headed Whale: This close crop of the last photo shows a darker mask to the lower head which is one of the features to separate them from the more uniformly coloured & similar-sized Pygmy Killer Whales

Melon-headed Whale: Melon-headed Whales occur in all tropical & subtropical deep water oceans from 40 degrees North to 35 degrees South

Melon-headed Whale

We also saw the four Flying Fish species that we had been seeing on the previous few days: Small Clearwing, Four-winged Flying Fish, Mirrorwing Flying Fish and an unindentified Flying Fish.

Four-winged Flying Fish

Four-winged Flying Fish: Another view of the same individual

Flying Fish sp. (Cheilopogon sp.): This seems to be one of the dark-winged Flying Fish with a pale wing bar (Cheilopogon sp.), but it doesn't look like the Blacksail Flying Fish that we saw between Tristan da Cunha and St Helena. I caught this individual as it was about to dive back into the water

25 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Twenty Seven: Blainville's Beaked Whales

The first full day of five at sea between Ascension Island & Cape Verde on the Atlantic Odyssey had already produced my first South Polar Skua & a couple of pods of Short-finned Pilot Whales. There were also at least six Pantropical Spotted Dolphins, but these were distant & were interested in hunting, rather than coming in to check out the Plancius. My photos are barely record photos. We did have one final Cetacean highlight: a couple of female Blainville's Beaked Whales. They were picked up fairly close to the Plancius, but were moving South & the Plancius did not stop to try & allow us to get better views. However, there was time to get some photos before they passed us. We had seen on one on 16 Apr on the crossing between Tristan da Cunha & St Helena, but I hadn't managed to get any photos on that occasion.

Blainville's Beaked Whale: I've been discussing the identification features of this individual with Marijke & she pointed out that the pale line shown in this photo is actually the raised jaw line which is diagnostic for Blainville's Beaked Whale. Hans managed to get a better photo of this jaw line. I had been concerned that there wasn't a lot of the characteristic pale spotting on this individual, but apparently that can be variable

Blainville's Beaked Whale

Blainville's Beaked Whale

Blainville's Beaked Whale

Blainville's Beaked Whales occur in temperate & tropical waters throughout the world & has the widest range of any of the Mesoplodon Beaked Whales. They occur around continental shelves, as well as, in deeper water. The largest Blainville's Beaked Whales are 4.7 metres long. They have relatively non-descript brownish-grey colouration and they typically have pale round or oval white scars & white scratch marks, especially on the males. They have a moderate sized beak. Males & females have an arched back of the jaw which is a diagnostic feature. Males also have tusks which protrude from the back of the jaw, so that the cheeks protrude above a flat-looking melon. The dorsal fin is small & located about two thirds along the length of the body.

Blainville's Beaked Whale: The first individual

Blainville's Beaked Whale: The dorsal fin of first individual finally breaking the surface

Blainville's Beaked Whale: Both individuals (with the first individual on the left)

Blainville's Beaked Whale: The beak of the second individual just breaks the surface

Blainville's Beaked Whale: The second individual

Blainville's Beaked Whale: The dorsal fin wasn't as obvious on the second individual

There was also a selection of Flying Fish & a few Portuguese Man-of-war seen.

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

Four-winged Flying Fish

Portuguese Man-of-war

I not sure what think this is: It looks like the remains of part of a dead Fish

Glenn either chimping or having a crafty kip whilst pretending to check his photos

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.

18 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Twenty: More St Helenan Seabirds

The first day at St Helena was one of the busiest days of the Atlantic Odyssey & it left me with the best part of 2000 photos to process (the greatest number of photos I have ever taken in a single day). So, it is no wonder that it has taken me so long to sort all the photos & why it has taken six Blog Posts for the day. The previous Posts covered our arrival at St Helena, my first Whale Shark which greeted our arrival, Jamestown which included so many photos that it had to be split over two parts, Jamestown part 1 & Jamestown part 2. Finally, there was the afternoon boat trip out to look for the St Helenan population of Band-rumped Storm-petrels. This final Post covers the other Birds seen on the boat trip.

Red-billed Tropicbird: This is the mesonauta subspecies which occurs in the subtropical & tropical Pacific, as well as, the Caribbean & East Atlantic

Red-billed Tropicbird: I couldn't resist another photo

Masked Booby: There were a few Masked Boobies flying around during the day. This is the nominate dactylatra subspecies which occurs in the Caribbean & SW Atlantic

Common Noddy: This is also known as Brown Noddy. There were good numbers of Common Noddies flying around & on Egg Island. This is the nominate stolidus subspecies which occurs in the Caribbean & South Atlantic islands, as well as, around the Gulf of Guinea to Cameroon

White-capped Noddy: This is also known as Black Noddy. They were also common around St Helena. This is the atlanticus subspecies which occurs in St Helena & on adjacent South Atlantic islands and the Gulf of Guinea. In good light, they are blacker with a more extensive white & more contrasting crown & are noticeably longer billed

The Noddy nest ledges looked stunning

I wonder how old this rope is

White Tern: Proving that some individuals can nest sensibly like other Terns, rather than trying to balance an egg on a notch in a branch as some were in the trees in Jamestown

White Tern: This is the nominate alba subspecies which occurs on St Helena & Ascension Island, as well as, Fernando de Noronha & Trindade Island

 

Four-winged Flying Fish: As we were returning to Jamestown, we disturbed a few Flying Fish including this Four-winged Flying Fish

The boat trip back to the Plancius gave us the chances to see some of this historical defences a bit closer than during our arrival into Jamestown Bay on the Plancius.

I presume this is one of the Napoleonic era defences

A closer view of the Napoleonic defence we saw from the Plancius as we arrived

The rocky cliffs were full of interesting patterns caused by the various volcanic eruptions

More volcanic patterns

High Knoll Fort: The fort towers over Jamestown on the highest ground & was built to protect the ladder batteries against a rear attack

Two Elswick Mark VII Six Inch Guns on Ladder Hill: I hadn't noticed these guns when I walked up Ladder Hill & the legs were a bit too stiff to want to walk up the following day to have a closer look

One of the Elwick Six Inch Guns: They were ordered to help guard the island in 1902 when there were Boer prisoners held on St Helena. By the time the guns had arrived, the Boer War was over & the prisoners had been sent back to South Africa. They were used once in World War II when a submarine surfaced close to St Helena