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

In the previous Blog Post, I wrote about how we successfully saw a roosting Tanimbar Scrubfowl on Nustabun Island, a small island off the coast of the main island of Yamdena, after Wilbur & Raja returned to look for one after dusk. This had the big advantage that we could start sailing for Babar, our next island, sometime after midnight. This was a better option than getting up & landing on Nustabun Island at dawn for a second search.

It is a journey of around 110 miles and the Lady Denok was probably averaging nine mph (eight knots). The plan was that we would arrive early afternoon, which would give us a bonus opportunity to land on East Babar for a few hours of birding. Had we left the following morning, then we wouldn't have arrived at Babar until after dark, when there wouldn't have been any time for Birding.

One of the pleasures of travelling on the Lady Denok was we were sailing through very calm seas throughout the cruise.

The Lady Denok: Note the glass-like sea

The Lady Denok: Looking back from the bows. We either seawatching from the upper deck or when the sun was too strong, the covered deck below it

Local fishing boat: I was regularly surprised at seeing these small fishing boats many miles out to sea from the nearest islands

Another local fishing boat

The seas were never busy with Birds or Cetaceans, but several times an hour we would see one or more Seabirds and the occasional party of Cetaceans. The commonest Wildlife encounter were Flying Fish will over 1250 seen. Frustratingly, most of the Seabirds were sitting on the water or on floating objects & then tended to flush at a fair distance. The result was few Seabirds came close to allow decent photographs.

Tahiti Petrel: Tahiti Petrels were one of the commonest Seabirds we saw with at least twenty-five individuals seen during the day

Tahiti Petrel: there are two subspecies of Tahiti Petrel with the trouessarti subspecies breeding around New Caledonia & the nominate rostrata subspecies breeding on Fiji, American Samoa, the Society, Marquesas & Gambier Islands. It is not clear whether one or both subspecies occur in Indonesian waters and it is only in the last decade or two that their occurrence in Indonesian waters has been recognised, e.g. there is no mention of the species in the BOU Annotated Checklist to the Birds of Wallacea published in 1986

Tahiti Petrel

Tahiti Petrel: Another individual

Tahiti Petrel: A third individual

Bulwer's Petrel: The first of two Bulwer's Petrels we saw on this crossing. Bulwer's Petrels became a familiar sight on the crossings as we headed East

Bulwer's Petrel: Another photo of the first individual. Note, the long thin & angled wings

Bulwer's Petrel: The second of two Bulwer's Petrels we saw on this crossing

Bulwer's Petrel: Bulwer's Petrel have a wide breeding range from the Azores, Madeiran, Canary & Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic, to Round Island in the Indian Ocean and islands off South China, Bonin Island, Hawaiian Islands, Kiribati and the Marquesas Islands in the Pacific Ocean

Bulwer's Petrel: Outside of the breeding season, they wander widely in warmer waters of the Atlantic, Indian & Pacific Oceans

Bulwer's Petrel

Matsudaira's Storm-petrel: I assumed this was another Bulwer's Petrel when I first saw this individual sitting on the water. But after it flew, some of the Australian based Birders called it as a Matsudaira's Storm-petrel. I carried on photographing it, hoping to be able to figure it out from the photos

Matsudaira's Storm-petrel: It is clearly a very worn individual, but it's possible to see the remnants of the white primary covert bar which is a feature of Matsudaira's Storm-petrel & which helps to separate it from Bulwer's Petrel (which doesn't have a white primary covert bar)

Matsudaira's Storm-petrel: The tail should be forked, but like the secondaries, it is very heavy moult

Matsudaira's Storm-petrel: They breed on the Volcano Islands to the South of Bonin Island. Outside the breeding season, they disperse as to the Indian Ocean, Indonesia & as far South in the Pacific as New Guinea

Matsudaira's Storm-petrel: Another photo showing the remnants of the white primary covert bar

Matsudaira's Storm-petrel: Note the very steep forehead which is far steeper than would be seen on a Bulwer's Petrel. Additionally, the wings are shorter & the primaries are broader than on a Bulwer's Petrel

Wilson's Storm-petrel: Wilson's Storm-petrels were another of the common Seabirds seen with at least eighteen seen on this crossing. Frustratingly, they would all fly up off the water at long range

Wilson's Storm-petrel: They are one of the commonest of all Seabirds with a wide breeding range across the Southern Oceans. The nominate oceanicus subspecies breeds on Crozet, Heard & Kerguelen Islands in the Southern Indian Ocean and Macquarie Island. The exasperatus subspecies breeds on the South Shetland, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, as well as, in Antarctica. Finally, the chilensis subspecies breeds in Southern Chilean fjords, Cape Horn and perhaps the Falkland Islands

Wilson's Storm-petrel

Great Frigatebird: Note, the lack of white axillaries which would be seen on a Lesser Frigatebird

Brown Booby: Adult

Brown Booby: Adult

Five Brown Boobies and a lone Red-footed Booby

Red-footed Boobies: Adults

Red-footed Booby: Immature

Bridled Tern: Note, the long thin while eyebrow & extensive black crown which is a key feature to separate a lone Bridled Tern from a Sooty Tern. Bridled Terns are also smaller, but size is difficult to judge on lone birds

Bridled Tern: Note, the extent of the white in the underwing on the primaries. Another key feature to separate a lone Bridled Tern from a Sooty Tern

Sooty Tern: A comparison photo showing the darker primaries on the underwing & the broader white eyebrow on a Sooty Tern. Ascension Island (23 Apr 18)

Crested Tern: This was the commonest Tern species that we saw on the Lady Denok during the cruise

Crested Tern: Crested Terns are a widespread species occurring along the coast from Namibia to the Red Sea, through the Indian Ocean to the Indian Subcontinent to South East Asia, China, Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia & islands in the Western Pacific

Little Tern: This is the sinensis subspecies which occurs from South East Russia to Japan, South East Asia, Philippines, Indonesia and New Guinea

Little Tern

I will cover the Cetaceans and Flying Fish in the next Blog Post.

7 Jun 22 - The Least Tern Twitch

As part of the #30DaysWild, I wrote a quick Blog Post covering the Least Tern twitch to the Portrane Little Tern colony, just North of Dublin, Ireland. This is the first of the longer Blog Posts covering the Least Tern Twitch & the rest of the Irish trip. News broke on the evening of 3 Jun 22 that the first Irish record Least Tern had reappeared in the Portrane Little Tern colony, after hanging around the colony in Spring 2021. I decided against twitching it in 2021, given my cautious approach to C19 status, but was happy to try now it was back.

There is only one accepted UK record which I wasn't able to see in Spring 1990 when there were a lot of other superb goodies turning up at the same time, including the Isle of Wight Alpine Accentor, the Lundy Ancient Murrelet & the St Mary's Tree Swallow. At the time, I was about two months away from starting a 20 month Round the World trip. I was spending a lot of time planning the trip and working hard to close down a big project at work: which was also helping to maximise overtime given I was about to pack up work. In the end, I didn't have the time to get to Rye Harbour to see what was being treated as the American subspecies of Little Tern. It did turn up again for the next three years, but I was either abroad or skint once I got back.

I decided to hold off racing over to Ireland immediately and decided to wait & see if it settled down. The following day it was confirmed that it had already spent just over a week around the colony. When it was still present on 6 Jun, I started looking into the logistics of a trip. The best option for me was to take the car over on the Pembroke to Rosslare ferry as a mini break, which was £238 return for me & the car. This had proved to be a low hassle route for the Egyptian Vulture Twitch. This time I wanted to come back on a daytime crossing in the hope of some Cetaceans & Seabirds. To be fair, that was the plan on the previous trip, but the weather resulted in my daytime crossing being cancelled & I opted for the next evening ferry instead. I popped out & bought food to allow me to self-cater, along with a large camping water container, as I always run low on water when I'm away. I have a car kettle which allows regular refills of hot drinks, which helps to reduce costs whilst travelling.

Portrane Beach: The Little Tern colony was one mile North of this point

Portrane Beach: The Least and Little Terns were resting about 30 metres from us on the beach when not on nest duties

Portrane Beach: The Little Tern colony was in this fenced off area. Unfortunately the previous evening, a Fox had destroyed five Little Tern and one Ringed Plover nests that were outside the netting. The volunteers reckoned they had enough time to renest and were creating some stony areas to try luring them inside the fencing

By early evening I was heading off for Pembroke Dock and arrived in good time for the 02:45 departure the following morning. Armed with a sleeping bag & pillow, I managed to get some broken sleep on the ferry before the announcement that we were arriving on time & they hoped to have us disembarking around 06:45. It was about a three hour drive up to Portrane which would have been quicker, except my Sat Nav decided it was faster to do through, rather than around Dublin. Despite being the capital city, the traffic and roads were still a lot more pleasant than driving through many of the big UK cities. I arrived at Portrane about 10:00. After a one mile walk up the beach with another Irish Birder, we reached the three other Irish Birders who were already watching the Least Tern.

Least Tern: The initial views were unidentifiable. I was told it was the middle Tern

Least Tern: Even when it woke up, it wasn't much easier to identify, given I couldn't compare it with the Little Terns who were still asleep

Least Tern: It looks very similar to the Little Tern behind it, but it has a yellower bill with a reduced black tip, yellower legs, is marginally smaller, slimmer and paler on the upperparts and has a grey (not white) rump & tail. The most obvious feature was the loud disyllabic call which was very distinct from the call of the Little Terns. Virtually all the Little Terns were colour-ringed which also helped to pick it out from the Little Terns sitting away from the colony

At one point, all the Terns were spooked & flew around before returning a few minutes later.

Least Tern: This is my best flight photo showing the grey rump

Least Tern: A final flight photo of the Least Tern

Little Tern: A flight photo of a Little Tern showing the white rump & tail

Little Tern: A final flight photo of a Little Tern

Once back on the beach, it decided to display to one of the Little Terns, before settling down to roost again.

Least Tern: Displaying to one of the Little Terns (back Tern)

Least Tern: Displaying over, it settled down on the right hand side to rest

Little Tern: A comparison photo of a Little Tern showing the typically larger black tip to an orangey bill & darker legs

Ringed Plover: There were a few breeding within the Little Tern colony

By now, I had spent the best part of three hours watching the Terns. However, all the Terns had been spooked again and I hadn't seen the Least Tern for about a half hour. It was very low tide and perhaps it was feeding several hundred metres away at the water's edge. It seemed a good idea to head back to the car to get some food & plan the rest of my time in Ireland. Initially, I had planned to look for the endemic Cryptic Wood Whites. But I didn't have any detailed sites in Ireland, other than a vague name of a site near Waterford. That was left as an option for the following afternoon depending on the weather: which turned out to be poor Butterfly weather.

Gallowglass: Ireland has some great roadside art. This is a Gallowglass at Ballaghaderreen. Gallowglass were elite mid 13th to late 16th century mercenary Norse-Gaelic clans warriors

I therefore, decided to head up to The Mullet to have another look for the American Black Duck on Cross Lough. I had seen it in flight back on the Egyptian Vulture trip, but was keen to get some better views. I was also keen to return to the area as it resembles the Uist Islands, which are my favourite part of Scotland. The weather was planned to get worse during the afternoon, but was surprisingly reasonable for the last hour of light at Cross Lough. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the American Black Duck. It was only on the following day that I figured out how to look at the Southern end of the Lough and perhaps that was where it had been.

The N5: This is the main non-dual carriageway road between Roscommon & Foxford. These roads are fantastic to drive as a Brit used to busy UK roads. Despite being a main road, it was pleasantly empty of cars allowing me to safely stop & take this photo. Many main roads in Ireland have an inside lane to allow slow traffic to pull into to allow them to be overtaken

Despite not seeing the American Black Duck, it had been a good day. I had seen my 550th species of BOU/IRBC species for the British & Irish List, with 8 species seen in Ireland. When I started getting serious with Birding in the late 70s, getting to 400 species in my lifetime looked to be a big challenge, given very few had achieved that target at that point. How times & expectations have changed over that period. It was time for to get the sleeping bag out & get some well-deserved & long overdue kip in the Focus hotel.