31 Oct 22 - Indonesia - Banda Sea Cruise Day 5 - Olive Ridley Turtle

One of my favourite wildlife groups are Sea Turtles. Seeing any Sea Turtle is special and my highlight of the crossing from the Tanimbar Islands to Babar Island was when I picked up a Sea Turtle drifting past on the surface & close to the starboard side. It was only my second Olive Ridley Turtle, after one I saw on the Atlantic Odyssey on the crossing between Ascension Island and the Cape Verde Islands, on 28 Apr 18.

Olive Ridley Turtles are relatively small rounded Sea Turtles which only grow to about eighty cm in length, compared to the slightly larger Hawksbill Turtles, Green and Loggerhead Turtles which grown to just over a metre and Leatherbacks than can grown to close to two metres. The best ways to identify Sea Turtles is often to photograph the top of the head and shell, as the head & shell segments are generally distinctive. Sadly, this wasn't possible in this case, but Olive Ridley Turtles have distinctive face markings and dull olive-green shells, which is how this Sea Turtle was identified.

Olive Ridley Turtle: This was my only photo showning the side of the face. Olive Ridley Turtles have a relatively plain side of the face, darker on the upper side and paler below and a dark eye patch, whereas most of the other Sea Turtles in range have brighter blotchy faces caused by each dark segment being edged by pale colouration. Leatherback Turtles have pale spots on a dark side to the face

Olive Ridley Turtle: Showing a flipper

Olive Ridley Turtle: This photo confirms the dull olive colouration of the body shell

Although it didn't dive as it passed us, it did keep its head underwater for most of the time we saw it. All to quickly we were passed it.

17 Oct 22 - My Best UK Marine Find

In the last Blog Post, I wrote about the twitch to Bryher for the first twitchable Blackburnian Warbler. It had been a great day, with sunny, but windy, weather & I had had good close views of the Blackburnian Warbler. The crossing over had been bouncy, but I had survived. The highlights of the crossing to St Mary's had included a Sooty Shearwater and a pod of at least six Short-beaked Common Dolphins. I was looking forward to the crossing back.

Blackburnian Warbler: A lovely individual & I was glad I made the effort to go to Bryher

Just like the crossing over, the back deck was full with Birders. Some were looking, but most were sitting down & waiting for somebody else to find them something to stand up & look at. I was in a more central position on the desk, as the rocking would be a bit less extreme & as usual, I spent most of my time scanning for Seabirds & Cetaceans.

While we were still off the South East corner of St Mary's, I picked up a large dark lump in the water that wasn't close. I couldn't figure it, but it looked interesting. I quietly alerted Matt Eade and a few other Birders standing next to me. I got some more views and some photos and then it was gone. It was pointless to call it out to the whole of the deck when I first picked it up. Firstly, I wasn't sure what it was & more importantly, the Birders closer to the railings would have stood up & blocking our view. Looking at the photos, it wasn't the very top of a whale back as I had initially thought in the choppy water, but a Sea Turtle. At the time, I assumed it was a Leatherback Turtle from the back of the camera photos.

Loggerhead Turtle: It's possible to make out its head along with several barnacles on the shell

Looking at the photos properly when I got home, confirmed it was a Loggerhead Turtle. It didn't have the large parallel bands on the shell that a Leatherback Turtle would have and it had barnacles on its shell. Barnacles cannot attach to the leathery shell of a Leatherback Turtle. It had been a large Sea Turtle and its size and colouration ruled out the other Sea Turtle species. I forwarded the photos to Tom Brereton as I knew he would have more experience of Sea Turtles than me: he confirmed the identification. There are only around 200 to 250 UK records of Loggerhead Turtles, so it was a great record and we were still in sight of St Mary's. We still had the bulk of the crossing ahead of us.

Loggerhead Turtle: My first Sea Turtle in UK waters

Loggerhead Turtle: I have seen a few Sea Turtles before & there is an Index to all my Sea Turtle Posts at the top of the Blog

Clearing the Island, we encountered Whale blows on both sides of the ship. Unfortunately, I failed to get good views of them, but I did manage to photograph the back of one before it dived. It clearly is a large back. Soon after I saw much a better photograph of this individual which confirmed it was my first UK Fin Whale. I've had really good views of Fin Whales abroad and they are the commonest Whales that I've seen. But it would have been nice getting better views in UK waters.

Fin Whale: There is clearly lot of back showing

There were also at least thirty Great Shearwaters, including a raft of about twenty individuals took off from the sea on the port side. This total would have an undercount for the crossing as I was only looking on this side. I grabbed a few photos as we passed the main group, but I was focusing on looking, rather than the photography.

A Great Shearwater flies over where the Fin Whale has just submerged: How good is that for UK waters

Great Shearwater: A closer crop from the last picture. I won't win any awards for this photo, but its juxtaposition with the Fin Whale makes it better

Great Shearwater

Great Shearwater

At one point, a guy next to me started muttering something that sounded like he was watching a Chough: which was too bizarre to try looking for. Then finally he shouted Fea's Petrel, but not until it was at 7 o'clock on the ship and rapidly headed into the sun at the stern. I couldn't see through the crowd who were next to the side of the ship. I raced to get a view off the stern, but couldn't get onto it as it headed rapidly away. A few photos appeared online the next day, confirming it was a Fea's Petrel or Desertas Petrel. I've not seen a UK Pterodroma Petrel, so it would have been a UK Tick: albeit I would only have been able to call it a Pterodroma sp. Hopefully, I will see one in the UK at some point.

It was the end of a great day

It had been a brilliant day. I had survived the bouncy crossings, found a Loggerhead Turtle, seen the Blackburnian Warbler & a Fin Whale: all of which were UK Ticks. I wasn't fussed that I might have been able to get brief views of the Wilson's Snipe or the Pterodroma Petrel: both of which would have been UK Ticks. The thought of two or three UK Ticks on the same day, when the Blackburnian Warbler took me to 553 for the UK & Irish List is crazy. I think I have a good chance of seeing a Wilson's Snipe at some point in the future: the biggest obstacle will be deciding to make the effort to twitch one on Scillies. Best of all for the day, I had stayed outside and kept my C19 risks low which meant I was healthy to travel to Heathrow on 24 Oct for the trip to Indonesia.

6 Dec 18 - Sea Turtle Index

This Blog Post is an Index to all the Blog Posts covering my Sea Turtle sightings. There are links to the Posts against each entry below. A Sea Turtle Index is also shown on the Pages bar underneath the Blog Header photo. 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 Sea Turtles Keyword to show all Sea Turtle Posts. I will continue to add to the photos and links as I write new Sea Turtle Blogs.

Green Turtle: Two inquisitive Green Turtles close to the reef edge at Tenararo, French Polynesia (Copyright Elliot of the Braveheart crew) (13 Nov 14)

Green Turtle: Ascension Island (24 Apr 18)

Leatherback Turtle: At sea between St Helena and Ascension Island (22 Apr 18)

Olive Ridley Turtle: At sea between Ascension Island and Cape Verde (28 Apr 18)

Loggerhead Turtle: At sea between Ascension Island and Cape Verde (28 Apr 18)

Loggerhead Turtle: At sea between Ascension Island and Cape Verde (29 Apr 18)

Loggerhead Turtle: At sea between Madeira and Portugal (6 May 18)

6 May 18 - West African Pelagic - Day Six: Back To The Deep Seas

I woke up as usual around first light & headed up for a hot drink before heading out on deck. It was a relatively calm day at sea with light winds, although the sea had more white-caps to the waves later in the day. There wasn't quite as urgent a rush to be on deck this morning. But I was still on deck around 07:00. We were around a hundred nautical miles North East of Madeira & back over the deep sea bed. The plan was to sail directly from Madeira to the Portuguese coast (which was still another day away) & then follow it North along the continental shelf edge. At least one of the previous West African Pelagic trips had headed closer to the African coast. It would have been interesting to do that as that trip did well for Sabine's Gulls & migrating Skuas. We could then have followed the continental shelf North. However, that would have taken more time & clearly time was something that we didn't have a lot to spare. Therefore, this part of the trip was explained as we were exploring this new straighter route. We would get to check out the Ampere seamount en route which didn't appear to have been visited much in the past from a wildlife perspective. This is a huge ex-volcano which rises to within sixty metres of the surface. Additionally, the hope was that we would cross the Sabine's Gulls & Skuas migration routes further North. Trying new ideas, with little information, is always a gamble. Sometimes these gambles pay off & you discover new sites that are worth revisiting. Other times it doesn't work out. On this occasion, it didn't work out. Spring 2018 was clearly an unusual year in the UK & Europe for Seabird & Passerine movements generally & perhaps it didn't work out for this reason. However, I suspect it didn't work out as the majority of migrating Seabirds migrate closer to the African coastline. We had to arrive in Holland on the morning of 12 May & with this arrival date, we didn't have many other options. One option would have reduced the time around the Canary Islands & Madeira, as well as, time to stop for Cetaceans & that wouldn't have been popular. The only other option would have been to increase the price of the trip to allow more time. But that probably wouldn't have been realistic given the Plancius was booked for a short refit, before heading up to the far more lucrative Arctic for the Summer. Seeing more Sabine's Gulls & Skuas would have been nice. However, for me it was more important to have had the time around the islands. We were now over the deep seas with a typical sea depth of around four kilometres. Having left Madeira & its islands, the only Seabirds we would expect to see would be ones heading North to breed or those generally wandering far out to sea. The deep oceans still have Cetaceans, but they are well dispersed in the open oceans where the seabed is uniformly flat.

Gannet: The first signs of a European influence to the Seabirds. I saw a couple during the day & we would see many more as we carried on North

It was a pretty quiet day for Seabirds with around fifty Cory's Shearwaters, five Sooty Shearwaters, a Manx Shearwater, a couple of Gannets, a Bonxie & an Arctic Tern. Cetaceans were equally quiet with just a few Striped Dolphins & Short-beaked Common Dolphins. Disappointingly, none of the Dolphins wanted to interact with the Plancius & views were brief & at a distance.

Striped Dolphin

I also saw a Sunfish (no photos) & an unidentified Shark during the day.

Unidentified Shark: This Shark was first picked up by its tail fin

Unidentified Shark: This Shark was first picked up by its tail fin. I can't see a long bill on it, so I think it is a Shark, rather than one of the Marlin or other Billfish species

The highlight of the day was seeing four of a dozen or so Loggerhead Turtles that passed the Plancius. Every Sea Turtle sighting at sea for me has always felt like a treat.

Loggerhead Turtle: The first individual

Loggerhead Turtle: They have five or 6 costal scutes (which are the segments along the side of the upper shell). This first individual seems to have five

Loggerhead Turtle: The first individual. They have a more arty look when they are under water

Loggerhead Turtle: A second darker individual

Loggerhead Turtle: A third individual. There are some shellfish growing on the shell of this third individual

It had been a fairly quiet day at sea. We were several days beyond the main Flying Fish areas & I had only seen the occasional Flying Fish since we left Cape Verde. The Loggerhead Turtles were easily the highlight of the trip. All the islands had been good to us & now we had to make do with some quieter days at sea. Still we had to be on deck as we never knew what might appear.

29 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Thirty One: Entering Western Palearctic Waters

Today was a day of mixed emotions as it was our last day at sea on the Atlantic Odyssey as tomorrow we would be just offshore from Praia at first light: Praia is on Santiago Island & is the capital of the Cape Verde Islands. Most of the passengers would be departing, including a number of good friends I had made over the last month. However, some of the Wildwings punters were staying on for the follow-on West African Pelagic, so I would still have some good company for the following two weeks. As a result of it being the last day, then there were a number of tedious admin tasks to complete such as settling bills with the Plancius & finalising the plans for our run ashore the following day. There was also the pleasant task of saying goodbyes to all the friends who were leaving. There was also the important discussion with Mike & Glenn of the top three annoying passengers over the last month, but we agreed to give awards to five passengers as there was such strong competition. Just one candidate failed to get into the top five passengers, along with a couple of others who put in a good effort. Thus, around a hundred had been pleasant to excellent company. I guess that is pretty good going after a month together. In addition, we were losing nearly all the Expedition staff & Doc Laura, the ship's medic: all of which had been excellent company & had been essential to making the trip a success. Only Marijke was staying on for the follow-on West African Pelagic. For the passengers, it had been a month at sea, but most if not all of the Expedition staff had been in Antarctica before we joined the Plancius. For some this final day was a chance to wind down as it was all over.

Belgium Birder Filiep was caught being a bit more relaxed that about his last day of Birding

Argentinian Seba & Christophe (right) sharing a mug of the South American drink mate: Seba had been the Expedition Leader and had done a sterling job behind the scenes to make the trip a success. Both were probably looking forward to the chance to return to their respective families

However, for many of the British & European Birders we crossed the two hundred nautical miles line to the Cape Verde Islands & thus we were in the WESTERN PALEARCTIC at first light. Around Cape Verde we were now in range of the next batch of Seabird Ticks: Cape Verde Shearwater, Boyd's Little Shearwater, Fea's Petrel & Cape Verde Storm-petrel. Additionally, a number of other Seabirds we had been watching for the last few days were now potential Western Palearctic Ticks. So, the keen Birders were aiming to make the most of the last day running into the Cape Verde Islands, albeit we would still be around ninety nautical miles from Praia at dusk. I take my Western Palearctic List semi-seriously and so the next couple of weeks had potential to add between fifteen & twenty Ticks including a number of far more serious World Ticks.

Cory's Shearwater: This is the borealis subspecies of Cory's Shearwater which is the Atlantic breeding subspecies. They have more extensive grey in the hand of the underwing. They are larger and heavier than Cape Verde Shearwaters & have a pale yellow bill with a dark subterminal band

Cory's Shearwater: Another view of the same individual

Cory's Shearwater: Another view of the same individual. They have paler secondaries compared to the primaries

Red-billed Tropicbird: This & Bulwer's Petrel were the two Western Palearctic Ticks seen during the day. I also saw my first Cape Verde Shearwater, but didn't manage to get any presentable photos

Frustratingly, the sea, which had been calm since leaving Ascension Island, had changed & the sea was distinctly choppy. This didn't help with trying to pick up Cetaceans on this final day at sea. I was also looking hard for Seabirds given the potential Ticks. I only managed to see & photograph Leach's Storm-petrels, but without good photos I would have been reluctant to identify a Cape Verde Storm-petrel this far out from Cape Verde from a Band-rumped Storm-petrel.

Short-finned Pilot Whale

Close to lunchtime we ran into a large pod of Short-finned Pilot Whales. We carried on as we had had a number of excellent encounters with Short-finned Pilot Whales over the previous few days. But there was time to grab a few photos before we were past the pod.

Short-finned Pilot Whale: A tail flipper of this diving individual

Short-finned Pilot Whale: This individual's tail flippers looked much thinner (but it is just the wrong angle to the camera)

Short-finned Pilot Whale: A spyhopping individual

The Short-finned Pilot Whales were accompanied by a small pod of Bottlenose Dolphins. Both the Pilot Whales species tend to be messy eaters, so perhaps the Bottlenose Dolphins were sticking with them for scraps.

Bottlenose Dolphin: A mere beginner compared to the Spinner Dolphins & Clymene Dolphins seen on recent days

I had the most frustrating near sighting of the Odyssey in the late morning. There was a Cetacean shout from the starboard side when I was on the port side. I quickly got across to the other deck & got put onto a distant breaching Beaked Whale. Several times I saw the splash, but I didn't see the Beaked Whale itself. Hans & Glenn did & their photos confirmed it was a True's Beaked Whale. This is one of the rarer Beaked Whales & it was very annoying to scrutinise my photos later & confirm I had missed it.

True's Beaked Whale splash: Given its rarity, then there is a fairly good chance this will be as close as I every get to a True's Beaked Whale

One of the main highlights of the day was seeing another Loggerhead Turtle.

Loggerhead Turtle: The initial view didn't give away too many identification features

Loggerhead Turtle: Flippers out, but no great help with identification

Loggerhead Turtle: Coming up for air

Loggerhead Turtle: A close up of the head pattern. There are two pairs of scales at the front of the head. This rules out Green Turtle which only has one long pair of scales. The head shape would be more pointed & thinner if it was a Hawksbill Turtle. The overall colouration makes it a Loggerhead Turtle & rules out Olive Ridley Turtle

Loggerhead Turtle: It's caught its breath & is off. Unfortunately, I failed to get any good photos of the scales on the shell

We also saw the first Jellyfish species.

Apparently this is a Medusa Jellyfish

This flag & buoys may indicate that a long liner fishing vessel has deployed miles of fishing lines in this area

There was a final farewell from the Captain & some celebratory drinks in the Observation lounge in late afternoon. But like a few other keen Birders, I skipped the offer so I could spend a bit more time on deck on the final afternoon. It had been a fantastic trip with 5 species of Penguins, 8 species of Albatross, 25 species of Shearwaters & Petrels, 6 species of Storm-petrels, 2 species of Tropicbirds, my final species of Frigatebird & 3 species of Boobies. Additionally, there were a number of other endemic species seen on the various islands we visited. The only landing or zodic cruise that we had hoped to make & didn't was to Nightingale Island in the Tristan da Cunha group. Very few people ever get the chance to land on or zodiac alongside Inaccessible Island, so I never expected that to be a possibility. Many Birders I know think that being away for a month on an expensive trip & coming back with only 22 World Ticks is not cost effective. However, this for me trip was more than just a chance to see a few Ticks. It was the overall experience of a Seabird extravaganza, along with 22 species of Cetaceans (nearly 25% of the total species), 4 of the 7 species of Sea Turtles, excellent memories of Whale Sharks, the days of Flying Fish & many other sealife. Additionally, there was the opportunity to spend some time visiting some of the most remote British Overseas Territories. All this with some great company & experienced Expedition staff. Overall, it was one of the best trips I have ever been on. I was not ready to come home yet. Fortunately, I wouldn't have to as I had another two weeks on the Plancius after we left Praia as we sailed back to Holland on the follow-on West African Pelagic.

28 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Thirty: Two More Turtle Species

Another early morning start on the Plancius wondering what would be seen during the day. The early morning Clymene Dolphins & Pantropical Spotted Dolphins had got things off to a good start. It was another hot & sunny day. With only a couple of days before we reached the Cape Verde Islands, there was anticipation of an increase in Seabirds as we were now closer to Cape Verde, than Ascension Island. However, we would be in deep water until we were very close to the islands. In the end, the day turned out to be similar to the previous day for Seabirds with a few Bulwer's Petrels, Cory's Shearwaters, Red-footed Boobies, Long-tailed Skuas & Arctic Terns. Around half the Seabirds seen were Leach's Storm-petrels. The highlight was my only Pomarine Skua of the Odyssey. There was also a Storm-petrel sp. that I didn't get to photograph. It could have been a Band-rumped Storm-petrel or my first Cape Verde Storm-petrel. Cape Verde Storm-petrels have been recently split off from Band-rumped Storm-petrel & without photos, it would have been tricky to be sure.

Three more of the good company from the Odyssey: Chris Gladwin, Chris Keher & Mark Newsome

With the Birding being uninspiring again, it was down to the sea to provide the main interest to keep us on the decks. Fortunately, the sea came up trumps with Sea Turtles. The Sea Turtles were tricky to get onto as they are so low in the water that they needed to be much closer than a hundred metres to stand a chance of seeing them. But at that distance, when they realised they were right next to the Plancius, their immediate thought was to dive & try & get away from us. Therefore, even when we were lucky to see a Sea Turtle it was generally diving by the time it was level with the bridge wings. You also needed to be close to the finder, as there wasn't time to move closer to an observer, as they were already thinking of diving as they were spotted. We saw two Loggerhead Turtles & an Olive Ridley Turtle in the morning. Fortunately, I managed to see & photograph both species. Just getting to see a Sea Turtle was tough, given the brevity of views but we generally needed to get photos to confirm the identification. A useful identification chart can be downloaded from the Sea Turtle.org website.

Loggerhead Turtle: The shell is not circular, but is longer than it is wide. They have five or 6 costal scutes (which are the segments along the side of the upper shell). I seem to remember Marijke saying that Loggerhead Turtles were very prone to having Barnacle encrustaceans on their shells

Loggerhead Turtle: The first coastal scute touches the nuchal scute (which is the narrow segment on the shell immediately behind the head). Unfortunately, my photos do not show either of the key features associated with the scutes, but other people managed to get better photos allowing Marijke to confirm the identification of both Turtle species seen

Olive Ridley Turtle: This was the smallest Sea Turtle we saw & had this distinctive shaped shell which was far more rounded than the other Sea Turtles we saw. The shape was still noticeable even when it was underwater

Olive Ridley Turtle: The only other Sea Turtle with a similar shell shape is Kemp's Ridley Turtle, but that is restricted to the Gulf of Mexico & Atlantic coast of the US. Olive Ridley Turtles occur in the Pacific and Indian Oceans & South Atlantic (& just into the North Atlantic as we crossed the Equator the previous day)

Olive Ridley Turtle: It was great to see it pop its head out of the water for a breather. They have six or more costal scutes

Olive Ridley Turtle

Olive Ridley Turtle: Having got its breath, it was quickly off

With just seven species of Sea Turtles in the world, we had managed to see four species on the Atlantic Odyssey & today's species were both Ticks. There was a realistic chance of seeing a Hawksbill Turtle on either the Odyssey or the follow-on West African Pelagic. However, we were unlucky not to see one. But we had seen more Sea Turtles species than any of the previous Odyssey trips, so I can't complain too much about not seeing a Hawksbill Turtle.

Marine rubbish: Fishing float

Marine rubbish: Oil barrel

It was depressing that we were still two days sailing before we reached the Cape Verde Islands & we hadn't seen any ships since we left Ascension Island two days earlier. But even this far out in the Atlantic, we still encountered evidence of human rubbish.