'Seabirds and marine mammals off SW Galicia, all year-round. Didactic, exciting experience at the best value!'

Friday, October 17, 2014

11/10/2014: a great list.

As usual, the "Chasula" left the harbour of O Grove by dawn. 

As we head offshore, we began to see lesser and great black-backed gulls, black-headed gulls, grey herons, little egrets, dunlins, sanderlings, cormorants, shags and Sandwich terns.
Once we passed by Sálvora island, and up to 6 nautical miles offshore, large groups of Northern gannets of all ages approached the boat along with huge flocks of gulls that gave color and life to the drab blue. 

At the 'chums' we enjoyed a great frenzy of shearwaters: great, sooty, Manx and Balearic shearwater. A nice 'trio' of skuas popped up: great, Pomarine and Arctic, along with some European storm-petrels.

In the last point of the route the gannets were still going on, and, remarkably, a flock of pipits flew over our heads. No less than 70 common dolphins were seen playing and interacting with the boat for nearly an hour... and even a couple came to copulate near the 'Chasula'!
Some bottlenose dolphins and 2 sunfish were also spotted... 

It was an unforgettable day! 

Here below is the detailed list of species, with highlights in bold and approximate numbers in italics:

SEA-BIRDS  GALICIA 11/10/2014
Scientífic name TOTAL 
Puffinus puffinus 2
Calonectris diomedea 4
Puffinus gravis 38
Puffinus mauretanicus 25
Puffinus griseus 9
Hydrobates pelagicus 5
Hydrobatidae 1
Phalacrocorax carbo 20
Phalacrocorax aristotelis 687
Morus bassanus 651
Ardea cinerea 5
Egretta garzetta 8
Calidris alba 25
Calidris alpina 8
Stercorarius skua 16
Stercorarius pomarinus 3
Stercorarius parasiticus 2
Larus melanocephalus 155
Larus ridibundus 81
Larus michahellis 2859
Larus fuscus 89
Larus marinus 6
Sterna hirundo 4
Sterna sandvicensis 8
Anthus  sp. 12
Motacilla alba 1
Corvus corone 5
Delphinus delphis 77
Tursius truncatus  14
Mola mola 2
An some pictures of the trip, (c) Xoán Diéguez,  X. L. Fernandez Carnero, Stefán Aki Ragnarsson and Ramsés Pérez.

Chasula. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) R. Perez.

 Puffinus gravis. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X.  Dieguez.
Morus bassanus. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X.  Dieguez.
 Morus bassanus. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X.  Dieguez.

Morus bassanus. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X.  Dieguez.

Morus bassanus. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X.  Dieguez.
Larus marinus. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X.  Dieguez.
 Puffinus griseus 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X.  Dieguez.


 Puffinus griseus 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X.  Dieguez.


 Puffinus griseus 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.
 Puffinus gravis. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.
 Morus bassanus. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.
 Morus bassanus. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.
Morus bassanus. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.
 Sterna hirundo 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.
 Larus melanocephalus 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.

Delphinus delphis 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.
 Puffinus mauretanicus 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.
 Calonectris diomedea 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) X. L. Fernandez Carnero.

 Puffinus griseus 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) S. A. Ragnarsson.


 Puffinus gravis. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) S. A. Ragnarsson.
 Puffinus gravis. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) S. A. Ragnarsson.
 Puffinus gravis. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) S. A. Ragnarsson.
Stercorarius pomarinus. 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) S. A. Ragnarsson.


Delphinus delphis 11/10/2014. SW Galicia (c) S. A. Ragnarsson.