21.06.2018 – Between the hemispheres

During today’s trip in the afternoon we had the pleasure to have some Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) around the boat for quite a while. The animals were busy hunting and socializing but also came over to check us out enabling good views on those impressive large dolphins.

Every time we go out on the ocean, we keep our eyes open for all marine wildlife, especially for some “special guests”. Those include flying fish, sea turtles and between March and October also Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris borealis). The latter ones are imposing seabirds. We see them quite regularly during summer and encountered an extraordinarily big group resting and socializing on the surface three miles offshore today.

There are more than 10 000 Cory’s shearwaters breeding on the Ilhas Selvagens, the “wild islands”, 280 km south of Madeira. The birds stay with the same partner for their whole life time and only raise one chick during the summer. The fledglings are full grown and leave the colony in November. They stay offshore for the first few years of their lives. During this pelagic phase, they travel between the hemispheres and across ocean basins.

Researchers tracked animals from the Savage Islands and found one immature shearwater travelling the incredible distance of more than 100 000 km in two years. During that time the animal visited the most common wintering sites in the Agulhas current off South Africa, the Argentinian coast as well as the central northwest Atlantic Ocean.

It´s always nice to see one of these big seabirds taking off from the surface and I am wondering, did this guy spend Christmas in Madagascar or Brazil?

by Jan-Christopher Fischer

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Loggerhead turtle, Cory’s shearwaters