A nice pelagic expedition which started with a Madeiran Storm Petrel as soon as we dropped the first block of chum - a good sign as on the last pelagic we missed this species! We had very good views of at least 14 seabird species but unfortunately missed the one that named these pelagic expeditions. Cory's shearwater Calonectris borealis and Bulwer's Petrel Bulweria bulwerii, again were the commonest species observed everyday.

August started with very hot temperatures in mainland Portugal but Madeira is been keeping its mild temperatures and even some rain, so lets see if which birds prefer this temperate climate of Madeira archipelago to spend a few days or weeks.

29th of August 2018 at Ribeira Brava
5 Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres

22nd of August 2018 at Ribeira Brava
2 Sanderling Calidris alba
Lesser Black-backed gull Larus fuscus
4 Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres

21st of August 2018 at Caniçal
Sanderling Calidris alba
3 Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus phaeopus
Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula

A great pelagic expedition to observe Petrels but poor for Storm-petrels! The wind and sea conditions were actually quite good for Storm-petrels though it seems these birds have gone away from their usual hotspots during July and early August... This was the first ever Wind Birds' pelagic without any storm-petrel species observed :(

1st August 2018 - Northeast wind up to 14 knots and NE waves up to 1.5 meters
Zino's Petrel Pterodroma madeira - 1 on the way up
2 Great skua Stercorarius skua- coming, going away and returning to the chum for almost the whole afternoon
Many Cory's shearwater Calonectris borealis
Many Bulwer's Petrel Bulweria bulwerii
Common tern Sterna hirundo

Another pelagic with light winds which is great for cetaceans but not so good for storm petrels... 5 species of Odontoceti (toothed whales) were observed and great sightings of Zino's Petrel and Desertas'/Fea's Petrel as well.

25th July 2018 - West wind up to 5 knots and westerly waves up to 0.3 meters
Some Cory's shearwater Calonectris borealis
Dozens Bulwer's Petrel Bulweria bulwerii
2 Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis
Pterodroma sp.

Short-beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis
Striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba
Common Bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus

Loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta

July is not the best month for vagrant birds though there is always a chance to find some lost bird in Madeira...

30th of July 2018 at Ponta do Pargo
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus

At Caniçal - observed by Jan Heckmann, Sönke Tautz & Kirsten Kraetzel (GER)
3 Audouin's gull Ichthyaetus audouinii

24th of July 2018 at Caniçal
Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops

23rd of July 2018 at Ponta do Pargo
2 Eleonora's Falcon Falco eleonorae
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus

At São Vicente
Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica

18th of July 2018 at Ponta do Pargo
Woodchat Shrike Lanius senator

This pelagic expedition was not as breezy as we would like and although we got good observations and numbers of Zino's Petrels and Desertas Petrels we missed a few storm petrels which were expected to be seen at this time of year, such as White-faced Storm Petrel and Wilson's Storm-petrel... Oh well, that is Birdwatching!