What an ending to 2015 Zino’s Petrel Pelagic Expedition! Despite the light wind which made us postpone the last day we saw it all and very well!
As usual Cory's shearwater Calonectris borealis and Bulwer's Petrel Bulweria bulwerii were always there.
Another Zino's Petrel pelagic expedition marked by the light wind though this time we managed to see some interesting seabird species on their migration and we only missed the Madeiran Storm Petrel.
It started well with good wind and 4 Fea's Petrels observed on the way to the chumming position and although we did not see Zino's Petrel on the 1st day we did see good seabird species and that made us hope for a great pelagic... Unfortunately the next 2 days were not so exciting and both Zino's Petrel and Madeiran Storm Petrel were missed on this pelagic expedition. Again, Cory's shearwater Calonectris borealis and Bulwer's Petrel Bulweria bulwerii were always there, though in different numbers each day.
A nice pelagic with a few seabirds species observed but we missed a well observed Zino's Petrel and it looks like White-faced Storm Petrel have already emigrated to South...
4th August 2015 - NE wind up to 10 knots, waves up to 0.5 metres
7 + 20 Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus flew by
Long-tailed Jaeger Stercorarius longicaudus
3 Wilson's Storm-petrel Oceanites oceanicus
4 Madeiran Storm Petrel Oceanodroma castro
Atlantic Spotted dolphin Stenella frontalis
It seems migration started a bit earlier this year, at least for Seabirds as we already observed some Great shearwaters on our Bird, dolphin & whale watching trips by end of July, so lets see what August will bring to us in terms of vagrant birds...
We sure had great observations of all the aimed seabird species!