First pelagic boat trip of the year and new species

Friday, March 9, 2012

First pelagic boat trip of the year and new species

Great skua ( Stercorarius skua) (c) Damián Romay

On February 25 we made the first pelagic boat trip of the year.
Sea state with a significant swell, caused Isidro, the skipper, decided to change the planned route. Besides the day was pretty cloudy, so it would be difficult to get good pictures.
We soon forget this feeling about a mile Sálvora suroreste when we saw the first puffin.
The alcids in general and puffins (new species observed for Seabirds Galicia) in particular were the stars of the day by the large number of sightings. Many of them already had the breeding plumage, a sign that soon begin the journey to their breeding colonies. Still, we hope to continue enjoying these spectacular birds in next boat trips, at least until April.

This is the list with the number of species and individuals observed:

Great cormorant ( Phalacrocorax carbo) 19
European shag ( Phalacrocorax aristotelis) 81
Northern gannet ( Morus bassanus) 284
Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) 1
Little egret ( Egretta garzetta) 1
Eurasian oystecatcher ( Haematopus ostralegus) 100
Grey plover ( Pluvialis squatarola) 10
Dunlin ( Calidris alpina) 20
Ruddy turnstone ( Arenaria interpres) 4
Great skua ( Stercorarius skua) 20
Mediterranean gull ( Larus melanocephalus) 37
Black headed gull ( Larus ridibundus) 28
Common gull ( Larus canus) 3
Yellow legged gull ( Larus michahellis) 512
Lesser black backet gull ( Larus fuscus) 33
Great black backet gull ( Larus marinus) 2
Sandwich tern ( Sterna sandvicensis) 3
Auk ( Alca torda) 68
Common murre ( Uria aalge) 5
Atlantic puffin ( Fratercula arctica) 25

Auk family unidentified 10

Carrion crowe ( Corvus corone) 2
Delphinidae unidentified 1

Ocean sunfish ( Mola mola) 21

And here some pictures of the day: