08/09/2013: more Sabine's, Wilson's and cetaceans

Very early in the morning, we left O Grove harbour with the hope to complete a pelagic that it was announced as "tricky", due wind forecast. The skipped decided to sail towards northern half of the 'ría', near Guidoiros islets and of the island of Rúa, avoidind the north wind thanks to the natural shelter of Barbanza range. We observed lots of waders and even a peregrine falcon attacking some of them. A few bottle-nosed dolphins and the first Balearic shearwaters appeared in front of our binoculars before reaching the passage of Sagres. The sea increased in height onwards, although with pace waves that made the route reasonably comfortable. In the first miles we enjoy with the company of dozens of common dolphins that jumped and swam near the boat as we advanced in our route. Lesser black-backed gulls, Balearic shearwaters and the omnipresent yellow-legged gulls were also guest stars up to the first "chum", at 7 nautical miles of the coast, to which Arctic and great skuas and a curious Cory's shearwater came. In the journey up to the 12 miles offshore two harbour porpoises were briefly seen by some of the passengers. The chum at 12 miles was very productive, with sixteen Sabine's gulls, two Wilson's storm-petrels, a Europen storm-petrel and many other seabirds, that delighted observers.
The way back to harbour was fast as the wind increased in intensity. We observed a sooty shearwater and many common dolphins by the way. We arrive at harbour around 16:00 h, a little bit tired but happy.

Here below the record list. In bold, highlights. In italics, approximate numbers:

Latin name	English name	TOTAL
Melanitta nigra	Common scoter	2
Calonectris diomedea	Cory's shearwater	2
Puffinus mauretanicus	Balearic shearwater	15
Puffinus griseus	Sooty shearwater	1
Hydrobates pelagicus	European storm-petrel	1
Oceanites oceanicus	Wilson's storm-petrel	2
Morus bassanus	Northern gannet	110
Phalacrocorax carbo	Great cormorant	12
Phalacrocorax aristotelis	European shag	103
Egretta garzetta	Little egret	1
Falco peregrinus	Peregrine falcon	1
Ardea cinerea	Grey heron	2
Haematopus ostralegus	Oystercatcher	3
Charadrius hiaticula	Ringed plover	3
Arenaria interpres	Ruddy turnstones	7
Stercorarius skua	Great skua	3
Stercorarius parasiticus	Arctic skua	5
Chroicocephalus ridibundus	Black-headed gull	2
Larus melanocephalus	Mediterranean gull	5
Larus michahellis	Yellow-legged gull	1041
Larus fuscus	Lesser black-backed gull	129
Larus marinus	Great black-backed gull	6
Xema sabini	Sabine's gull	16
Sterna sandvicensis	Sandwich tern	3
Calidris sp.	Unidentified sandpiper	40
Numenius sp.	Unidentified curlew	7
Sterna sp.	Unidentified ter	2
Delphinus delphis	Common dolphin	150
Phocoena phocoena	Harbour porpoise	2
Tursiops truncatus	Bottle-nosed dolphin	4

 

And some pictures, (c) José Luis Lorenzo García "Colón" and Xoán Diéguez Vázquez:

Sabine's gull (Xema sabini), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García.

Sabine's gull (Xema sabini), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García.

Sabine's gull (Xema sabini), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García.

Sabine's gull (Xema sabini), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García.

Sabine's gull (Xema sabini), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) Xoán Diéguez Vázquez.

Great skua (Stercorarius skua), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) Xoán Diéguez Vázquez.

Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), dark morph, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) Xoán Diéguez Vázquez.

Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), dark morph, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) Xoán Diéguez Vázquez.

Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), light morph, chasing a lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García.

Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), light morph, chasing a lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), light morph, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), light morph (left) and dark morph (right), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), dark morph, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), intermediate morph, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), intermediate morph, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Arctic skuas (Stercorarius parasiticus) and lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) (foreground), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Northern gannet (Morus bassanus), inmature, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Northern gannet (Morus bassanus), juvenile, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

European storm-petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) (left) and Wilson's storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) (right), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Wilson's storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), moulting, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) Xoán Diéguez Vázquez.

Wilson's storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), moulting, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) Xoán Diéguez Vázquez.

Wilson's storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), moulting, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) Xoán Diéguez Vázquez.

Wilson's storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), detail, 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Wilson's storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Wilson's storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Wilson's storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), 12 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), 6 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), 6 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), 6 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), 6 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García

Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), 6 nm W of Sálvora island (SW Galicia), 8/9/2013, (c) J. L. Lorenzo García