Seabirds Galicia - Pelagics (2011-2015): October 2014

As usual, the "Chasula" left the harbour of O Grove by dawn.

As we head offshore, we began to see lesser and great black-backed gulls, black-headed gulls, grey herons, little egrets, dunlins, sanderlings, cormorants, shags and Sandwich terns.

Once we passed by Sálvora island, and up to 6 nautical miles offshore, large groups of Northern gannets of all ages approached the boat along with huge flocks of gulls that gave color and life to the drab blue.

At the 'chums' we enjoyed a great frenzy of shearwaters: great, sooty, Manx and Balearic shearwater. A nice 'trio' of skuas popped up: great, Pomarine and Arctic, along with some European storm-petrels.

In the last point of the route the gannets were still going on, and, remarkably, a flock of pipits flew over our heads. No less than 70 common dolphins were seen playing and interacting with the boat for nearly an hour... and even a couple came to copulate near the 'Chasula'!

Some bottlenose dolphins and 2 sunfish were also spotted...

It was an unforgettable day!

Here below is the detailed list of species, with highlights in bold and approximate numbers in italics:

SEA-BIRDS GALICIA	11/10/2014
Scientífic name	TOTAL
*Puffinus puffinus*	2
Calonectris diomedea	4
*Puffinus gravis*	38
Puffinus mauretanicus	25
Puffinus griseus	9
Hydrobates pelagicus	5
Hydrobatidae	1
Phalacrocorax carbo	20
Phalacrocorax aristotelis	687
Morus bassanus	651
Ardea cinerea	5
Egretta garzetta	8
Calidris alba	25
Calidris alpina	8
Stercorarius skua	16
*Stercorarius pomarinus*	3
*Stercorarius parasiticus*	2
Larus melanocephalus	155
Larus ridibundus	81
Larus michahellis	2859
Larus fuscus	89
Larus marinus	6
Sterna hirundo	4
Sterna sandvicensis	8
*Anthus sp.*	12
Motacilla alba	1
Corvus corone	5

Delphinus delphis	77
Tursius truncatus	14

Mola mola	2