Celestial Canaries March 14Th – March 28Th 2019
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Celestial Canaries th th March 14 – March 28 2019 DAY 1 - Thursday 14th March 2019 Sea State: 4 Sky: Overcast, showers Temperature: MAX 11°C Saga Sapphire Sets Sail Dover 18:00 The ORCA team (top to bottom): Hannah Ramsey- Smith (Team Leader), Maria Freel, Kathleen Neri and Shenaz Khimji (Wildlife Officer) The ORCA team very much enjoyed spending time with guests on board the Saga Sapphire during the Celestial Canaries Cruise in spring 2019. We especially appreciated hearing about your wildlife encounters whilst simultaneously spotting and identifying cetaceans and birds with you out on deck. We are also thankful to Saga Cruises for inviting our ORCA on board. This provided us the opportunity to perform deck watches with guests as well as being able to collect important cetacean data, vital to ORCA’s conservation efforts. The charity ORCA is dedicated to the long- term protection of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) in British and a- joining waters. Charity No: 1141728 www.orcaweb.org.uk During the Celestial Canaries cruise the ORCA team recorded a total number of 245 cetaceans, which included 6 species including: fin whale, Minke whale, short- beaked common dolphins, striped dolphins, short- finned pilot whales and Risso’s dolphins. We surveyed 3 sea regions: English Channel, Bay of Biscay and North Atlantic Ocean and over 3,659 nautical miles (6 full sea days). We kept both a cetacean and bird list, contributed to by guests on board (please see the end of the report for a map and list of cetaceans and birds). DAY 2 - Friday 15th March 2019 Sea State: 7- 8 Sky: Overcast Temperature: MAX 13°C SEA DAY We saw numerous Gannets during our day at sea Shenaz presenting in the Britannia Lounge The decks were closed today as the sea conditions in the English Channel and Western Approaches were a sea state 6- 7, with a swell height of 3-4 metres for a good part of the day. Our Wildlife Officer, Shenaz, presented a short lecture in the Britannia Lounge in the afternoon highlighting possible cetacean species to be encountered during the voyage. This talk was well attended by many guests. On this day also, numerous Northern gannets (Morus bassanus) were spotted darting in and out of view of the ships’ windows un phased by the rough seas. Northern gannets are narrow- winged seabirds with cigar shaped bodies and long tapering bills which end in a point. The external nostrils are closed as an adaptation for plunge- diving and secondary nostrils above the gape are automatically closed by a flap of skin on entering the water. They swim well and are excellent flyers. The gannet is the largest seabird in the North Sea with a wingspan of around 2m. Charity No: 1141728 www.orcaweb.org.uk DAY 3 - Saturday 16th March 2019 Sea State: 4- 7 Sky: Overcast with showers Temperature: MAX 12°C SEA DAY The ORCA team started the day full of enthusiasm for recording the rich diversity of species found in the Bay of Biscay, despite not having ideal sea surveying conditions for spotting cetaceans. The sea state fluctuated An adult Kittiwake between a 4 and a 7 with a swell height measuring around 2m for most of Photo taken by Shenaz Khimji the day. However, after conducting a 12- hour deck watch, the ORCA team were delighted to have recorded two sunfish, Northern gannets, kittiwakes, one great skua and two unidentified dolphins during the course of the day. The ocean sunfish or common mola is one of the heaviest known bony fishes in the world. Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1000kg. The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened literally. Sunfish (Molidae) DAY 4 - Sunday 17th March 2019 Sea State: 2-4 Sky: Partly Cloudy Temperature: MAX 15°C SEA DAY Today was the best day of the cruise so far for cetacean sightings, in total five species were recorded including 27 animals. These were enjoyed by guests and the ORCA team alike on deck 12 during a very pleasant sea state travelling off the West coast of Portugal in the North Atlantic Ocean. Common dolphins seen at 17:50 on starboard side, note the yellow hourglass pattern, a key diagnostic feature of this playful dolphin species Charity No: 1141728 www.orcaweb.org.uk Common dolphins taken by Shenaz Khimji on deck 12 Striped dolphin travelling down starboard side at 17:20, note the eye to anal stripe, a distinguishing feature of this species which were feeding close to the Saga Sapphire. Striped dolphin taken by Shenaz Khimji Risso’s dolphins were recorded at 15:57, as featured in the photo below left. This species is a large, distinctive, beakless dolphin with a blunt grooved head (shown in illustration below right) and tall falcate dorsal fin, the body is often light greyish with a white head seen in the centre of the photograph below where the animal is spy- hopping (vertically poking it’s head out of the water). Risso’s dolphins taken by Shenaz Khimji Illustration of Risso’s dolphin head An amazing number (7!) of fin whales were also seen blowing throughout the afternoon near the horizon, followed by a Minke whale which surfaced just ahead of the ship before sunset. Throughout the day, migrating terns from Africa were seen in large swirling flocks close to the oceans’ surface. Fin whale blowing at 18:25, the world’s second largest animal measuring a maximum size of 27m, fastest swimming great whale reaching 24 knots, feeds on krill, fish and squid. Charity No: 1141728 www.orcaweb.org.uk Photo above: Fin Whale taken by Shenaz Khimji A minke whale was seen surfacing at the bow (left) and later at the stern of the ship at 18:35. Note the fin shape on the left and double blow hole in the right photo Minke whale surfacing by Hannah Ramsey- Smith DAY 5 - Monday 18th March 2019 Sea State: 3-4 Sky: Partly Cloudy Temperature: 16 °C ARRIVE FUNCHAL, MADEIRA 14:00 DEPART: 20:00 TOTAL: 6 patterned dolphins Today we arrived in Funchal, Madeira. During the morning survey and on the approach to Madeira the ORCA team recorded 6 patterned dolphins (common or striped), Cory’s shearwaters in big numbers, yellow- legged gulls. Whilst exploring Madeira, the ORCA team were lucky enough to spot a kestrel and a number of species of fish in the harbour. Yellow – legged gull Charity No: 1141728 www.orcaweb.org.uk Cory’s Shearwater are very commonly seen flying around Madeira. Pictured above is a large greyish-brown shearwater with whitish underparts and yellow bill. Lacks collar and has narrow white band on the rump. Cory’s shearwaters resting and in flight Shearwaters are long-winged, slender- bodied highly pelagic seabirds. They are nocturnal at the breeding colonies which are often vast. Most species are great wanderers and several are transequatorial migrants. They have slender, tubenose bills with a pronounced hook. The similarity of many species presents a number of taxonomic and identification problems. Flight action is important; the larger species tend to have an undulating flight, gliding on stiff wings interspersed with periods of rapid wingbeats. The smaller species tend to have a more fluttering flight on shorter, more rounded wings. Young male kestrel perched on street light in Funchal, Madeira, photo above taken by Shenaz Khimji Charity No: 1141728 www.orcaweb.org.uk The ORCA team ventured on a boat trip in madeira and were treated to close views of short- finned pilot whales. Note the close proximity of the animals to the shore, which shows how deep the waters are around Madeira. In the image you can see a young animal next to a bull, which has a very wide base to its dorsal fin, note the difference between the bull and juvenile or female shown in the bottom image. Photos taken by Shenaz Khimji in Madeira Charity No: 1141728 www.orcaweb.org.uk A guest photo, taken by Jacqui Palmer of a Boettger’s lizard (Gallotia caesaris). It is a lacertid (wall lizard) endemic to two of the Western Canary Islands, El Hierro and La Gomera. In Tenerife and La Palma it is replaced by its close relative Gallotia galloti. On the Portuguese island of Madeira, it has been introduced by man. A guest photo, depicts a little egret (Egretta garzetta), taken by Dave Jones Charity No: 1141728 www.orcaweb.org.uk DAY 6 Tuesday 19th March 2019 Sea State: 4-5 Sky: Partly cloudy Temperature: 19 °C TOTAL: 19 Striped dolphins 15 Patterned dolphins 3 Minke 1 ARRIVE SANTA CRUZ, LA PALMA 13:00 We arrived at our first Canary Island, the island of La Palma today. The Canary Islands are amongst the most popular whale watching destinations in the world. This is for two reasons, it’s on a migration route for many great whale species travelling to and from wintering feeding grounds. Secondly, the Madeiran Archipelago is volcanic in origin, and due to the lack of a continental shelf, depths drop to as much as 5,000m just 5km from shore, see bathymetric map below. Consequently, cetaceans that inhabit deep waters and are typically oceanic, such as sperm whales and beaked whales are relatively easily observed quite close to the shore. A bathometry map of the Canary Islands This morning, as the ship entered Santa Cruz, La Palma, the ORCA team and passengers were treated to two lovely sightings of common and striped dolphin pods which were attracted to the ship before the sighting of the day; a blowing minke whale just ahead of the bow.