Atlantic Odyssey 2015 WildWings voyage summary Before joining the ship, highlights in Ushuaia included a vagrant Greater Yellowlegs. Once out in the Drake Passage the first of many species of seabirds were seen, such as Wandering, Southern Royal, Blackbrowed, Greyheaded and Lightmantled Sooty Albatross, Southern Fulmar, Sooty Shearwater and Blue, Cape and Mottled Petrel. Our time in Antarctica included stops at Deception Island, Cierva Cove and Brown Bluff, where the only Snow Petrel of the trip was seen in a cavity among rocks. Other birds included Southern GiantPetrel, Antarctic Shag, Chinstrap, Gentoo and Adelie Penguin and both South Polar and Brown Skua. Large numbers of whales were seen, including Antarctic Minke, Humpback, Fin, Southern Right and an astonishing 100 Killer Whales (Orcas) in several pods. The passage to South Georgia was productive too, with Wilson’s and Blackbellied Stormpetrel, Antarctic Prion, Whitechinned, Softplumaged and Kerguelan Petrel, Common DivingPetrel, Shy Albatross and the first Sooty Albatross, Great Shearwater, King and Macaroni Penguin plus Fairy Prions. Joining us on the ship was a flock of landbirds – 7 Cattle Egrets and 1 Snowy Egret! New cetaceans were spotted too: Southern Bottlenose Whale and Hourglass Dolphin. At the island itself another right whale was seen. Several landings were made and new birds included the SG Diving Petrel, SG Pintail, SG Pipit and SG Shag. Surprises included a Sooty Albatross, a few Softplumaged and Greatwinged Petrels plus many Kerguelan Petrels too. Our next destination was Gough Island, several days away. Enroute new species continued to be noted, such as Longfinned Pilot Whale, Northern GiantPetrel, Sub Antarctic Little Shearwater, Grey, Spectacled, Atlantic and Whiteheaded Petrel, Grey backed, Blackbellied and Whitebellied Stormpetrels and Atlantic Yellownosed Albatross. Adding extra interest were yet more Cattle Egrets plus, for a lucky few, Southern Right Whale Dolphin. Gough produced large numbers of breeding seabird species plus Dusky Dolphin and, on a zodiac cruise, SubAntarctic Fur Seal, Common Noddy, Moseley’s (Northern Rockhopper) Penguin, Gough Bunting and Gough Moorhen. Prevented from getting off the ship by the adverse sea conditions at the Tristan archipelago, we were nevertheless pleased to see single dark morph Soft plumaged and Atlantic Petrel among the many other birds.
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Atlantic Odyssey 2015
WildWings voyage summary
Before joining the ship, highlights in Ushuaia included a vagrant Greater Yellowlegs. Once out in the Drake Passage the first of many species of seabirds were seen, such as Wandering, Southern Royal, Black-‐browed, Grey-‐headed and Light-‐mantled Sooty Albatross, Southern Fulmar, Sooty Shearwater and Blue, Cape and Mottled Petrel. Our time in Antarctica included stops at Deception Island, Cierva Cove and Brown Bluff, where the only Snow Petrel of the trip was seen in a cavity among rocks. Other birds included Southern Giant-‐Petrel, Antarctic Shag, Chinstrap, Gentoo and Adelie Penguin and both South Polar and Brown Skua. Large numbers of whales were seen, including Antarctic Minke, Humpback, Fin, Southern Right and an astonishing 100 Killer Whales (Orcas) in several pods. The passage to South Georgia was productive too, with Wilson’s and Black-‐bellied Storm-‐petrel, Antarctic Prion, White-‐chinned, Soft-‐plumaged and Kerguelan Petrel, Common Diving-‐Petrel, Shy Albatross and the first Sooty Albatross, Great Shearwater, King and Macaroni Penguin plus Fairy Prions. Joining us on the ship was a flock of landbirds – 7 Cattle Egrets and 1 Snowy Egret! New cetaceans were spotted too: Southern Bottlenose Whale and Hourglass Dolphin. At the island itself another right whale was seen. Several landings were made and new birds included the SG Diving-‐Petrel, SG Pintail, SG Pipit and SG Shag. Surprises included a Sooty Albatross, a few Soft-‐plumaged and Great-‐winged Petrels plus many Kerguelan Petrels too. Our next destination was Gough Island, several days away. En-‐route new species continued to be noted, such as Long-‐finned Pilot Whale, Northern Giant-‐Petrel, Sub-‐Antarctic Little Shearwater, Grey, Spectacled, Atlantic and White-‐headed Petrel, Grey-‐backed, Black-‐bellied and White-‐bellied Storm-‐petrels and Atlantic Yellow-‐nosed Albatross. Adding extra interest were yet more Cattle Egrets plus, for a lucky few, Southern Right Whale Dolphin. Gough produced large numbers of breeding seabird species plus Dusky Dolphin and, on a zodiac cruise, Sub-‐Antarctic Fur Seal, Common Noddy, Moseley’s (Northern Rockhopper) Penguin, Gough Bunting and Gough Moorhen. Prevented from getting off the ship by the adverse sea conditions at the Tristan archipelago, we were nevertheless pleased to see single dark morph Soft-‐plumaged and Atlantic Petrel among the many other birds.
Leaving most of the southern tubenoses behind, we next set course for St. Helena. The number of species seen declined rapidly but there were still new things to note: Cory’s Shearwater, Red-‐billed Tropicbird, Arctic Tern, Black Noddy, White Tern, Bulwer’s Petrel and Madeiran Storm-‐petrel. The biggest surprise came in the shape of several Trindade Petrels; several were seen later in the voyage too. Marine mammals were conspicuous by their absence but good views were had of a Dwarf Sperm Whale. St. Helena was excellent, as ever. The endemic St. Helena Plover was high on everyone’s ‘wanted’ list and they were, as ever, very easy to see. From the ship Common Bottlenose Dolphin, Pantropical Spotted Dolphin and two mating Green Turtles were seen. Trips on a local boat yielded already-‐seen resident seabirds plus Brown, Masked and Red-‐footed Booby. Seeing hundreds of Madeiran Storm-‐petrels was a real highlight so too were the two Whale Sharks. On both boat trips a totally unexpected bird was seen, possibly even a first for the island – an immature Ascension Frigatebird! The short passage to Ascension Island yielded more of interest -‐ very close views of 10-‐15 Sperm Whales, with a calf beside the ship, White-‐bellied Storm-‐petrel and a White-‐tailed Tropicbird. At Boatswainbird Island we saw thousands of frigatebirds and Masked Boobies as well as two other boobies, two species of noddies and more tropicbirds. The spectacle of all these birds at sunrise was very impressive. At Ascension itself, visits were made to both the huge Sooty Tern colony and the egg-‐laying Green Turtles. At the ship at night there were Bottlenose Dolphins catching flying fish, turtle hatchlings and a small sea snake swam by. Another long sea passage followed, to the port of Praia, on the Cape Verdean island of Santiago. More Trindade Petrels flew by, as did several Long-‐tailed Skuas and numerous Leach’s Storm-‐petrels. As the ship approached the islands Boyd’s Shearwater, Cape Verde Shearwater and Fea’s Petrel were the highlights. There were also more cetaceans: 6 Killer Whales, ca. 100 White-‐bellied Spinner Dolphins, unidentifiable beaked whales, Sowerby’s Beaked Whale, 7 Dwarf Sperm Whales together, Short-‐finned Pilot Whale and Rough-‐toothed Dolphin. Leaping billfish, a thresher shark species and a Great Hammerhead Shark rounded out the wildlife. Finally, we had a very successful birding trip on Santiago. In a few hours and within a few miles of Praia we were very pleased to see the endemic Cape Verde Swift, Iago Sparrow and Cape Verde Warbler plus Black Heron, Bourne’s Purple Heron, Brown-‐necked Raven, Black-‐crowned Sparrow-‐Lark, Bar-‐tailed Desert Lark (including a pair near a nest with two eggs) and several superb Cream-‐coloured Coursers. NB: The 2016 voyage will not be visiting the Antarctic Peninsula. By Simon Cook www.wildwings.co.uk
Atlantic Odyssey 2015
Wildlife List Part I – Ushuaia to Ascension Island
This is the list of wildlife seen on the voyage from Ushuaia, Argentina to Ascension Island via the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia, Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha
archipelago and St. Helena, 23rd March – 22nd April.
Birds
King Penguin -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Aptenodytes patagonicus
South Georgia Pintail -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Anas georgia
Pale-‐faced Sheathbill -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Chionis alba
St Helena Plover -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Charadrius sanctaehelenae
Brown Skua -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Catharacta antarctica lonnbergi Tristan Skua -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ C. a hamiltoni South Polar Skua -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ C. maccormicki
Chilean Skua -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ C. chilensis
Wildlife List Part 2 – Ascension Island to the Cape Verde Islands
This is the list of wildlife seen during the second part of the 2015 Atlantic Odyssey expedition cruise (from Ascension Island, South Atlantic to the Cape Verde Islands, off West Africa). The list covers sightings at Ascension Island, the five days at sea and those ashore during the last day of the expedition on the island of Santiago.