May 30, 2014: North Sea Minke Whale

365 Project, Day 195

Here is my day 195 submission to my 365Project:

It was another lovely day in the North Sea today! In fact it was one of our best days yet with 13 marine mammal sightings; 1 common seal sighting (harbour seal, phoca vitulina), five grey seal sightings (Halichoerus grypus), 2 harbour porpoise sightings (Phocoena phocoena), 4 minke whale sightings (Baleanoptera acutorostrata) and 1 white-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) sighting. Today's photo is of one of the minke whales that passed quite close to the ship just as I was finishing my watch...fortunately I hadn't put my camera away yet and I snapped a few shots of it cruising by :)

An here are some shots of a leaping white-beaked dolphin, the sunrise and the second officer shooting off flares at a ship that was approaching us. Due to the multiple cables towed behind our vessel we are restricted in our ability to move and vessels must maintain a good distance from us. Finally, after trying to reach the ship for 45 minutes and setting off the flares the vessel responded and altered course! You just never know what's going to happen out here from day to day!

January 21, 2014: Seal Gaze

365 Project, Day 152

Here is my day 152 submission to my 365Project:

This afternoon I went for a lovely walk along Willows Beach and Cattle Point in Victoria. I used to live in a house right on Willows Beach (lucky me!) so I always enjoy a wander along the beach remembering the days I spent when I was young running and playing up and down the beach and drifting around on the log rafts I constructed. I was much more tolerant to the frigid waters in those days! 

Of course, what would a visit to a beach in Victoria be without the sighting of some sort of marine wildlife. Today we spotted a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) swimming around just off the beach, at one point chasing a fish underwater right in the shallows. I loved this photo of him (or her!) glancing  back towards us looking a little uncertain.

Cattle Point landscape looking towards Oak Bay Marina

Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)

Juvenile Glaucous-winged Gull (2nd winter, Larus glaucescens)

Cattle Point Landscape looking towards Chatham and Discovery Islands and San Juan Island, WA in the background

View from Cattle Point looking towards Oak Bay

American Wigeon (Anas americana)

American Wigeon (Anas americana) in flight

harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) 

harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) 

Willows Beach out of focus

Willows Beach in focus :)

December 11, 2013: Spotted Flycatcher

365 Project, Day 136

Here is my day 136 submission to my 365Project:

The Flycatcher (Haiku)

Dawn has come again
The Flycatcher flew today
Bye beautiful birds

copyright © 2005 Robert L. Huntsman 

While I was sitting on the heli-deck scanning the water for marine mammals and turtles, and generally letting my mind drift off, I saw something out of the corner of my left eye...and there, to my delight, was a little spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) sitting on one of the rails near the heli-deck. I took some shots from where I was sitting but then slowly inched my way a bit closer to try and get better shots and I was pretty happy for this little visitor for me to have something other than sunsets and clouds to photograph today! 

Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)...almost losing balance on the handrail :)

Fun fact of the day: 
Spotted flycatchers primarily feed on flying insects of several species and will also feed on spiders, harvestmen, snails, earthworms and some small fruits and berries. They hunt by sallying from a perch at 1-2 metres above ground, catching their prey in flight and returning to the perch to eat the insect.

Read more about the spotted flycatcher at Oiseaux.net's Spotted flycatcher webpage.

Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

December 4, 2013: CORRECTED: NOT Juvenile Lanner falcon BUT a unique species for this area... a female red-footed falcon!

365 Project, Day 130

Here is my day 130 submission to my 365Project:

Female red-footed falcon (falco vespertinus)

UPDATE 10/12/2013: After posting these photos on the Facebook Bird Id Group Of The World and some back and forth with the members of the group and falcon specialists...it turns out my supposed juvenile Lanner falcon was actually a female red-footed falcon! This sighting is of interest because, according to my bird ID book Birds of Africa South of The Sahara and the twitchers who've commented on the sighting, it's considered an extralimital species to the area and interesting that it was quite far offshore. 

Anyways, here's the info about today's sightings including this unique falcon sighting:

Although it was a bit of a frustrating day...it was still a decent day for observations. I started the morning with, once again, flat calm seas. While scanning the waters I had my second dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima) sighting ever; I spotted something floating at the surface and, sure enough, upon closer inspection with my binos there it was. Of course, just as I was grabbing my camera to get a photo it sunk out of view (very typical dwarf sperm whale behaviour)! It was hard not to be disappointed that I couldn't get the photo but I am very confident in my ID of this species because it was a very similar observation to one I had on this same project back in July (see my post for July 9)...the only difference being there were no sharks during this observation :) 

A short while after I had that observation I had another frustrating sighting. About 2 km away I saw two animals logging right next to each other at the surface and I believe they were one of the small blackfish species,  either melon-headed whales (peponocephala electra) or pygmy killer whales (feresa attenuata). Unfortunately, I could only record them as unidentified small cetaceans because they were too far and the sighting too brief to see them in any detail through my binos and when I tried to photograph them (for identification) my camera wouldn't focus due to the distance and the lack of contrast in the surrounding waters. This is one disadvantage of flat calm seas of with distant sightings...the camera has trouble picking what to focus on! So, frustrating but, after taking a deep breath I moved on.


I figured that would be the end of my (somewhat frustrated!) excitement for the morning but, no, just as I was feeling settled down into my scanning routine again a falcon flew right at us (one of the clients was with me on the heli-deck while he was on his morning stroll) on the heli-deck. It was quite amusing because I got incredibly excited and started enthusiastically pointing at it as I grabbed my camera telling him to "look, look!" and he just glanced at it casually and continued on his way as if to say "yes, there is a bird there, and...?" Anyways, my excitement was worth it because I ended up taking some photographs I was pretty happy with!

 Fun fact of the day:
According to Oiseaux.net's webpage on Lanner falcon's Lanner falcons live on African seashore as well as in continental areas, from Mauritania to Egypt and can also be found in Italy. They nest in semi-desert areas of Moroccan Atlas up to Libya and dry savannahs. In Europe they live in rocky areas with steep cliffs. 

And a fact on the red-footed falcon:
Although the red-footed falcon will take small mammals and birds its main prey are large insects! The latin portion of its name 'vespertinus' means 'evening' indicating its activity at dawn and dusk. 

Read more about the red-footed falcon at redfootedfalcon.com.

Here are some more photos of the Female red-footed falcon (falco vespertinus) and, something we haven't seen a lot of here offshore Angola, flying fish: 

Female red-footed falcon (falco vespertinus)

Female red-footed falcon (falco vespertinus)

Female red-footed falcon (falco vespertinus)

Female red-footed falcon (falco vespertinus)

Female red-footed falcon (falco vespertinus) flying off our stern

Flying fish in flight

Flying fish in take off mode :)

December 3, 2013: Busy Bottlenose Dolphin

365 Project, Day 130

Here is my day 130 submission to my 365Project:

Yipee! Today, after a period of relative quiet, we finally had some decent sightings. The seas were flat calm this morning (which definitely helps with observations!) and sure enough during my morning watch I spotted a group of dolphins leaping and splashing and traveling quickly towards us from off our bow. 

Unfortunately, they didn't come any closer than 2 km as they passed us on our starboard but with my Nikon 70-200 mm f2.8 lens with 2x teleconverter I was able to grab some decent enough photos to crop them in and get an identification of the species. I could then confirm that there were, at least, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the group. Based on what I saw through my binos though, I'm pretty sure there were some blackfish in the mix. Bottlenose dolphins often travel with short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrohynchus) and false killer whales  (Pseudorca crassidens) which would've been my guesses but I didn't get a good enough look or decent enough shots to ID if or what other species was present.

I had a feeling it might not be the last we would see of that group since we were soon headed back the same direction they headed...

...and, sure enough, while I was eating lunch, and after one of the other crew members claimed he'd seen something through the messroom windows surfacing twice, I received a call from my co-MMO that we had some a blackfish species (most likely animals from the earlier sighting) zipping past us again but this time they were only a few hundred metres off the starboard side. I ran as fast as I could to the top deck to snap some photos...and after scrambling to get another memory card in my camera (I'd removed the other to download my photos and ID the species!) I got a few shots but the animals were already off the stern of the vessel moving away from us quickly. 

In the end, based on my (somewhat distant) photos and the photos the other MMO took we confirmed we had a group of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens)...and, although I got some shots, I'd just missed a very close pass and amazing photo opportunity because I was eating lunch and didn't put my spare camera card in my camera!! Oh well, another lesson learned...ALWAYS have a memory card in your camera because you never know what might happen!  

Interestingly, I also received a report from one  of the crew on another vessel, also on the project and further offshore of us today, that they also observed a group of large dolphins between the times of our two sightings...and it definitely sounds like they had the same animals we saw. 

So, my photo of the day, though it is not spectacular, is one of the photos, cropped in, of a bottlenose dolphin from the morning sighting: 

Busy bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)...it definitely looks like it's in a hurry!

Fun fact of the day:

As I eluded to above, associations of false killer whales and other species are known to occur. Common bottlenose dolphins and rough-toothed dolphins associations are frequently documented and it is believed these associations could be anti-predatory since both false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins are occasionally killed by large sharks.  

Read more about Bottlenose dolphins and False killer whales at this natureworldnew.com webpage.

Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) leaping

Cattle Egrets in flight (Bubulcus Ibis)

Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus)

Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus)

Distant shots of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) in action :)

False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens)

False killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens)

False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens)

November 14, 2013: Resting Tern

365 Project, Day 115

Here is my day 115 submission to my 365Project:

Today was my first full day back on my marine mammal observer (MMO) watches offshore Angola. I was working out here on this same job from late June until the end of August when we were incredibly busy with sightings, especially of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae, see my posts from July/August), but I didn't expect I'd be coming back. Well, it ends up the job got extended so I'm back and ready to discover what marine wildlife I will see this time of the year. 

It will be different this rotation this time; the humpback whales have mostly left the area to return to their summer feeding grounds in Antarctica. Already, I have learned from the MMOs who have been here since I left that the humpback whale sightings have declined and it is much quieter in general on the marine mammal side of things. This is good in the sense that it means there will be fewer marine mammals around during the vessel's airgun operations. Plus, we will have our avian friends around and I still have a lot to learn about these species so I am looking forward to discovering what will be around the area in November and December. 

This evening was my first good bird sighting. I was finishing my last watch at sunset when a common tern (Sterna hirundo) flew in and landed near me on the helideck. It must've been tired and needing a rest as it was fairly tolerant of my presence and, despite the decreasing light and the need to boost the ISO in camera, I was able to creep fairly close and snap some good shots. 

Fun fact of the day:
Common terns have a circumpolar distribution breeding in most of Europe, Asia and North America except in the extreme north and south. In Africa it winters south along the coast. 

Read more about the common tern at this BirdLife International webpage.

Here are some more photos of this lovely little guy:

I also got some great video but, unfortunately, the ship's internet is too slow to upload it...maybe later :)