We’re quick approaching a most popular time of mine for going out on boats searching for seabirds. The Gulf of Cadiz, from Cadiz itself, proper alongside the coasts of Huelva and the Algarve to Cape St Vincent in Portugal, is a favorite looking floor of mine and the operators prepared to take you out have been on the rise lately. The goal is normally to move off to the continental shelf, which may be as much as 20 or extra nautical miles out relying in your start line. The thought is that it’s right here that you just discover the richest provides of meals, generated by upwellings. These journeys usually present chum, not a horny proposition at better of instances however reaching particular dimensions within the warmth of the summer season solar!
Heading to the shelf appears to be the popular possibility as it’s right here that you will see that among the key species. Wilson’s Storm Petrel Oceanodroma oceanicus appears to be everybody’s goal species. They start to point out up in August and peak in September as they make their manner south to their Antarctic breeding grounds. I’m not satisfied that it’s essential to go that far out for them and infrequently helpful time, with good mild for pictures, is wasted attending to the shelf. I’ve had many situations the place now we have chummed nearer to shore and storm petrels have turned up. It simply wants a little bit endurance. I’ve even seen storm petrels nearby of the coast.
The European Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus is the opposite species of storm petrel that’s round in the summertime months and these are birds from native breeding colonies. The shearwaters dominate the scene, particularly Cory’s Calonectris borealis which breed within the space and which might kind giant rafts the place there’s meals. The smaller Scopoli’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea is essentially confined to the Mediterranean however I’ve sometimes seen people out right here in the summertime.
The Gulf can be a significant space for Balearic Shearwaters Puffinus mauretanicus that spend the non-breeding season right here. The pelagics give us nice alternatives to get them at shut quarters. Their shut relations, Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus, are scarcer however do present up. Even more durable to search out, however sometimes seen, are the Yelkouan Shearwaters Puffinus yelkouan. These birds are largely Mediterranean and have a tendency to maneuver eastwards in the direction of the Black Sea. Some birds breed within the Balearics, the place they hybridize with Balearic Shearwaters, making affirmation of identification on this a part of the world particularly difficult.
Two different shearwaters are common in these waters as they head for his or her south Atlantic breeding grounds, such because the islands of the Tristan da Cunha group. These are the Nice Ardenna gravis and the Sooty Shearwaters Ardenna grisea. A visit out onto the Gulf of Cadiz any time quickly has the potential of manufacturing no fewer than seven species of shearwater which isn’t dangerous for the North Atlantic.
These pelagics additionally coincide with the southbound motion of skuas. Nice Skuas Stercorarius skua dominate in numbers however we should all the time be looking out for South Polar Skuas Stercorarius mccormicki which can be being sighted more and more off the Iberian Atlantic coast.
Pomarine Stercorarius pomarinus and Arctic Skuas Stercorarius parasiticus are additionally current right now as they head for African wintering grounds. Lengthy-tailed Skuas Stercorarius longicaudus are hardest to search out as they have an inclination to remain far out at sea.
Solely final week I noticed a report of a Bulwer’s Petrel Bulweria bulwerii that was recovered in La Linea, the city adjoining to Gibraltar. It goes to point out what is feasible in terms of pelagic birds that may wander nice distances. I’ve seen Bulwer’s Petrels in giant numbers off Madeira and the Gulf of Cadiz isn’t actually that far-off for an ocean wanderer.
To this we are able to add the potential for Pterodroma petrels that are additionally being seen off the Iberian Atlantic coast. To conclude like I began, with storm petrels, the Berlengas, off the mainland coast of Portugal have breeding Madeiran Storm Petrels Hydrobates castro so we can’t discard these both. All-in-all, including these seabirds to the frequent species – Northern Gannets Morus bassanus, Yellow-legged Gulls Larus michahellis, Widespread Terns Sterna hirundo – makes a pelagic journey between now and October a really thrilling prospect.
