Me working in Fojo
Weather was hot today again, due to high pressures that have parked over the Atlantic down here. Some light rain fell during the day and even a few more intense showers. Manuel took some tourists to the Caldeira and from the road he saw the Great Egret in the Caldeira, or as he said it "I saw the big white one with the long neck". The bird appeared first on the island in October last year if I haven't mentioned that before.
After a brief stop at the guesthouse changing clothes I did the beach and airfield as usual. One of the first birds I found was a new Corvo species for me, a juvenile Red Knot. Apart from that the Spotted Sand was still at the beach and the Bar-tailed Godwit on the airfield. Due to a pretty heavy shower I had to shelter in the pubilc toilets down at the beach for 15 minutes or so. Had pretty good view over the ocean from there but couldn't find anything but Cory's, Yellow-legged Gulls, Common Terns and a bunch of dolphins. I've seen dolphins three or four times out here so far, but don't know what species they are yet.
Juvenile Red KnotBirds
Spotted Sandpiper 1 1cy, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female, Red Knot 1 1cy, Great Black-backed Gull 1 2cy
The dolphinsCuld be a number of species. Bottlenose Dolphin is perhaps the most probable.
ReplyDeleteDon´t know how much you know about sea mammals, but since I´m very interested in sea mammals and got a fairly good knowledge about theese animals maybe I can help... =)
The Bottlenose is the typicall dolphin seen in movies and water parks. Look for uniform gray color on upper parts and lighter gray underparts. Length is about 100 cm, the dorsal fin is relatively large. This species is often seen near shore and you can often see them jump quite high! (very cool to see!!) Had observations of about 150, give or take, during my time in Tenerife.
The Atlantic Spotted Dolphin is very possible to see from the Azores. Almost 50% the size of the bottlenose, dark grey-brown with hundreds of white spots all over. Very easy to identify if it´s a adult. Young ones are similar to bottlenosed. Spinner Dolphin is all light gray with a long, thin beak. The dorsal fin is almost tilting forward in shape - this is very different from the other two. Striped dolphin is a beauty - dark gray back, light gray flanks and white belly. Dark eye mask and one, or sometimes two, black stripes on the side from beak to tail. Short-beaked Common Dolphin is also a nice one! Same size as a bottlenose but more "bow-shaped", big "shark like", triangular dorsal fin. Dark gray back and a very easy-to-see yellow to white area on flanks/belly. This extends back to a imaginary vertical line from the rear part of the dorsal fin (anybody understood what I ment by that??=)
Theese are the one, that I can think of right now, that are most lightly to appear in the Corvo costal waters. You should be on the look out for whales as well - at this time a year there´s migration going on in the waters - Great Blue Whale, Grey Whale and Killer Whale should be possible to find with loads of luck
Long-finned Pilot Whale should be easier - go whale watch!!
//Johannes
Jag hittade en gång en död tumlare på revlarna. Mega.
ReplyDeleteKolla mitt inlägg på förra bloggen!/Joppo
ReplyDeleteSnygga brallor! Arne...
ReplyDeleteTack för alla kommentarer! :) Brallorna rockar! JonnyT ska få pris för längsta kommentar vid tillfälle.
ReplyDeleteOlof, we have seen big numbers of Short-beaked Common along with Bottled-nosed Dolphin off Corvo during the last few Octobers. Sperm and Humpback Whale have also been seen.
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