We’re quick approaching a most well-liked 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 keen to take you out have been on the rise lately. The purpose is normally to go off to the continental shelf, which might be as much as 20 or extra nautical miles out relying in your place to begin. The thought is that it’s right here that you just discover the richest provides of meals, generated by upwellings. These journeys typically present chum, not a beautiful proposition at better of instances however attaining particular dimensions within the warmth of the summer time solar!
Heading to the shelf appears to be the popular possibility as it’s right here that you’ll find a few of 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 method south to their Antarctic breeding grounds. I’m not satisfied that it’s essential to go that far out for them and sometimes useful time, with good gentle for pictures, is wasted attending to the shelf. I’ve had many cases the place we’ve chummed nearer to shore and storm petrels have turned up. It simply wants slightly endurance. I’ve even seen storm petrels within reach 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 may kind massive rafts the place there’s meals. The smaller Scopoli’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea is essentially confined to the Mediterranean however I’ve often seen people out right here in the summertime.
The Gulf can also 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 kin, Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus, are scarcer however do present up. Even tougher to search out, however often 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 tough.
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 at all times 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 presently 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 relating to pelagic birds that may wander nice distances. I’ve seen Bulwer’s Petrels in massive 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 not discard these both. All-in-all, including these seabirds to the widespread species – Northern Gannets Morus bassanus, Yellow-legged Gulls Larus michahellis, Frequent Terns Sterna hirundo – makes a pelagic journey between now and October a really thrilling prospect.
