'Seabirds and marine mammals off SW Galicia, all year-round. Didactic, exciting experience at the best value!'

Thursday, July 17, 2014

21/06/2014: little terns!

On Saturday 21st June, with a spring-like weather, we left O Grove harbour at the usual time, 8:30 a.m.
In the route throughout the 'ria' of Arousa we managed to see five Eurasian oystercatchers, European shags, great black-backed and yellow-legged gulls. Once off Sálvora island, the first shearwaters popped up, with one Cory's shearwater (quite scarce this year) and some Balearics. A stormy (European storm-petrel) showed well at the chum, plus northern gannets, two common terns and, remarkably, two little terns, a not common species in the area.

About cetaceans, we saw both common and bottlenose dolphins, and a sunfish was enjoyed for all the passengers.

Here below is the species list, with highlights in bold and approximate numbers in italics:

SPECIES LIST

Latin name English name N Notes
Puffinus mauretanicus Balearic shearwater 6
Calonectris diomedea Cory's shearwater 1 Scarce this year
Hydrobates pelagicus European storm-petrel 1
Phalacrocorax aristotelis European shag 50
Morus bassanus Northern gannet 86
Haematopus ostralegus Eurasian oystercatcher 5
Larus michahellis Yellow-legged gull 90
Larus marinus Great black-backed gull 2
Sterna hirundo Common tern 2 Spring record
Sternula albifrons Little tern 2 Not common in the area
Delphinus delphis Common dolphin 3
Tursiops truncatus  Bottlenose dolphin 22
Mola mola Sunfish 1


An some pictures of the trip, (c) Xoán Diéguez and Gustavo Ferreiro:


Some participants of the trip. 21/06/2014, 'ria' of Arousa, SW Galicia (c) Gustavo Ferreiro.

Some participants of the trip. 21/06/2014, Sálvora island, SW Galicia (c) Gustavo Ferreiro.
European storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus, 21/06/2014, 12 nm off Sálvora island, SW Galicia (c) Xoán Diéguez.
Eurasian oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus. 21/06/2014, 'ria' of Arousa, SW Galicia (c) Xoán Diéguez