Monday, 13 August 2018

Madeira Day 5

Ventura do Mar; Desertas Islands trip
32.512719, -16.509508 ~ 32.646104, -16.910663
We awoke early in the morning and after a couple of hours had made our move to leave the island. The Berthelot’s Pipits and Atlantic Canaries were still hanging around the camp; showing as well as they had been the previous day.
The journey back was much the same as the crossing coming, with exceptional views of Bulwer’s Petrels and Cory’s Shearwaters. The Pterodroma petrel count was up to 19, with most moving past distantly, but with the occasional bird coming quite close. As before, all the birds that we were able to identify we assigned to Desertas Petrel. The highlight of the return trip was an awesome Bryde’s Whale which emerged from the waves not far from the boat. We saw it emerge a few times, each time giving an impressive spout. It was fortunate that the animal was as close to the boat, the choppy nature of the ocean otherwise making it difficult to pick out cetaceans against the waves.
Upon our return to the Madeiran mainland we made our way back to the hostel where we gathered our things and headed off to the airport for our return flight.
-Bryde's Whale
-Pterodroma Petrel
-Cory's Shearwater

Species List:
Ventura do Mar; Desertas Islands trip: Cory’s Shearwater, Bulwer’s Petrel, Desertas Petrel, Common Tern, Yellow-legged Gull, Berthelot’s Pipit, Atlantic Canary, Bryde’s Whale, Madeiran Wall Lizard,

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