Carribean Cruise Part 2.

The sea crossing of the Atlantic from Southampton is another aspect that I really enjoy. I've done this route before, so know what to expect and to be honest it can be very hard work. It certainly isn't wall to wall rare seabirds. Some days in the mid Atlantic would test any ones patience but if you do see something its likely to be something special e.g. on November 7th when the nearest land was Barbados, only one bird was seen all day but it was a White-tailed Tropicbird.

The route to the Caribbean always stops off at Madeira and Azores which gives you a good chance of some interesting sea birds on the approach to and on leaving the Islands. November isn't the best time of year for all of the Macaronesian Island seabird specialities but there are late breeding/winter breeding species. I was very pleased to see two Feas's Petrels, one between Portugal and Madeira and one as we steamed away from Madeira. This species nests in the Maderian archipelago on Bugio (part of the Desertas islands) with egg laying in July-August and young fledging in December. Very exciting birds to watch, amazing flyers with very steep 'V' shaped arch's different to a shearwater.

Another Macaronesian speciality seen was Madeiran (Band-rumped) Petrel which has winter breeding populations. Leach's  Petrel were numerous from Madeira to the mid Atlantic Ridge, these birds have dispersed from northern breeding grounds in the Gulf of St Lawrence and Norway-seabirds make amazing journeys.
The largest concentration of seabirds during the whole journey was noted to the NE of the Azores on the return  (Nov 23rd). This mainly comprised large mixed flocks of Great and Cory's Shearwater totalling just over 100 birds. The split seemed fairly even but slightly in favour of Great Shearwater (estimated at 60:40). This surprised me a bit given the time of year when Great Shears should be heading south to breeding grounds for the Austral summer. But given that shearwaters are long lived birds there will always be a proportion of lingering immature non-breeders. Also satellite tagging has shown that waters around the Azores are important for Greats on their return loop from the N Atlantic. See here http://www.marine-life.org.uk/seabirds/great-shearwater and here https://stellwagen.noaa.gov/seabirds.html