Dolphins feeding, birds speeding

Atlantic Spotted Dolphins (Stenella frontalis) speeding next to our boat

Oh yes, they are still here! The Atlantic Spotted Dolphins (Stenella frontalis) are one of our most loyal summer friends. This migratory species will soon leave the Azores to go and spend their winter in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. From now on, every time we see them we think it’s gonna be the last time of the year. But it seems like they love Azores too much. Which, of course, we fully understand ;-).

This morning we encountered a very big group. They were feeding on fish. It’s always impressive to see this spectacle, because there’s a lot of movement and you get amazed by the level of intelligence of these animals. Many seabirds followed the group, with the aim of also getting a bite of fish. Most of them were Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris borealis).

 

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin (Stenella frontalis) pair, adult and juvenile. Photo Credits: Lieven Joos

 

Later on the tour we had to brave strong winds. The sea conditions became much wilder. Luckily our lookout spotted an other dolphin species quite close by our coast. Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis) started to socialize and gave our guests a nice show.

Unfortunately every now and then we also have to pause our tours because we find garbage. Today the other boat found a large fishing net in the water. This is actually one of the big threats marine life species are suffering nowadays. A lot of dolphins (and other species) are accidentally killed by fish nets. There’s a sharp decline of the Common Dolphin in the Mediterranean Sea and around Greece, where fishery interaction is not only due to bycatch, but also due to a deliberate competition. And this is just a small example of this global problem…

 

Large fishing net we found in the ocean today

Jessie Ocket

About Jessie Ocket

Jessie has a strong passion for the ocean and wildlife. Joined the TERRA AZUL team as Volunteer Marine Wildlife Guide in 2019, enjoying out at sea with wildlife, accompanying and informing visitors, and collecting field imagery and data for local Cetaceans and Sea Turtles Research & Conservation projects.

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