Today dolphins where again everywhere. We found a large group of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins, mixed with a few Short beaked Common Dolphins. They were all feeding for as far out as we could look, together with hundreds of birds. In the middle of the huge group of Cory’s Shearwaters, there was a single Great shearwater.
A Great Shearwater resting on the water in between the many Cory Shearwaters
Great shearwaters are not breeding in the Azores, we tend to see them more often at the end of the summer and beginning of autumn when they migrate to the South Atlantic Ocean to their breeding site, the remote Island of Tristão da Cunha. At first sight the Great shearwater appears similar to the most common observed Cory’s shearwater, but differ from it by the dark beak, darker head and a brown area in the inferior part of the abdomen and under the tail. Considering the migration timeline we were surprised to see it so early in the season.
Today the Bottlenose dolphins were also active while socializing.
In the afternoon the Atlantic Spotted Dolphins were also socializing while the Common Dolphins kept foraging. With all this activity going on, the swimming with dolphins couldn’t be either than good, and the participants were able to observe a group of Common Dolphins that were swimming close together. What a special moment to see the whole group at once!
What will we see tomorrow? Stay tuned 😉
Your thoughts on this?