azwhales
This month has been an excellent month for sperm whales, but we have also been seeing a few other whale species such as fin whales and beaked whales. The pilot whales have been around too, although they go under the list of dolphin species, as they are the second largest dolphin in the world. The common dolphins has been as faithful as always as we have seen them all but one tour this month, and we have had a lot of bottlenose dolphin encounters too, with many well-known individuals. And finally our resident, the Risso’s dolphins have paid us visits too, mainly during the end of the month. Then both striped dolphins and Atlantic spotted dolphins have been playing around with us too. So cetacean-wise it has been a great month.
Other species, we have seen plenty of loggerhead turtles and flying fish, and also a few leatherback turtles. And to top it – a large hammerhead shark. The bird-list is also long: Cory’s shearwater, great shearwater, Macaronesian shearwater, yellow-legged gull, common tern, Bulwer’s petrel, pomarine skua, little egrets on Vila Franca Islet and finally, ruddy turnstones have been running around.
- Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) – 100%
- Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) – 69%
- Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) – 35%
- Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) – 12%
- Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) – 19%
- Pilot whale (Globicephala sp.) – 8%
- Beaked whale (Mesoplodon sp.) – 4%
- Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) -65%
- Fin whale (Baleanoptera physalus) – 8%
azwhales
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
