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I recently traveled on the Brittany Ferry from Plymouth to Santandar in Spain specifically to look for seabirds and cetaceans, with ORCA a Cetacean conservation organisation. It was quite a trip and very, very successful and rewarding. In the 48 hours at sea, mostly in the Bay of Biscay almost 100 cetaceans were reported as well as 5 species of Shearwater were seen and photographed. The rarest Shearwater for me was a Scopoli's - a lifer for me and the photograph taken was added to my gallery of bird species which now stands at 981! My galleries of 981 species worldwide. Click on the that link to take you there. Scopolis Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) was conspecific with Cory's Shearwater and it is extremely difficult to tell them apart. Among the ORCA guides were expert birders and I was assured that my photo shows the characteristic white on the underwing which is diagnostic.
This is a Great Shearwater, an interesting, large shearwater which were relatively numerous on the crossing of Biscay. It's fascinating to know that they breed in the South Atlantic on Tristan da Cuna and nearby Islands and travel thousands of miles moving north up the eastern seaboard of first South and then North America, before crossing the Atlantic in August. It can be quite common off the southwestern coasts of Great Britain and Ireland before heading back south again, this time down the eastern Atlantic. I found it amazing to see so many of these magnificent birds knowing the massive journey they have undertaken.
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