• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Pelagic birding in Gran Canaria (1 Viewer)

François Doyen

Well-known member
Hi,

I just came back from the Canary Island and I'd great sightings of pelagic birds from Whale Watching in Gran Canaria (from Puerto Rico)!

I did 4 trips. The first was in the afternoon and wasn't good for birds because we stayed close to shore watching rough-toothed dolphin (one of my target thus great!) Only interesting sightings of bird was an area with tens of flying fish and a few cory's catching them in flight!

On the 3 next day, I booked a trip in the morning and each time we went far from land to search for the dolphins.

On the second trip I saw 2 white-faced storm-petrel, 1 barolo's shearwater & 4 bulwer's petrel (+ 2 loggerhead turtle & Bottlenoses dolphins). the trip had to last nearly 3 hours and not the 2 hours planned!

On the third I only had 1 barolo's shearwater but it gave amazing close view in front of the ship + atlantic spotted dolphin.

On the 4th trip : 2 Madeiran storm-petrel, 6 bulwer's petrel and bottlenose dolphin

One birder also saw madeiran & white-faced storm-petrel on one whale watching trip last summer

The good birds were generally seen after about 30min of boat exept the first madeiran storm-petrel which was only at 15min.

There is 2 boat to use : Spirit of the sea and Mutliacuatic I've a very slight preference for the latter but the boat are similar (possible to see the front of the ship) and go to the same area (nearly always saw the same dolphin pod or whale)

their sole purpose is to found a dolphin pod or a whale so if there is one just in front of the harbour, you will stay there, close to shore...The more difficult it's to find the dolphin the best it is for birding! ;) Morning is probably better because there is less chance than dolphins have already been found and thus the boat will go far from the coast where they have more chance to find them!

the trips last 2-3h and cost 25€ (relatively cheap of european whale watching trip). There's also lots of small sport fishing boat and going on one of those is probably good for birding too. The best for a group of birder is to arrange a pelagic trip of a few hours (3h is probably enough) with one of them and chumming should be great for storm-petrel. I don't know what the price would be though but probably not too expensive.

seawatching from Puerto Rico in the evening produced thousands of Cory's shearwater, I estimated between 3000 and 3500 each evening (18-21h) On one of the evening, they gathered in front of Puerto Rico and I counted 1200 sat on the sea at the same time then 2500 passed in only 20 minutes!

I also took the ferry (trasmediterranea) between Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura (Puerto Del Rosario), the wind was very strong (5 or maybe 6 bft) and during the 6hours ferry crossing I saw only cory's and 15 bulwer's petrel (12 of them were seen while following the fuerteventura east coast to the nord) + atlantic spotted dolphin, one shark sp. and loggerhead turtle

Seawatching from the headland north of Caleta de Fustes on Fuerteventura is amazing for cory's shearwater! They are passing very close! You can count them with naked eyes and have nearly the same number than with a scope, at least by moderate / strong NE wind. One evening I estimated 3300 in only 2 hours but impossible to find a cape verde shearwater ;)

FD
 
Out of curiosity, how regular is Rough-toothed Dolphin? That would be certainly worth signing up for, less so for Bottlenose Dolphin
 
Bottlenose dolphin is the commonest species...Rough-toothed dolphin are regularly seen (maybe the second commonest species after the Bottlenose?)...There is a lot of possible species in Gran Canaria (far more than in Teneriffe) but you need luck : common, striped dolphin, short-finned pilot whale, bryd'es, fin & sperm whale, blainville's beaked whale,...

FD
 
I had heard there was some good whale-watching in the area, but kind of disappointing if they stop at the first dolphin pod they find. Although there are plenty of outfits like that in the US as well.
 
Hi guys, here is a small trip report I took part in five years ago off Gran Canaria out of Puerto Rico which might be interesting reading?!

Here is the list of seabirds and marine life we saw off Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria between the 2nd and 6th May while surveying for cetaceans and seabirds.

Seabirds:
Cory's Shearwater: 1000+ daily
Little Shearwater: 2
Great Shearwater: 1
Bulwer's Petrel: 14
White-faced Petrel: 10
Madeiran Petrel: 9
Wilson's Petrel: 2
Leach's Petrel: 1
Sabine's Gull: 3
Grey Phalarope: 2
Pomarine Skua: 2
Arctic Skua: 5
Black Tern: 1
Arctic Tern: 103 (20+ daily)

Cetaceans:
Atlantic Spotted Dolphin: 370
Striped Dolphin: 130
Bottlenose Dolphin: 78
Common Dolphin: 8
Short finned Pilot Whale: 20
Bryde's/Sei Whale: 3

Marine Life:
Loggerhead Tutle: 3
Hammerhead Shark: 1

The previous year in 2005 in same area we also saw: 3 Blanville's beaked Whales, 8 Cuvier's beaked Whales and the star bird Red billed Tropicbird just out of the harbour at Puerto Rico!

Cheers,
Dave.
 
Madeira is IMO better...I don't think you can see 3 different bryde's whale & 2 pods of bottlenose dolphin in a 2h30 trip or watching fin, Bryde's/Sei, sperm whale, bottlenose & atlantic spotted dolphin on the same day from your balcony anywhere in the Canaries ;-)
 
Madeira is IMO better...I don't think you can see 3 different bryde's whale & 2 pods of bottlenose dolphin in a 2h30 trip or watching fin, Bryde's/Sei, sperm whale, bottlenose & atlantic spotted dolphin on the same day from your balcony anywhere in the Canaries ;-)

'Tis true that sounds like the ultimate in European whale watching! Which hotel did you stay in to see those?

Allen
 
calves of many dolphins species are differently colored than adults. I would expect such is the case with the Rough-toothed Dolphin
 
calves of many dolphins species are differently colored than adults. I would expect such is the case with the Rough-toothed Dolphin

Yes this is what I though but at first I only found pics of dark calves...now I've found this that is paler so it's maybe variable (or mine is perhaps younger)?

FD
 
It looks as if there is great cetacean watching from both Madeira and Gran Canaria. I have forgotten nearly all the Portuguese that I have ever learnt, but was wondering what the photograph "Naucrates ductor (14:46)" shows in the Lobosonda website.

Allen

I'm not sure that your Portuguese would have been much help; Naucrates ductor is the scientific name for Pilot Fish.
 
This hotel is closed for over 2 years now. Last time I checked was January 2011. Gr. Michel.

Is there any other accommodation in Porto Moniz? It would be a bit of a bugler to go all the way there on the off chance and find that there is nowhere to stay!

Allen
 
Yes there are other hotel! on Seawatching.net it's said that the Salgueiro is good for seawatching too

Salgueiro is a nice hotel with a sunroof (20 m. above the surface of the ocean) which can be used for seawatching although a ventilator causes
a lot of noice there!! Best spot (23 m) for seawatching imo can be found here:

http://www.travellingbirder.com/tripreports/tripreports_redirect.php?id=12407

There are plenty of hotels in PM but Salgueiro is strongly recommended.

http://www.pensaosalgueiro.com

Regards, Michel
 
Warning! This thread is more than 13 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top