It is fair to say that after the ship sailed south from Hawaii, en route to Samoa that sea birds became rather less common than I expected and certainly would have wanted. I knew from previous passages through tropical waters that it is not uncommon to go a day or two without seeing any action. Although on this leg we did pass relatively close to a few island chains, this proved to be the case. A single Laughing Gull on the 16th of February at Lat/Long of 5.497, -164.116 was an outstanding and unusually strange record. 100s of Kms from the nearest land mass of the Kiribati Islands.
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| Laughing Gull, location as stated above,16 Feb 2024 |
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Same bird different view.
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We did encounter more expected fayre in the form of Red-tailed Tropicbird, Masked and Red-footed Boobies and a number of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. Sooty Tern, Leach's Storm Petrel and Bulwer's Petrel all making the list of this phase of the trip.
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| Bulwer's Petrel, 19 Feb 2024 |
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| Masked Booby, 15 Feb 2024 |
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| Pomarine Skuas, 19 Feb 2024 |
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| Poss Short-tailed Shearwater, 19 Feb 2024 |
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| Sooty Tern, 14 Feb 2024 |
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| Wedge-tailed Shearwater, 15 Feb 2024 |
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Wedgie again, as above
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We also came across a nice sized pod of Long-snouted Spinner Dolphins on the 16th Feb. They did not come overly close, but as ever, always worth a few snaps. Three images below from the sighting.
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