update Nov 2024
As shown below, under 'The aims', I travelled for a two to three-week work trip to Flores Island, the westernmost island in the Azores archipelago, for my first pelagic attempt in this spot and on-land search for possible breeding petrels. After about a week of waiting for suitable sea conditions and preparing the chum, my daughter Teva, who is almost 3.5 years old, unfortunately became very ill and had to be hospitalized overnight on November 9th to 10th. My wife Reut informed me while accompanying Teva in the ambulance to the hospital, prompting me to halt the night petrel search (see below) and quickly book the first available flight off the island. Luckily, Teva was discharged that same night after thorough checks at Beja's hospital. The following morning, she was feeling much better - Photo 1 above was sent to me by my wife Reut on the morning of November 10th while I was already en route to the airport. However, I had to return to Teva and be by her side. The doctors could not pinpoint the illness, only suggesting it was likely viral. Teva's recovery was rapid once she learned I was on my way home, and since my return, she has been glued to my side. I suspect that her illness was partly due to missing me, just as I missed her while on the island. Therefore, on my next attempt, I plan to bring Teva with me...
The aims:
My motto is "refusing to believe in petrel extinction", as some of you may already know. Therefore, my ‘Prime Targets’ assume that I believe there is still a chance that the recently described subfossil petrel, as well as the recently extinct Pterodroma zinorum (Rando et al., 2024) from the Azores archipelago, and possibly others, could still be surviving. Additionally, the 'Snowy-winged Petrel,' though undescribed, which I discovered in 2010 not far from Porto Santo in the Madeiran Islands (Shirihai et al., 2010), could potentially be feeding off the Azores, like Zino's and Desertas Petrels do. Therefore, the prime target is searching for evidence of the least known of the world's petrels. Likewise, the Bermuda Petrel, as mentioned in my recent Facebook posts, along with the Black-faced/Capped Petrels, and the Trindade Petrel of the Americas, are all known to some extent to feed off the Azores. Any living taxa, or already described petrels of the feae complex and the aforementioned Americans – totaling 6 gadfly petrels – are regarded as the 'Subsidiary Targets'. Understanding the occurrences of the subsidiary targets will help me get closer to finding any potential prime targets. Furthermore, if I am able to track any of these targets conclusively, I can attract many birders to join in the efforts and have fun with it!
Many people wonder why I go to the Azores, especially considering that I have thoroughly studied all six gadfly species of the North Atlantic in their core areas. Now you have an answer! Secondly, now living in Portugal with my beautiful family, the Azores can be considered my local birding patch in terms of ocean distances. It is also a wonderful place to meet some of the most amazing people on earth.
One last point before the technical summary below: yes, the first attempt was unsuccessful. However, I would like to remind you all that it took me three seasons (2008-2010) to find and document the first-ever Zino’s Petrel at sea, establish its hotspot around the Madeiran Islands, and identify its characteristics (Shirihai 2008-10; Shirihai et al., 2010). It also took five expeditions (2005-2009) to find the first-ever Fiji Petrel at sea (Shirihai et al., 2010b). Similarly, to discover/rediscover/first-ever at-sea documentations of the Beck’s, Mascarene, Vanuatu, and the Magnificent Petrels (all Pacific too) took me to establish through at least three major operations each (search for various publications per year/species under Shirihai or Shirihai et al 2003-13 – mostly published in BBOC). Well, that is only with gadflies, but I have similar cases with several species of various shearwaters, storm petrels, and prions, and even a diving petrel (some published, others pending publications). Therefore, it is clear that what I set out to do in the Azores will be a challenge, will take time, and joint efforts with people who will manage to get into the bottom of my mind. Let’s hope it will not end up as it did with the Jamaican Petrel, which so far I can only confirm as extinct.
Please see below for the upcoming year's plans in the Azores.
Summary of the Flores Island and the pelagic attempt (2-10 Nov 2024):
From November 2nd to November 10th, we spent nearly 8 days on the island facing stormy conditions. On November 8th, we made our first attempt to reach the chumming location, which was quite far and rough on the west side of the island. Leading up to this attempt, I prepared the special chum during the day and conducted a petrel night search along the cliffs and volcano cones at night, making good use of my time.
On November 8th, with skipper Carlos Mendes, we noticed that ocean conditions were forecasted to drop to 13-17 knots after mid-day. We decided to go for it, but shortly after reaching the chumming location, we had to make a storm escape due to the still lingering effects of the previous storm (Photo 2 shows some of its peaks from November 5th-7th, with 33 knots of wind). This storm produced 30-50-meter swells and tight 3-4-meter waves, along with low-pressure cloud formations. In a short period, the sea conditions worsened from 13 knots to 26 knots (Photo 3). Even the Cory’s Shearwaters suddenly disappeared from the chum slick, but we were able to catch a glimpse of them before they left (Photo 4-5), along with a Sooty Shearwater, Wilson's and Leach's Storm Petrels. Despite the challenges, I could sense the great potential of that location.
The most amazing island, Flores:
The photos (6-36) can speak for themselves:
Meeting Lucas Lu Bird and the Hudsonian Whimbrel
As I was busy searching for petrels at night and preparing during the day to go to the ocean, I didn't have time to look for some of the North American rare birds that are regular in the Azores at this time of year. However, I had the privilege of meeting Lucas Lu Bird, who directed me to the Hudsonian Whimbrel while having a drink at the local beach cafeteria (Photos 27-28). Lucas mentioned that this particular bird has been returning for the past four winters! Lucas is a Swiss birder and the chairman of the 300 Birds Club in his country. He has been visiting the Azores for North American rarities for several years.
We had planned to visit key sites on Flores on November 10th, but we had to postpone that because I had to rush to be with my family (as mentioned above).
I can add that, despite not having the time to go 'rarity hunting' on Flores, on the night of November 2nd, I had three sightings of Common Nighthawks. One was very active 30 minutes before dark along the ER2-2, roughly one kilometer east/west from 39°26'59.90"N, 31° 9'43.55"W, still close to Santa Cruz. The other two were on the west coast, at night: the first was spotlighted as it came from the ocean, entering inland, and the second was about one kilometer further south along the western cliffs, busy hunting, possibly the same bird.
On the way:
On November 10th, on my way back, I had to stay overnight on São Miguel Island for the next morning flight to Lisbon. I had a few hours to refresh my memory of the Azores Bullfinch, so I revisited a site where I had seen it many years earlier when conservation efforts for the species had just begun. I arrived in the last light of the day and saw a pair preparing to roost - it was actually on the very same tree! As usual, the site was very rainy and foggy, which made for poor visibility (Photos 29-30).
On the way to the Azores, I had the privilege of joining the supper pelagic off Lisbon organized by Hugo Blanco on November 1st. We saw an interesting selection of seabirds, including Great and South Polar Skuas (see Photos 34-35, respectively), a good number of Northern Gannets, and hundreds of moulting European Storm-Petrels (Photo 36).
Thanks:
I would like to express my gratitude to the Mendes family, particularly Carlos and Carina, of Extremocidente & Hotel Ocidental/Flores for their exceptional hospitality and understanding of my work both on and off Flores Island. I am also excited about our planned collaborations in the Azores. Despite rough ocean conditions on November 8th, Carlos Mendes and Sofia Cunha (Photo 37) bravely navigated the small boat into the vast ocean - thank you for the great job- well done!
I also want to thank Antonieta Mendonça of Hotel Ocidental for her assistance in preparing the Chum with the fishermen.
Special thanks to Hugo Blanco for his support with logistics, contacts, and idea-sharing, as well as his encouragement. Hugo has created a fantastic pelagic operation in Lisbon that I highly recommend.
A huge thank you to Frederico Morais and his wife Sandra Meneses for their warm hospitality in Lisbon. Our discussions on birding and more were truly enjoyable. Frederico has an impressive bird list for Portugal, totaling 464 species. Portugal is the second country with the most species recorded in the Western Palearctic, making Frederico’s ‘local record’ truly remarkable!
I am always grateful to my wife, Reut, and our daughter, Teva, for their unwavering support and for sharing the ‘petrel duties’ with me, this time in the Azores. They took care of ‘family duties’ while I was away, as mentioned in the first section of this blog - definitely worth reading!
Final Point and Future Plans:
A nature landscapes, marine life, and bird photography expeditions
July-October 2025: Flores Island, Azores
One-week long excursions, in July 2025, September 2025, October 2025
Guided by Carlos Mendes & Hadoram Shirihai
Limited to 6 participants
Activities include pelagic seabird-birding, whale and dolphin watching, underwater exploration, and authentic birding experiences
We have already begun to fill up the participants list, so if you are interested, please contact us via the Almodóvar Birding Centre.
The full trip plan and dates will be published in the coming weeks.
In addition to these exclusive tours, I will also be conducting some research voyages off Flores between July and October 2025. I welcome anyone interested to join me on these trips. For the research voyages taking place in September and October, I will give priority to the long-staying birders on Flores and Corvo.
So, let's meet on the magical Flores’ Petrel and Whale Adventures 2025!
Last but not least, in collaboration with Hugo Blanco and Bob Flood, we are also planning a voyage on a sailboat to complete a chumming-circumnavigation of the Azorean Archipelago, tentatively scheduled for 2026/27. We are inviting participants to join us in this exciting challenge and adventure! If you are interested, please let me know privately.
Hadoram
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