Pelagic Pondering

What a wonderful thing it is to discover something. It doesn’t even have to be something new or previously unknown, but to see something for yourself for the very first time is one of the most exciting things you can experience... If I kept a bird "life list" (which I should), I could add four to it just from today... It started yesterday morning after we’d sailed away from Stavanger, Norway and were making our way toward the Faroe Islands across the North Sea. I looked out my porthole and saw a single whitish bird skimming the air just above the water surface. I quickly dressed and headed up to an open deck. When I spotted it again, I realized I wasn’t familiar with the bird. It was surprisingly quick, so I took a few tries to get a decent enough photo with which to reference and identify the bird using my awesome iBird app. Northern Fulmar. Check. Half an hour later, I looked up from a cup of coffee to seer four Northern Gannets soaring overhead. These, I knew from my reading and watching the incredibly similar Australasian Gannet just a month ago when I was in New Zealand. I snapped some photos. Later in the afternoon, when we would have been passing the northern coast of Scotland, I was hypnotized by a swirling column of about 40 gannets circling off the starboard side of the ship. More (much-needed) photographs. Then, a comparable number of fulmars added to the wonderful commotion of wings as they expertly dipped and swerved, seemingly tracing the outlines of the choppy water surface without ever making contact. Even more photos.

Just as I told myself to give the camera a rest, I noticed a large dark bird with a strong bill that stood out amongst all the white. It looked like a gull, but meaner (if it’s possible for a bird to look that way). It disappeared. I thought perhaps it was a skua gull. I’d just read about them in my ancient Iceland natural history book and remembered that just like the frigate birds of the tropics, skuas harass other seabirds for food. The bird seemed to fit the picture I’d formed in my mind from reading the account, but I wasn’t completely convinced. A few minutes later, I saw it again. This time, it was hot on the tail feathers of one of the gannets. My lens followed them in the chase, as the (now I was positive) Great Skua grabbed the gannet’s wings, forcing it to fall to the water. When the gannet surfaced, the skua landed practically on top of its clearly exhausted victim. The gannet then dropped its beak into the water and must have regurgitated its food because the skua dipped its head into the same spot immediately afterward and then took off. 

It was awesome, not only to witness, but also to have had my I.D. question answered in such a dramatic, national geographic moment gave me such satisfaction. The icing on the cake was finding a warm nook on the forward top deck to write down my observations, only to barely pick up the pen, look up and see a flight pattern that was different from the rest … a kittiwake adult and juvenile! (ID’s confirmed by my trusty iBird app of course). I can’t describe the warmth in my heart that has become a permanent smile at the realization of what an incredible opportunity it is for me to be here on the Celebrity Infinity, not just to teach, but to encounter new things in an unfamiliar place that serve to fuel the same passion and love that I have been brought onboard to share!