A Day on the Ocean

On my last full day in Hawaii, I spent the day on a pelagic birding trip. I arrived at the harbor at 6:15am and met Mandy, the owner of Hawaii Bird Tours, 5 other guests, and the captain and crew of our boat. After signing releases, listening to safety instruction, we were on our way for our 6 hour tour. Fortunately for us, and unlike Gilligan, the weather did not get rough, but rather remained remarkably calm throughout the day. While most of the individual birds we saw on our trip were Shearwaters, Petrels, and Terns, we did see some more exotic birds such as this White-tailed Tropicbird. The birds long tail indicates that it is an adult. We saw a second White-tailed Tropicbird that was a juvenile. It lacked the long white tail which gives this bird its name.

We were very fortunate to also spot a single Red-tailed Tropicbird. These are much less common, so Mandy and the crew were quite excited when we saw it.

By far the most common bird we saw during the day were Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. Mandy kept a running tally of the birds we saw, and she estimated that we saw about 135 of these.

For 8 of the 15 species of birds we saw during the day, we only saw either one or two birds. Above is the single Flesh-footed Shearwater we encountered.

Petrels and Shearwaters are both seabirds in the Procellariidae family. I found differentiating many of the variants challenging even when looking at photos on my computer, using online tools, and checking reference sites. This is a Christmas Petrel which is quite similar to the Flesh-footed Shearwater and to the Bulwer’s Petrel, which we also saw but I have not included in this post since my best photo was not very good. To me, the most obvious difference between the Flesh-footed Shearwater and the Christmas Petrel is the color of the beaks.

The most common petrel we saw was the Leach’s Storm-Petrel. We saw about 15 of these birds. They are recognizable by their forked tails and white rumps. However, we also saw a single Band-rumped Storm Petrel which looks extremely similar. The two main visual differences are that the Band-rumped has a flat rather than forked tail, and its white band is even and narrow rather than the wider v-shaped band on the Leach’s with its faint brown center dividing line.

Shifting from the Shearwaters and Petrels, here is a Brown Booby. I first encountered a Brown Booby when Kate and I were vacation in St. Vincent in January of 2024.

Here is a photograph of a Red-footed Booby. Similarly, I first photographed this species while visiting St. Vincent.

We saw a handful of White Terns. They made an appearance in my first blog post from Honolulu since they breed in Honolulu. In general, they are not found on the Big Island. I think we were about 30 miles offshore when we saw the White Terns.

The Sooty Tern was the dominant tern that we saw on the trip. This is a juvenile. As a breeding adult, the top of its head and its back would be jet black with bright white belly and chin. I chose this photo because breeding adults look like they should be named “Black and White Terns” while this juvenile certainly resembles what I think a “Sooty Tern” should look like.

Another relatively uncommon bird we saw was this Red Phalarope in its winter plumage.

Finally, on the bird front, there was this Brown Noddy resting on a piece of floating debris.

In addition to the birds, we also saw fish. The captain usually leads fishing trips and is passionate about fishing. While I would just see or hear a splash, she would immediately yell out the identify the fish. Unlike the other fish that simply make a quick splash, these flying fish were out of the water for many seconds at a time as they flew 50 to 100 yards or more. It is only because they can fly that far that I was able to capture this photo. They are rather small creatures, perhaps 6” in length.

Jumping out of the water was not limited to the fish. I am quite happy with this photo of a Fraser's Dolphin.

We also saw two pods of whales. Mandy thinks that the first pod we saw, two of whom are pictured above, might be False Killer Whales. I think the pod had at least 8 whales.

A bit later on, we saw this Sperm Whale. In the photo, the whale is blowing its spout. The fact that the spray goes forward rather than straight up is indicative of a Sperm Whale.

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to write up these blog posts from Hawaii. In addition to the day-to-day things that keep me occupied, I have also been very busy planning for my Savannah GA to New Orleans LA bicycling trip that starts in just over a week. Since this is my first self-supported, birding and bicycle trip, planning all of the details and getting everything done has been very time consuming. I hope to get one or two more Hawaii blog posts out before I head south, but we will have to see given that my “to do” list is still crazy long.