Extralimital: Birding on a Cruise Ship

[Fred Burggraf]

My wife and I just returned from a week aboard Royal Caribbean's "Oasis of the Seas," the world's largest cruise ship. Our ports of call included Haiti, Jamaica and Cozumel, and during each stop we birded as we could (this was not by any stretch a birding tour) and got a few nice birds with an endemic or so thrown in.

Equally if not more interesting was the birding from the ship during the cruising days. Before we left for the trip I did some research to find out what to expect on the high seas; I must say that there's not much written on the subject.

The first day or so, therefore, I was not surprised to find empty skies and seas. The main excitement was the richness of flying fish---these amazing animals can really fly, and for quite some distances. It was tempting to put them on my bird list; they could, after all, fly, for Pete's sake.

It was mid-week, after we left Falmouth, Jamaica, that we noticed swallows around the ship. Two species were in the group: Barn Swallows and Northern Rough-winged Swallows. It's worth mentioning a unique characteristic of the Oasis of the Seas: the center of the ship is open at the top. Below is what they call Central Park. This empty space is about six decks high and the "forest" has hundreds of living plants and even nearly 40 live trees. We observed the swallows not only around the ship but in the air above Central Park, although we never saw them land. At first I thought perhaps the birds were migrating and were using the ship as a resting station. But oddly, the birds did not seem exhausted and were flying in their usual styles, as if feeding.

Near the end of the week, I attended a Q&A session held by the Captain of the ship, who addressed the issue somewhat. He commented that once the ship is in port, birds find the open areas, explore them and sometimes remain when the ship sails on. So it may be that the ship itself could be tweaking bird ranges, depending on what ends up in the park.

On Friday, several Brown Boobies showed up and flew round and round the ship. My first theory was that the churn of the ship was stirring up fish and attracting them, but then I saw something more astonishing: the boobies were actively pursuing the flying fish in the air and, occasionally, catching them while on the wing...er....fin. This is definitely something to watch for if you cruise the Caribbean.

One other special note: also on Friday, with no land in sight, a Peregrine Falcon appeared and made multiple circuits around the ship. It might have had an eye on one of the swallows, but that's a high energy bill to pay for a little snack.

If anyone here on this list has had similar experiences, please share. Birding on a cruise ship just may be as interesting as birding the islands.

Fred Burggraf

Charles County

[Gail B. Mackiernan %3Ckatahdinss%40comcast.net%3E]

My husband and I have been birding from cruise ships for a decade -- a great way to see pelagic species and also, have visits (albeit short ones) to some exotic ports. Last year we took a cruise ship from Baltimore to Nova Scotia and from it added some new birds to our MD lists, including Sabine's gull and Band-rumped storm-petrel. In 2011 we went from Alaska to Korea and en route, saw 25 Solander's (Providence) Petrels in off Attu which turned out to be the first for USA. So lots of opportunities. Just a matter of picking the right route, right dates and the right ship, Holland-America is best for seawatching as you can get right out onto the bow deck and scan with your scopes. The stability of these large ships means use of scopes is as easy as on the land. You do get a lot of questions from the other passengers though!

Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper
Colesville, MD

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From: "Fred Burggraf" <fburgg...@gmail.com>
To: "mdbirding" <mdbi...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 7, 2013 10:22:31 PM
Subject: [MDBirding] Extralimital: Birding on a Cruise Ship

My wife and I just returned from a week aboard Royal Caribbean's "Oasis of the Seas," the world's largest cruise ship. Our ports of call included Haiti, Jamaica and Cozumel, and during each stop we birded as we could (this was not by any stretch a birding tour) and got a few nice birds with an endemic or so thrown in.

<snip>

[Joe Byrnes]

I have been on three Caribbean cruises now, all in January, and the easiest bird to see in my opinion was the Masked Booby.  I saw them once or twice on each cruise, closely following the ship, often for 15 minutes or longer. 

 

This last January on a cruise while going from Cartagena, Colombia to Aruba we passed a couple of rock islands (probable nest sites) about a mile to the south, and for over an hour there were dozens of Masked Boobies closely following the ship.  I counted at least 33 of them just on the starboard side of the ship, along with a few Brown Boobies. 

 

Interestingly enough, I had received an email from Arlene Ripley (AZ) a month before who had experienced the same thing on her cruise ship at the same spot a month earlier. 

 

-Joe Byrnes

Columbia, MD.