South America, Day 12 - 28 Feb 2018


28 Feb 2018 – At Sea


Clear skies and high winds greeted us this morning as we sailed from Costa Rica toward Panama and the Canal. A pair of shearwaters flew low over the waves and appeared to be more Wedge-tailed Shearwaters*.

*-originally ID'd as Galapagos Shearwater, but corrected by eBird reviewer,

Brown Boobies were plentiful today. As many as 16 birds were soaring alongside the ship all day long and taking advantage of the flying fish that were scattered in the ship’s wake. Among the boobies was another brown-morph Red-footed Booby, several Masked Boobies, and a single Nazca Booby.


At one point this morning Robin and I were having a cup of coffee at the back of the ship when I spotted a white bird following the ship’s wake. At first I suspected a possible booby, then a possible tropicbird. But, I noticed that its wingbeats were rapid, but not strong enough to keep up w/ the Brown Boobies that were soaring past it. I took some long-distance shots, and believe the bird to be a Great Egret! Nearest land is 100 miles to the east, so this cat is way off course. I hope it finds its destination before the ocean does.


As of 4 pm the ship was just off shore from the Peninsula de Azure of Panama.


Bajo del Tigre, Veraguas, PA
Feb 28, 2018 8:00 AM
Protocol: Incidental
Checklist Comments:     NCL Sun from Costa Rica on way to Panama Canal - day at sea along coast
6 species

Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica)  2     similar-looking birds to the ones seen near Galapagos Islands; light underwings but smudgy, not clean like in Audubon's Shearwaters. Dark edging to underwing coverts; brown top.
Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra)  1     similar to Nazca Booby but with bright yellow bill and black mask;
Nazca Booby (Sula granti)  1     Similar to Masked Booby but w/ orange-pink bill
Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster)  16
Red-footed Booby (Sula sula)  1     flew next to ship alongside a Nazca Booby, and several Masked Booby; brown morph.
Great Egret (Ardea alba)  1     crazy bird flying offshore many miles from shore

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S44046215

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)