Canal de Las Ballenas
Our first indication that we were approaching somewhere rather special came mid morning as the Sea Voyager made passage thru the Canal De Las Ballenas. We had been watching a number of fin whales during the early hours of the day feeding on large numbers of anchovy clearly visible on our fish-finder when suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by seabirds numbering in their tens of thousands. These too were feeding on the rich abundance of marine life as first the pelicans followed by the terns and the Heermanns gulls all picked off the easy targets from above. Not that the anchovy were safe from predation from below as suddenly the waters were alive with darting cones of red as a school of Humbolt squid made raids on the surface before dashing back to the depths and relative safety. Normally the seabirds would be feeding on sardines but that fishery collapsed a number of years ago and their numbers have still not recovered.
As we watched this incredible feeding frenzy proceed our other senses were soon demanding our attention as the unmistakable stench of guano filled the air along with what can only be described as a cacophony of sound assaulted our ears. We had arrived at Isla Rasa, a small island in the gulf, home to 95% of the worlds breeding pairs of both the Heermanns gulls and elegant terns we had just seen feeding. Numbering over 500,000 individuals, the island was completely covered in adult birds rearing their precious chicks. We had come on a good year as the successful breeding rate this year was above the normal 50% and has been recorded at an impressive 80%. This is great news as with the majority of the worlds breeding population resident here on Rasa during the breeding season the consequence of failure can be devastating. Last year there was not one successful breeding pair of either bird as El Nino had driven the food source out of the area and so the birds just did not breed at all. This years bumper crop of chicks should continue to help build this colony back towards the 1 million mark that used to live here in the 1800`s before the guano mining and egg collecting forced the population to decline to under 50,000. In 1964 the intervention of the Mexican Government came just in time to protect this natural wonder.
Our first indication that we were approaching somewhere rather special came mid morning as the Sea Voyager made passage thru the Canal De Las Ballenas. We had been watching a number of fin whales during the early hours of the day feeding on large numbers of anchovy clearly visible on our fish-finder when suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by seabirds numbering in their tens of thousands. These too were feeding on the rich abundance of marine life as first the pelicans followed by the terns and the Heermanns gulls all picked off the easy targets from above. Not that the anchovy were safe from predation from below as suddenly the waters were alive with darting cones of red as a school of Humbolt squid made raids on the surface before dashing back to the depths and relative safety. Normally the seabirds would be feeding on sardines but that fishery collapsed a number of years ago and their numbers have still not recovered.
As we watched this incredible feeding frenzy proceed our other senses were soon demanding our attention as the unmistakable stench of guano filled the air along with what can only be described as a cacophony of sound assaulted our ears. We had arrived at Isla Rasa, a small island in the gulf, home to 95% of the worlds breeding pairs of both the Heermanns gulls and elegant terns we had just seen feeding. Numbering over 500,000 individuals, the island was completely covered in adult birds rearing their precious chicks. We had come on a good year as the successful breeding rate this year was above the normal 50% and has been recorded at an impressive 80%. This is great news as with the majority of the worlds breeding population resident here on Rasa during the breeding season the consequence of failure can be devastating. Last year there was not one successful breeding pair of either bird as El Nino had driven the food source out of the area and so the birds just did not breed at all. This years bumper crop of chicks should continue to help build this colony back towards the 1 million mark that used to live here in the 1800`s before the guano mining and egg collecting forced the population to decline to under 50,000. In 1964 the intervention of the Mexican Government came just in time to protect this natural wonder.
