New Asian hotspot for pelagic seabirds
By Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne 2010.
Content is adapted from two articles first published in the Sri Lankan Sunday Times and Hi Magazine.
An explanation as to why Kalpitiya is so good for pelagic seabirds and a clarification that the depths off the Kalpitiya Peninsula were not mapped until October 2009. Kalpitya is also probably the top spot in South Asia for pelaigic seabirds.
Why the Kalpitiya Peninsula is the best for pelagics - Quick Facts
My quick facts are based on my field observations, an examination of charts showing depths and a wildlife photographer's intuition. I appreciate that my views may not be shared by others studying marine wildlife. I give below a series of bullet points as to why I think the Kalpitiya Peninsula is the best for pelagic seabirds in Sri Lanka.
- The seas off the Kalpitiya Peninsula, in the area where the depth rapidly plunges from 200m to 800m, seem particularly rich in the marine food chain evidenced by the large numbers of seabirds, marine mammals, flying fish (and commercially fished Yellow-fin Tuna) which are seen during the period when the seas are calm, November to April.
- The continental slope runs on a North-South axis approximately parallel to the Kalpitiya Peninsula. This creates a natural linear flyway for rare seabirds of the open ocean.
- The 400m depth line can be reached easily within half an hour in 18 footer boats which are available for leisure use. The ease of access and the ability to track birds flying in parallel between the E 79 038 and E 79 035 longitudinal lines, makes viewing and photography easy. Bad weather brings pelagic birds sufficiently close to for shore-based sea watching. During the South-west Monsoon, rare pelagic sea birds may be seen close to, or over the shore or even landing on the beach in an exhausted state.
- 400m is the typical hunting depth of Sperm Whales. Clearly there is something about this depth at which squid are found which results in a food chain which extends to the surface making it rich for seabirds and fisher folk. Sperm Whales are being seen much more regularly since I drew attention to their presence in a previous article. I have also found rare seabirds regularly around the 400m depth isobath.
- The area near the tip of the peninsula around N 08 15, between E 79 35 and E 79 38 seems particularly good for encountering flocks of rare seabirds. This may have to do with the underlying oceanic topography and oceanic currents mixing with the nutrient flow from the Puttalam Lagoon creating a rich food chain. There may also be a nutrient flow from mainland India which further enriches this area. The South-west Monsoon will also blow in nutrients from the West into the North-west of Sri Lanka.
- During stormy weather, especially during the Souh-west Monsoon, Kandakuliya Beach may provide a landing ground for exhausted seabirds. Using a telescope, it may be possible to pick up pelagics out at sea.
Pelagic sightings
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| We had good views and took some close photographs of what may well be the second accepted record from Sri Lanka of a Long-tailed Skua. |
Long-tailed Skua
On Sunday 11th April 2010 I was with my colleague Riaz Cader. We were looking for a Blue Whale which had slipped beneath the water for a third time. My attention was drawn to a pale bird with a black cap. We had good views and took some close photographs of what may well be the second accepted record from Sri Lanka of a Long-tailed Skua. The Skuas are a family of birds closely related to gulls. They are known to steal food from other birds in what is known as kleptoparasitism. There are seven species of Skuas in the world of which the Great, Pomarine, Arctic (Parasitic) and Long-tailed Skuas breed in the Northern hemisphere. They migrate to the South during winter. The Chilean, Brown and South Polar Skuas breed in the Southern hemisphere. The Great and Chilean Skuas have not been recorded off Sri Lanka.
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| This may well be the second accepted record from Sri Lanka. |
Persian (Arabian) Shearwater
I first photographed these when I was at sea researching pelagic tours. This may well be the second accepted record from Sri Lanka although it's possible that there may be two or three more records of it. Dr Charles Anderson also photographed them off Mirissa when whale watching in the first week of April. He has never recorded them around the Maldives. He believes that their presence off Sri Lanka in 2010 may be evidence of an El Nino year. Two sub-species of Persian Shearwater are recognised, one from the Arabian Sea and another from the Comoro Islands.
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| One flock we saw held both the Lesser and Brown Noddy. |
Noddies are infrequently seen off the seas of Sri Lanka. On 5 April 2010, I spoke to a person who has been engaged in research on seabirds for at least two years. He said he had not had a 'tickable' view of a Noddy and the only view he has had so far is of a very distant view at Adam's Bridge of Mannar. This highlights that close views of Noddies are special. I have encountered them a few times when whale watching for Blue Whales off Mirissa. However it was the fast 18 footer boats from Alankuda Beach which gave me easy access to approach these birds to photograph them. I expect those who go to Kalpitiya will find it not too difficult to see and photograph them at the right time of the year. One flock we saw held both the Lesser and Brown Noddy. One Lesser Noddy tried thrice to land on the soft canopy of our boat. The Brown Noddy has paler upper inner-wing contrasting with a darker outer-wing, and a pale forehead. It is also a bird with a heavier bill and a more laboured flight. The Lesser Noddies we have been seeing have shown extensive white on the forehead sometimes extending towards the nape.
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| To our amazement within five minutes of our arrival, we spotted a dark tern landing on the beach. |
Sooty Tern
I previously predicted that Kalpitiya Peninsula would remain good, if not better, for seeing rare seabirds when stormy seas made it impossible to go out to sea. In fact, I claimed that for various reasons that the Kalpitiya Peninsula is the best place in Sri Lanka for shore-based seabird watching, especially during bad weather. To test this theory I arrived on 19th May with a team of four staff on our way back from Trincomalee where we had tracked the 1,000m depth line for whales. The next day we sea watched from the boat house of Alankuda Beach (www.alankuda.com).
We decided to go to Kandakuliya which was a more northerly location on the peninsula, where I thought our chance of seeing storm blown pelagics would be better. There was even a chance of finding an exhausted Sooty Tern on the beach as Howard Martenstyn had found at Alankuda Beach. To our amazement within five minutes of our arrival, we spotted a dark tern landing on the beach. It was an exhausted Sooty Tern which had nearly completed assuming adult plumage. In Sri Lanka the Sooty Tern is considered a passage migrant arriving with the advent of the South-west Monsoon. It also participates in the movement of thousands of Bridled Terns which take place past the West Coast peaking in August and September. It breeds on oceanic islands, coral reefs etc. The nearest known breeding sites to Sri Lanka are in the Maldives, Laccadives and the Andamans.
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| The Bridled Tern is seen fairly regularly in small numbers during the whale watching season. |
Bridled Tern (Brown-winged Tern)
Along the west coast a mass migration of Bridled Terns together with other species of sea faring birds takes place with a peak in the months of August and September. This was first discovered and written about by Thilo Hoffmann and subsequently also by A. Van der Bergh. Since then a detailed picture has been built due to the perseverance of local ornithologist Rex De Silva, who has studied the migration for a period of over thirteen years. Skuas, Petrels, Storm-petrels and Shearwaters are also seen with the migrating birds. The Bridled Tern is seen fairly regularly in small numbers during the whale watching season in the South and North-west from November to April. In May I observed them coming very close (within a kilometre) to Swami Rock in Trincomalee. When the South-west Monsoon arrives they can be seen gliding over the beach on the Kalpitiya Peninsula and Chilaw Sand Spit. The much rarer Sooty Tern is distinguished by blacker upperparts and the white supercilium not extending behind the eye.
Behind the scenes & thanks
Behind the fun and glamour of breaking major wildlife stories, there is a lot of hard work and a team of people. The acknowledgements in my books refer to seven categories of people who make it possible for me to do what I do. In this article I will comment on the specifics of the research off the Kalpitiya Peninsula.
The field work itself simply would not have been possible without the support of Dallas Martnestyn (the man who put Kalpitiya's Spinner Dolphins on the map) and his co-investors of Alankuda Beach (www.alankuda.com). They hosted my team with food, accommodation and boats. There is a parallel here with the support of Jetwing Lighthouse from April 2008 to April 2009 to me and the Jetwing Eco Holidays team to position the South of Sri Lanka as the best place to see and photograph Blue Whales.
The field work itself is rather tough and anyone who has been out to sea in rough weather in an 18 footer speed boat will understand the bone jarring ride when running through on-coming waves at speed. The hours are long and the boatmen at Alankuda, especially Rohan Susantha never complained when I would clock up at times nine and a half hours out at sea. At times I rode out 30 km due west from Alankuda to survey the area for cetaceans and seabirds. Alankuda Beach always made sure I was well stocked with food, water, soft drinks and at least three full tanks of fuel for the outboard motor engines.
Wildlife celebrity Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne can be found on Facebook and www.flickr.com. Almost every major wildlife tourism product in Sri Lanka has had Gehan playing a pivotal role in its research and commercial development.
