For Irish birders, a “pelagic” is a chance to get up close views and shots of seabirds that they normally see distantly in a telescope from sea watching hotspots such as the Bridges of Ross in Co. Clare and Galley Head in Co. Cork.  They include breeding species such as Manx Shearwater and Storm Petrels that only come to their colonies at night and migrant seabirds from the South Atlantic such as Great Shearwater. For the hardcore twitchers, there is the unrelenting craving that just bit further over the horizon, there is a nirvana of seabird ticks that will pull them one or two ahead of a lifelong birding rival!

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In the run-up to a pelagic, there is knowledgeable -sounding?? :-) - discussions of upwellings, the shelf edge, bathymetry and submarine canyons that might lead to undiscovered seabird concentrations and perhaps the prize of a Cahow, or even an albatross! -  mega-rarities that have been recorded on Irish research cruises in recent years.  Except for these isolated sightings, however,  Irish pelagics over the last 35 years or so have shown that our waters do not compare with pelagic birding hotspots off California,  Australia or even as near, relatively speaking,  as the southeast coast of the USA at Cape Hatteras. The only significant discovery is the regular presence of Wilson’s Petrels in late summer and early autumn. Amazingly, small numbers of these 40g birds (1.5 ounces) reach us from Antarctic waters where more than 50 million pairs breed.

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Despite a long history of often dull trips, every year a few boatloads of lunat . . . ahem, intrepid Irish birders battle pessimism, seasickness, as well as diesel and chum fumes (see below).   Perhaps the most regular is “Ed’s pelagic” that goes 10-15km off Co. Kerry. Ed has a good track record of scoring Wilson’s Petrels on most trips. Even if it’s quiet, there are always spectacular views of the outer Blasket Islands or, if we go a little further south the Skelligs, and I have always enjoyed these trips.

However, when Dungarvan based birder, John Power, contacted me a while back about a possible trip to the edge of the continental shelf from Blacksod  at the southern tip of The Mullet in Co. Mayo, I quickly gave in to my eternal inner optimist! So why Blacksod? Well northwest Mayo is relatively close to the steep edge of the continental shelf as shown in the Real Map of Ireland and the 2-3,000m deep waters of the Rockall Trough. At its nearest, it’s about 55km northwest of Eagle Island on the Mullet – and about 80km from Blacksod. In contrast, the shallower slopes down to the Porcupine Seabight off the southwest coast are almost 70km off the Tearaght – the westernmost of the Blaskets in Co. Kerry – and over 100km from the nearest harbour at Dingle.  The theory is that, as deep water currents hit the steep continental shelf, there would be upwellings of nutrient rich water that would lead to concentrations of shrimp, fish, cetaceans and, most importantly, seabirds.

All of this led eleven birders to a 5.30am departure on Saturday 19^th July from Blacksod Pier. We had a 4-5 hour steam north westwards, around the Blacksod Lighthouse, north of the Duvillauns,  inside the Inishkea Islands, and then past Inishglora, Eagle Island and Benwee Head and out into the blue – well out of sight of land.

003-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney By mid morning we were in deep waters of 1,100 to 1,200m and about 60km offshore. Once there, we started chumming – that is throwing out a mixture of cooking oil and rotting fish to attract seabirds that – unlike land birds – have a good sense of smell. Breakfast cereal is added to keep the mix floating a bit longer. Then we drifted until lunchtime and scanned the slick for birds. This is when the combination of smelly chum and the extra rocking of a drifting boat is sure to push any queasy passengers over the brink of sickness – fortunately we had only one victim – seasick prone twitchers who have previously learned this the hard way no longer do pelagics!

Blacksod-pelagic-route Within an hour or so a shout went up, a Wilson’s Petrel! It stayed just long enough to get a distant record shot that shows the distinctive pale bar on the upper wings – unlike the native Storm Petrel that has a prominent white bar on its under wings and only a faint one on the upperwing.  This was a good start but it was new for only one of our experienced group.

strorm-petrel-composite Most of the time it was pretty dull with an informal rota of watchers and dozers. The photographers checked their camera settings, discussed file formats and autofocusing, and practiced their long lens technique on the ever present Fulmars and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. There were occasional Great Shearwaters – or perhaps the same one returning – and some Leach’s Petrels to stir the sleepers.  By early afternoon I’m sure many of us were wondering if it was going to be the Blacksod-all- pelagic!

007-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 008-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 009-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 010-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 011-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 012-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 013-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney Perhaps the most exciting event was a Bonxie attacking a Lesser Black-backed Gull in an effort to steal its chum titbit. Despite the lethal looking attack, the gull eventually escaped, apparently unscathed!

015-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 016-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 017-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 018-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 019-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 020-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 021-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 022-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney In the afternoon, we cruised north-eastwards along the shelf edge – clearly all the seabird action was just a little further on!!  If it was, though, it was little further than we could go – the birds of the afternoon were very similar to the morning – such as Great Black-back Gull, Kittiwake and a solitary Puffin that circled the boat for a while.

023-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 024-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 025-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney Just as we were about to head home there was a shout of dolphins! -  but they looked a bit strange to those of us used to Common and Bottle-nosed Dolphins. As they came closer, their very black backs combined with white and yellow flank stripes identified them as Atlantic White-sided Dolphins to our skipper.  We had 25-30 of them around us for half an hour or more – many of them appearing to wag their tails as they leapt out of the water.

026-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney We were getting to grips with this new species for most of us until some the more distant ones looked a bit different - particularly their blunt fins?? As they came closer, again our skipper recognised them as Long-finned Pilot Whales – 40-50 of them including some very young animals with their birth rings still visible.  They didn’t stay as long as the dolphins but it was great to be among these deep sea mammals. 

027-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 028-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 029-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney As they left, we saw a few paler dolphins leaping right out of the water – 3-4 Bottle-nosed dolphins.

030-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney So after a quiet day for birds, our time in the deep finished off with a memorable concentration of cetaceans and cheered us up for the long uneventful cruise back through the sunset to Blacksod.

031-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 032-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney 033-Blacksod-Pelagic-©JCoveney Acknowledgments & Observers

Thanks to John Power and Dave Suddaby for organizing, Dave for relentless chumming, and our skipper for getting us there and back safely and comfortably. Observers: Victor Caschera, Dick Coombes, John Coveney, Jim Dowdall, Aidan G. Kelly, John Lovatt, Killian Mullarney, Dermot O’Mahony,  Brian Porter, John Power & Dave Subbaby. Some of Aidan & Victor’s shots can be seen here on Birdwatch Ireland’s seabird blog “A View from the Headland” with more of Victor’s shots on his Facebook page.

Photographic Notes - Gear

The usual photographic kit for Irish birders is a Canon 7D teamed with a f5.6 400mm lens. This setup is light enough for walk around use and to handhold - tripods are unusable on small boats. It’s also relatively cheap at around €2,500 – or less for second hand gear. Five years after its introduction, the 18 megapixel Canon 7D is still highly regarded amongst birders for its fast autofocus,  burst rate of 8 frames per second, and its 1.6x crop sensor that gives a 400mm lens an effective reach of 640mm – especially as  lenses for bird photography come in only two varieties – too short . . . and far too short! Canon “400mm lenses” for birding actually come in three versions - the image stabilised 300mm f4 plus a 1.4 converter that makes a 420mm f5.6 – this is the common choice amongst birders. Next is the 100-400mm f4-5.6 zoom lens that I use because I want a wider range of focal lengths for other photography – it’s also image stabilised. Finally, there is the 400mm f5.6 which is the lightest and probably the sharpest of the three - people have tended to avoid this one because of its lack of image stabilisation but that’s a mistake in my opinion given the high ISO capabilities of modern DSLRs.

Why not Nikon or another brand? Well, when many birders were choosing DSLRs in the last five years or so, Nikon’s only walk around long lens was an 80-400mm that was reputed to be relatively slow to autofocus. When trying to capture a flying bird, a tenth of a second of autofocus hunting is an eternity!  Since 2013, there’s a new improved version but it’s quite expensive at around €2,500. Sony also has a 70-400m lens that is well reviewed but I’ve not come across their lenses or cameras in the field. In recent years, smaller lighter mirrorless cameras have improved dramatically but, with the possible exception of Sigma and Tamron lenses (below) they don’t yet have the high quality affordable and lightweight long lenses that birders require.

Two other alternatives to the Canon lenses are the Sigma 150-500mm lens and the newly released Tamron 150-600mm lens. They have greater reach and are cheaper than the Canon options but they are a little larger and heavier, and lack a little sharpness at the long end. Even the well-reviewed Tamron, here,  here, and here does not does not appear to me to be enough of an improvement to switch from Canon. Those buying their first DSLR lens for birding should certainly consider it, however. These lenses may be available for mirrorless cameras but their bulk would negate the size advantage of mirrorless cameras.

A budget option, if the size or cost of a DSLR system is not for you, is the Panasonic FZ200 super zoom. For less than about €500 you will get an all-in-one camera with a 25-600mm lens that has a constant f2.8 aperture. The image quality of its small point-and-shoot sized sensor won’t be as good as DSLR, but it’s a great way to get record shots on a budget and it has been very well reviewed by DPReview. Panasonic also have an interesting new version in this series, the FZ1000. This will be available soon in the €900-1,000 range. It has a much bigger one inch sensor – about the third of the size of the Canon 7D - with a 25-400mm f2.8 – f4 maximum aperture. So why would a birder looking for maximum reach go for a shorter zoom? Because the image quality from the one inch sensor, especially after cropping is likely to more than offset the shorter reach. The f4 lens would also let in twice as much light at f5.6 DSLR kits. Two early reviews of this lens, here and here, are very good.

Photographic Notes – Settings

Photographing seabirds and cetaceans from a moving boat is not easy. Indeed, getting good shots of the smallest species - the storm-petrels - as they jink around is amongst the hardest of photographic challenges. So it’s best to start with larger relatively slow moving species such as the gulls and practice – a lot!! –at your local pier or pond.  In fact, practice and a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of exposure and of your camera’s settings are vital to get good shots of seabirds at sea. For a detailed guide to the Canon 7D’s settings, I would highly recommend “The Canon 7 Experience” by Douglas J Klosterman.

Also remember that as sea and weather conditions deteriorate in wind conditions above force 4-5, bird photography from small boats becomes almost impossible due to movement, splashes and perhaps the dreaded seasickness! However, it’s likely that your boat will not stay out very long in such weather anyway! If you are trying to shoot in such conditions, it’s essential that you have some kind of a rain cover. A splash of a saltwater is likely to kill the electrics of your camera and lens!

Assuming, however, that you have a reasonably bright calm day, the main goal is to get shutter speeds in excess of 1/1,000^th of a second to freeze the motion of the birds and their wings – in this post, I’m not going to deal with the creative use of slower shutter speeds to convey the impression of movement because this results in loss of feather detail.

There are two ways of achieving these high shutter speeds. The more common is to use aperture priority – AV on a Canon - and open up your shutter to the maximum, typically f5.6 with the above Canon kits. This will give you the highest shutter speed achievable for whatever ISO the camera is set at. In bright sunlight, you will get speeds of 1/1,000^th to 1/2000^th of a second at ISO 200. In bright overcast conditions, you will need ISO 400-800 to achieve this, while dull conditions demand ISOs of 1600 or perhaps even higher.  Such high ISO’s will result in digital noise but this can be dealt with in camera or in post-processing. In contrast, motion blur from insufficiently high shutter speeds will ruin your shot. When using aperture priority, you will need to monitor the shutter speed indicator in your view finder, especially if the light changes. Too little and your speed will be too slow and too much means you are using an unnecessarily high ISO and therefore losing some image quality. The constant monitoring of camera settings does not come naturally, to me at least. It needs practice to avoid a long run of shots at the wrong settings.

The other alternative is to use shutter priority – TV on a Canon - and set your speed to your desired value.  If there is insufficient light to achieve this, the aperture indicator in your viewfinder will blink and you will need to increase the ISO setting until this stops. Again you will need to monitor this indicator and your aperture values as light levels change.  If they become very small, your ISO setting is too high.

Once you have achieved the correct speed and ISO for the conditions, you will also need to constantly monitor your exposure compensation. If your subject is a bright bird against a dark sea you will need to under expose by 1-2 stops. If it is a dark bird, you will need to over expose by a similar amount – and similarly overexpose for all birds against the bright sky. On the Canon 7D, I use the thumbwheel on the back to control exposure in aperture priority. Remember that if you over expose you will lose shutter speed so, if you think you will do this a lot, you should start off with a shutter speed of 1/2000^th of a second or more. This gives you the flexibility to maintain a speed of at least 1/800^th of a second.

If you use shutter priority, you will need to achieve your desired shutter speed at apertures of f8 to f11 to allow for over exposure compensation by stopping down to f5.6. Under exposure compensation does not cause as many issues. In aperture priority it will result in higher shutter speeds which are not a problem as the maximum available shutter speed is usually 1/8000^th of a second. In shutter priority, it will result in quite small apertures of perhaps f16 or f22 – these may lessen the “pop” of you subject if the background sea is also in sharp focus. Of course if you have a pale bird that is flying between a dark sea and a pale sky you may have to choose either over exposure or under exposure compensation . . . or else be extremely quick on the controls!

When shutter speed and exposure are dealt with, you should set your camera to the high burst speed setting to give yourself a better chance of getting a good image each time you shoot. Don’t, however, just hold down the shutter button for maximum bursts! You will fill you card (s) far too quickly and the downloading and processing all those duds will slow your computer right down! Instead try to get a feel for your subject’s movements and shoot off a short burst of 3-5 images at the right moment. With observation, you will get a feel for each species’ behaviour to help you pick the right moment to shoot. Too soon and the bird will be too far away but too late and it may suddenly jink as it approaches the boat . .  or just jink anyway!

Most people recommend a focus tracking method such AI-Servo in Canon – once the camera locks on to larger birds it will keep them in focus if they don’t move or turn too rapidly.  Initially you should use the centre focusing point as this is the most sensitive. Birds that are small or distant, such as storm petrels - or a record shot of a distant rarity -  are much more difficult for the autofocus to lock onto. If they are against a sea other than flat calm – very rare in Irish waters! – the autofocus loves to lock on to the wave pattern some distance behind the bird resulting in blurred bird images. The trick here is firstly to set up you camera so that you can move around the focus point. On the 7D you can program the rocker button to do this – it’s on the back between the “start/stop” button and the big thumbwheel. Then, use this to move the autofocus from the centre to the bottom point so that it will focus on the water underneath the bird and hopefully get the bird sharp as well.  If you are trying to focus on a small bird against the sky, the autofocus often searches unsuccessfully on the largely featureless background so pre-focus on water at a similar distance and then try to locking onto the bird.

Additionally, if your lens has a focus limiter switch you should chose the option that stops the lens focussing at close range. This results in much quicker auto focusing because the autofocus has to move the lens’s internal elements much more to lock on to close objects. On my Canon 100-400m there are two settings for minimum focus distances of 6.5m and 1.8m. I normally use the former. Of course if the bird does come very close, you may then not be able to focus on it at all – so which setting you use is a judgment call depending on the birds’ usual behaviour. Additionally, if larger birds do come very close, e.g. to chum, you may need to stop down the aperture to f8 to get enough depth of field to keep the whole bird sharp – if you do this you may also need to increase your ISO to maintain your shutter speed.

Finally you need to decide whether to shoot in JPEG or RAW. Most people start with JPEG and if you know your exposure and camera settings well, you will get very good results. With JPEGs you also have the advantage of longer bursts and smaller images so you can get more images on your cards. Your computer will also process these images more quickly. If you want to minimise computer processing, you should use the camera’s onboard noise reduction controls – low for ISOs up to 200 on older DSLRs – or 400 for modern ones such as the 7D or newer. Similarly use moderate noise reduction for intermediate ISO settings and high for high ISO’s. Unless you are experienced with white balance settings, use auto-white balance. Finally, it’s probably best to use moderate sharpening settings. The main downside with JPEGs is that you get it wrong, it’s harder to recover the shot in post-processing.

The use of RAW files is only for those who are comfortable with processing them afterwards with a program such as Lightroom or the Adobe Camera Raw module in Photoshop. The key advantage of RAW shooting is that if you get your exposure wrong - by up to about 2 stops - you will be able to recover much more detail.  Again, if you are experienced with post-processing, will be able to correct white balance errors and, especially for high ISO shots, do a better job than your camera with noise reduction and sharpening. The downsides are much bigger files sizes, shorter bursts, and heavier demands on your computer and time.

Well . . . these photographic notes are half as long again as the story of the trip! If you are new to this type of photography, don’t expect to understand them all at once. Play with one setting at a time and practice on easier subjects in advance. It’s worth the effort though to get good quality images and . . . if you can shoot seabirds at sea, you will be able to figure out how to shoot almost anything! Finally though, remember that if you do concentrate totally on photography on your pelagic trip you may not actually “experience it yourself” – so put the camera down occasionally – it’s something special to be up close to oceanic seabirds and mammals.