Identify Seabirds Under Sail
Watching seabirds from a sailing ship is one of the great rewards of being at sea. Away from the clutter and noise of land, the horizon is alive with wings – from the effortless glide of a gannet to the quick flicker of a storm petrel. Traditional sailing vessels, travelling quietly under canvas, make ideal platforms for spotting and identifying seabirds.
Why Sailing Helps Bird Watching
Motorboats create noise and wake that can disturb wildlife. A sailing ship, by contrast, moves with the wind and the sea. You are closer to the water, with an unobstructed view of the horizon and the skies above. Gannets will dive around the vessel in pursuit of mackerel, and shearwaters often skim close across the wave crests. When dolphins or porpoises drive fish to the surface, seabirds gather overhead – a sure sign that something is happening beneath the water.
Closer to home in the Isles of Scilly, I’ve often seen puffins, shags, cormorants and shearwaters. In October 1999, to my surprise, I spotted a short-toed eagle hunting low over the islands – later confirmed by Will Wagstaff, a well-known ornithologist who lives on the Scillies and travels widely leading birdwatching trips.
Techniques for Spotting Birds at Sea
Use the Lookout Method
Seafarers call it “keeping a lookout,” but birdwatchers can borrow the same technique. Stand on deck and divide the horizon into sectors, as if the bow were twelve o’clock and the stern six o’clock. Start at twelve o’clock close to the bow, raise your eyes slowly up to the horizon, then shift your gaze to one o’clock and sweep back towards the ship. Repeat until you’ve scanned the full circle. This method helps you notice shapes and movement that a casual glance would often miss.
On one Scottish voyage, using this method off the island of Canna, I picked out a sea eagle – its wingspan so broad it seemed to fill the sky above the cliffs.
Trust Your Peripheral Vision
Looking into the sky can be difficult because there’s little to focus on. Rather than staring hard at one spot, let your peripheral vision do the work. The edge of your sight is better at detecting movement, so you are more likely to notice a shearwater banking or a skua arrowing past the ship.
In Cape Verde, it was a flicker at the edge of vision – an osprey circling a bay – that caught my attention. With practice, your eye learns to trust those glimpses.
Look for Signs in the Sea
Seabirds are often easiest to spot when they gather above feeding grounds. A tight flock of diving gannets or terns almost always means fish below, and often whales or dolphins are herding those fish from underneath. Even when no birds are visible, pay attention to the surface. Unusual ripples, splashes or shadows in the waves can be the first sign of something alive just below.
In South Georgia, I watched hundreds of thousands of king penguins with skuas and sheathbills above them, while South georgia Pipits darted around the tussock grass. On Prion Island I was so lucky to have a close sight of wandering albatrosses nesting within six feet of me. It remains an unforgettable experience – a bird so vast and yet entirely unperturbed by my presence.
Change Your Viewpoint
If you are sailing on a traditional ship with rigging and the crew permit it, climb aloft. From the rigging you can see further and more clearly into the water, as glare is reduced.Just like in the old days ‘There she blows’ was the cry from a ships crows nest on spotting a whale’s blow.
From aloft I once saw a blue shark swimming under our bowsprit and down the starboard side. I had my camera in hand and got the shot – though in the days of roll film I later discovered I’d loaded black and white film. All I got was a great picture of grey sea!
Making a Record of Your Sightings
Your observations are valuable. A simple notebook entry can contribute to wider conservation work. When you spot seabirds, note:
- Time and time zone
- Sea state and visibility
- Ship’s position (log or GPS)
- Direction of flight
- Species (or best guess)
- Number of individuals
- Behaviour (feeding, resting, following the ship)
Submitting your records helps build a bigger picture of seabird movements. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) runs a reporting system for ringed birds. For sightings that involve seabirds and marine life together, the SeaWatch Foundation is another useful contact.
Recommended Guides
A good field guide makes identification at sea far easier. Two that Classic Sailing crews often use are:
- Seabirds: An Identification Guide by Peter Harrison – the standard reference for pelagic birdwatchers.
- Sealife: A Guide to the Marine Environment edited by Geoffrey Waller – a broader overview of seabirds and other marine life you are likely to encounter.
The Role of the Senses
Don’t just rely on your eyes. Your ears can be just as valuable. The slap of a gannet hitting the sea can carry surprisingly far, and at night you may hear the sudden explosive blow of a whale surfacing nearby. Even your nose has its uses: the oily smell of fish, or the pungent breath of dolphins or whales downwind, can alert you to life in the water before you see it.
One night in the Isles of Scilly, a storm petrel was rescued after colliding with a lamppost on St Mary’s Quay. Will Wagstaff cared for it overnight, then asked if I’d release it next morning. I held it briefly in my hands – no heavier than a feather – before it flew away. Since then, storm petrels have been a personal favourite, whether skimming the mid-Atlantic or glimpsed close to shore.
The Importance of Observation
Bird watching at sea is more than an enjoyable pastime. It is also a practical skill for sailors, helping them detect other wildlife and changes in the sea’s surface that may warn of shifting conditions. For researchers and conservation groups, every sighting is data that adds to our understanding of seabird behaviour and migration.
Beyond the ocean, travel has offered equally striking moments. In Patagonia I saw a giant condor wheeling above me. In Bhutan, cranes gathered in the fields during a Crane Festival. In the Drakensberg of South Africa, secretary birds strode through the grasslands while bald headed vultures nested on sheer cliffs. All part of the same lesson: birds thrive in wild spaces, often indifferent to human presence.
Reporting seabird and wildlife sightings
If you’d like your observations to contribute to marine science, the following organisations collect records:
