I am a volunteer of the Cetacean Research Laboratory of the National Taiwan University, so I have the opportunity to join their research excursions to assist them with their dolphin research off the east coast of Taiwan. Because I'm a volunteer of this organization, I'm lucky to have more opportunities for pelagic birding in Taiwan than most birders get. This particular trip was initially a six-day research at Taitung, but it was shortened to a two-day trip to Ilan instead.
 

We left Taipei at noon on Wednesday and visited a couple fish markets in Ilan that afternoon. We then spent the night at the house of the owner of the fishing boat we would be boarding. On Thursday, we met at the Nan-fang-ow (sp?) Harbor and headed out to sea at 7:30. There were hundreds of HOUSE SWIFTS in the sky, and some LITTLE EGRETS and a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON were feeding on the shore. Resting on the rocks were GREATER CRESTED TERNS, a BLACK-NAPED TERN, and a BLUE ROCK THRUSH. Once we left the harbor, we traveled south parallel to the coast. At first, GREATER CRESTED TERNS still appeared now and then, but then there was no sign of bird life or dolphins for hours. When we reached the mouth of Hoping River, we saw some LITTLE TERNS hovering in the air and diving for fish. We then headed directly east into the open ocean. The weather was sunny, but it turned cloudy as we went further out; light rain also fell occasionally. BULWER'S PETRELS appeared and were seen frequently. Risso's dolphins also appeared. After traveling east for some time, we headed north again, seeing more Risso's dolphins and BULWER'S PETRELS and LITTLE TERNS. Some WHITE-FACED SHEARWATERS and two WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATERS also appeared, but most of them were quite far away. Even though the Risso's dolphin was the only kind of dolphin we saw all day, we saw more than six schools of them, each between six and more than a dozen individuals.

We returned to the harbor after dark, at 8 PM; we spent twelve and a half hours out at sea.

Friday, June 12

We left the harbor at 7:45 in the morning. In the harbor were some BLACK-NAPED TERNS, LITTLE TERNS, and a LITTLE EGRET. We headed south again, but turned east closer than where we did the day before. The weather was cloudy and windy, so the ripples on the ocean were high, and it was difficult for us to find dolphins. We saw almost nothing all morning except some BULWER'S PETRELS and LITTLE TERNS as we cruised southward in the open ocean. A pigeon with bands on both feet landed on our ship for a while, but flew off again when we stopped to take the temperature of the ocean water. As we headed west towards land again, we saw more BULWER'S PETRELS, WHITE-FACED SHEARWATERS, a WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER, a GREATER CRESTED TERN, and a couple unidentified seabirds. The ocean calmed down greatly, and soon we were able to see for miles in all directions. We finally spotted about a dozen Risso's dolphins. As we headed close towards land, I found a large school of bottlenosed dolphins, at least forty individuals in many small groups scattered about a wide area. After watching the bottlenosed dolphins for a while, I noticed that the ones closer to shore were leaping much higher and doing many twists and turns in the air -- spinner dolphins! We went after the spinner dolphins, which avoided our ship at first, but we soon gained their trust and they came right up to the side of the ship trying to ride the bow waves! The spinner dolphins lived up to their name, entertaining us with their acrobatic stunts, flipping more than seven or eight turns as they flung themselves high into the air. We stayed with them for more than an hour, had great close-up views. Too bad I was already out of film by then, or I would have gotten some great pictures even with my regular camera! As we were watching the dolphins, a few BULWER'S PETRELS and WHITE-FACED SHEARWATERS also cruised by. Since we were following the dolphins southward, we decided that it was getting late, and we should turn around. And so we said good-bye to the spinners and headed north. On the way back, we met the bottlenosed dolphins again, which were also heading south. As we cruised through the calm ocean towards the harbor, I hoped that these dolphins wouldn't become entangled in the drift nets that fishermen further south would be setting out by now...