Seagulls

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Portrait

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Seagulls in the wake

Seagulls feeding on fish discarded by a trawler.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Dolphins and otter trawler buoy

Bottlenose dolphins following otter trawlerS often surface in the proximity of the towed buoy.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Otter trawler buoy

The buoy being towed at the end an otter trawler's net.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Dead sea turtle

Silvia inspects a dead loggerhead sea turtle found floating adrift. Of a total of 109 sea turtles encountered during 11,000 km of navigation in 2018 and 2019, seven were dead.

(Photos by G. Bearzi, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Right before dawn

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Bottlenose

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

A sea of seagulls

Thousands of seagulls wait in the proximity of midwater pair trawlers, after having fed on fish crushed, discarded and lost from the nets.

(Photos by S. Bonizzoni and G. Bearzi, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Eyes shut

An adult bottlenose dolphin performs a forward breach while keeping her eye shut.

(Photos by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Flukes

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Fog at sea

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Mullet catch

A bottlenose dolphin catches a mullet after a bellly-up chase.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

In the fog again

A thick fog keeps us idle until midday before we can manage to start our dolphin survey.

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Dead loggerhead

A large loggerhead sea turtle found dead off Lignano, Italy.

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Dolphins off Lido di Jesolo (2)

One more image of a young bottlenose dolphin off Lido di Jesolo, Italy.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Dolphins off Lido di Jesolo (1)

Bottlenose dolphin adult and juvenile, part of a large group on the move off the coast of Lido di Jesolo, Italy.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Bottlenose dolphin and otter trawler

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Stuck in the fog

Today we spent two hours stuck in a thick morning fog. Low visibility prevented navigation (we do not have a radar). So we set up our radar reflector and waited, ready to honk and do our best to prevent a collision. Fog at sea can be scary, especially when one hears the noise of an approaching boat but cannot tell its distance and direction—until the boat becomes visible and is very very close.

(Photos by G. Bearzi, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Seagull kills small bird

While doing our survey in offshore waters, we spotted five seagulls harassing a small migratory bird. The small one did his best to fly away and avoid being killed, but he was hopeless. One of the seagulls eventually caught the small bird, while the other gulls tried to steal it from its beak. Then the seagull ingested the entire bird while flying.

One of the reasons why seagulls are still plentiful, while many other bird species decline, is that they have an incredibly flexible behaviour and diet. They can be hunters (as observed here), gatherers, scavengers, thieves, beggars and more.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Adriatic LNG dolphin

Today we spotted several groups of bottlenose dolphins near the Adriatic LNG gas offshore terminal (right outside of the no-entry zone).

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Helium balloon 2

While searching for dolphins we look for other marine wildlife, but on some days we just encounter... helium balloons floating adrift :-/

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Helium balloon

One more helium balloon lost at sea. Short-term fun, long-term damage.

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Bottlenose dolphin eye

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)

Two dolphins

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Northern Adriatic Sea)