On Friday, BirdLife Malta’s LIFE Arcipelagu Garnija team and members of the public took to the sea on a sunset boat ride from Gozo for a magical evening watching the Scopoli’s Shearwater.

It is one of Malta’s most spectacular natural phenomena seeing the Scopoli’s Shearwater – the largest of Malta’s shearwater species – “rafting” on the water before returning to their nests in Ta’ Cenc cliffs, Gozo.

This is the second year that BirdLife Malta has organised one of the sunset trips from Gozo and they have proved to be very popular.The Minister for Gozo Dr Justyne Caruana and her husband Silvio Valletta joined Friday’s boat trip, saying that she had “really loved it,” and gave thanks to Mark Sultana of BirdLife Malta.

Throughout the breeding season these birds can be seen congregating in large numbers (500-1000 birds) on the sea after they return from their foraging trips, behaviour known as “rafting.”

As darkness falls they begin to leave the water and fly to their burrows in the cliffs to take the turn in incubating their egg or to feed their growing chicks.

Photographs: MGOZ/George Scerri

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