After the high of seeing an Emperor Penguin, everything else was icing on the cake. Oh but what delicious icing! As a reminder, after motoring from the north through the Antarctic Sound, we looped around Dundee Island and made landfall at Joinville Island which was a beautiful spot and I was really surprised to not find a ton of checklists in eBird.
The landing at Joinville was populated by a ton of particularly ornery Antarctic Fur Seals.
Presumed South Polar Skua on left and Brown Skua on right. This island is where we were able to first start studying the Skuas and differentiating the Brown Skua from the South Polar Skua. The bird on the left appears to have a much daintier bill and darker back, not to mention the "pale crescent" at the based of the bill which is noted on the Sibley App. The bird on the right was beefier, had a much heftier bill and had some lighter spangles on its back. That being said, they do hybridize so who knows how pure either of them were.
These ones looked all to be Brown Skuas. Matt put the ratio on our list at 20 Brown, 4 South Polar and 20 Skua sp. Sounds accurate to me. Most were either Brown or were hard to tell otherwise. For me, the best field mark was the honking bill and the lighter spangles on an otherwise dark back.
There were some that had the blonde nape of a South Polar but the heavier bill of the Brown, so maybe a hybrid or maybe just lacking perspective on the bill size.
I believe this is a good photo showing the size comparison. Looks like a South Polar sandwiched between two Brown Skuas.
Antarctic Fur Seal
Weddell Seal
Adelie Penguins and a Snowy Sheathbill
Brown Skua pooping!
Wilson's Storm-petrel
Adelie
Chinstrap Penguin chilling out on an iceberg.
Antarctic Fur Seal
Snowy Sheathbill
Once they clean themselves up, they are a pretty bird. I just can't get over the fact that they eat feces for a living.
The scenery was just stunning.
Gentoo
Weddell Seal
Brown Skua
This proud Fur Seal saw us off to our next destination as if to say "good riddance".
Our next foray was to Danger Island and as the name implies was too dangerous for a landing. So we took out the Zodiacs. Matt and I were lucky enough to be paired up with our good buddy Steve as boatman.
The swell made photography tricky as zodiacs are flexible and move unpredictably. For every 20 shots I took only one came out.
These fur balls had me confused. Turns out they were fledgling Adelie Penguins.
Many of the penguins were either toddlers or various stages of birds in molt that couldn't swim safely.
The waters around the island were chock full or predators or scavengers like this Northern Giant Petrel waiting for scraps. Apparently once Adelie Penguins enter the water, they are essentially on their own with no parental supervision. Every Penguin for itself. The main predator for Adelie Penguins is the Leopard Seal which we had come up to the side of our zodiac and scare the bejeezus out of Matt as it was only a foot away. They have a reptilian look to them and have a mouth full of sharp teeth. My lens was too long for photographing them but I did get a pic later in the trip on a beach. The Leopard Seals would rip the heads off the penguins and just leave the rest floating. Probably they were eating the brains for the fatty oils and nutrients, who knows. What this translates to is a smorgasbord of headless penguins for other sea life to feast on.
A young Adelie getting its bearings.
Check out the Adelie right of center with the carpet chest!
Snowy Sheathbills waiting for this Adelie to take a dump.
Matt and I were interested in a large congregation of Petrels floating on the surface about 100 yards off the shoreline and this is where having Steve as boatman came in handy. The non-birding boats would have just ignored the petrels and focused on the penguins.
Turns out they were all Cape Petrels and were arranged in a long line which looked to be following some kind of scent trail which we followed to the source. I will spare you the pics, but at the head of the procession was a group of Giant Petrels eating a beheaded Penguin and all the Petrels were picking off bits and pieces that the Giant Petrels were generating in the carnage and flowing down stream in a current.
Absolutely gorgeous birds!
On the back side of the island were a bunch of Gentoos. So this particular island held a penguin hat trick.
Later in the evening we motored overnight to the south side of James Ross Island. The tour leader was hoping to find an Emperor Penguin as most people hadn't seen one, but the place ended up being totally desolate and mostly devoid of life.
A beautiful but essentially dead place. They announced a shore trip to take hikes and I geared up while Matt took a break from this particular excursion. He didn't miss much. I elected to stay with the short hike group hoping to get some photos of any animal life near shore, but it was pretty devoid of life.
Another group hiked to the top of the ridge line in this pic to the right of the spire. I regret not doing the long hike, but in a way was also thankful as it would not have been very comfortable in the big boots I had on. All the shore excursions were mandatory wading boot attire because of the decontamination procedures before and after the landings.
Before we left this anchorage we took part in a Polar Plunge which was a bit too orchestrated for me but I get that they had to keep it safe. Basically you line up in the mud room with your plush robe and bathing suit underneath and then when its your turn you jump into the ice cold water off the side of a tethered zodiac and the staff grabs you and pulls you out before you have a chance to have a heart attack from the cold. I will see if I can download the video they took of me jumping in later.
More to come...
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