I cuddled up in bed & survived mountainous seas!
Staggered out of bed at 7 am on 22nd
November. A quick look outside revealed no sea birds at all, dull &
drizzling conditions & very grey seas. However conditions had calmed down a
lot overnight.
Light mantled Sooty Albatross
The most graceful of all Albatross.
White capped Albatross
Southern Royal Albatross
Brilliant birds!
Mottled Petrel
Soft Plumaged Petrel
I tried several sea watches throughout the day, but
numbers & variety were much reduced. Photos were hard to come by because of persistent drizzle & spray.
Best birds were:
Gibson’s Wandering Albatross; Wandering Albatross; 3
Southern Royal Albatross; Campbell Albatross; Black-browed Albatross; 2 Grey
Headed Albatross; 23 White Capped Albatross; 2 Light Mantled Sooty Albatross;
Northern Giant Petrel; 5 Cape Petrel; 80+ Antarctic Prion; 46 Mottled Petrel;
31 White Headed Petrel; Soft Plumaged Petrel; 2 White Chinned Petrel; 3 Sooty
Shearwater & 9 Black Bellied Storm Petrel.
The fabled island!
Macquarie Island
A little bit of Australia in the middle of nowhere!
Thousands of King Penguins nest here.
You can just see the brown one year old
King Penguins among the throng.
King Penguins among the throng.
King Penguins
Royal Penguins
They never came close to the ship.
Of course the penguin eaters are also here!
Orcas!
These individuals are a little bit different
from the ones in the northern hemisphere.
The saddles are much greyer.
Soon to be split into three species of Orca.
Black browed Albatross nest here.
Macquarie Island Shag
from the ones in the northern hemisphere.
Soon to be split into three species of Orca.
Dawn on 23rd
November was overcast with sleet/snow showers. It had been quite a rough
night at sea again. We were patrolling off the coast of Macquarie Island but it was too rough to land. We spent the rest of
the day doing the same just trolling up & down the coast waiting for a
break in the weather which never came. All of us were bitterly disappointed as
we headed out to sea northwards in the early evening. It had been an
interesting, but incredibly frustrating days birding, seeing all those penguin
colonies at great distance & not being able to land!
Black browed Albatross
Grey-headed Albatross adult.
Immature Grey-headed Albatross
Light mantled Sooty Albatross
Southern Giant Petrel
Northern Giant Petrel
Southern Giant Petrel
Southern Giant Petrel
Cape Petrel
Black bellied Storm Petrel
Best birds were:
25+ Eastern Rockhopper Penguin; thousands of King
Penguin; thousands of Royal Penguin; 8 Wandering (Snowy) Albatross; 2 Southern
Royal Albatross; 5 Black browed Albatross; 4 Grey headed Albatross; White
capped Albatross; 9 Light Mantled Sooty Albatross; 2 Northern Giant Petrel; 50+
Southern Giant Petrel; 7 Cape Petrel; 150+ Antarctic Prion; 5 Blue Petrel; 4
White headed Petrel; 5 Soft Plumaged Petrel; 15 Sooty Shearwater; Black bellied
Storm Petrel; 20+ Macquarie Island Shag; 2 Kelp Gull; 5 Antarctic Tern & Brown
Skua.
Peter Harrison & Dominique
Sea birders!
Eden & Giselle
Eden is a seabird fanatic &
Giselle is a wildlife illustrator.
24th
November & I
was literally all at sea! The conditions were much better than the day before
& I spent the whole day on deck looking for seabirds. It was mainly sunny
& quite good for photography. It was a bit of a slow sea bird day but by
the end of it a good tally was seen.
Black browed Albatross
Grey headed Albatross (immature)
Adult.
Light mantled Sooty Albatross
Soft Plumaged Petrel
It is not often they come close to the ship.
Blue Petrel
This is about as far north as this species gets.
Antarctic Prion
Fairy Prion
Best birds were:
2 Gibson’s Wandering Albatross; 2 Southern Royal
Albatross; 5 Campbell Albatross; 2 Grey Headed Albatross; 4 Light Mantled Sooty
Albatross; Northern Giant Petrel; 3 Cape Petrel; 45+ Antarctic Prion; 1+ Fairy
Prion; 4 Mottled Petrel; 7 White Headed Petrel; 2 Soft Plumaged Petrel; White
Chinned Petrel; 10+ Sooty Shearwater; 2+ Grey Backed Storm Petrel; 15+ Black
bellied Storm Petrel; 2 Common Diving Petrel; 20 Macquarie Island Shag &
Brown Skua.
Interesting cloud formation.
A calm evening in the middle of the southern ocean.
Enjoy, because this doesn't happen very often!
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