Landscapes - Peri-Antarctic Islands

The islands in the photos below are much more hospitable than Antarctica proper (with the exception of Deception Island which is really bleak).  They are great for hiking, observing wildlife, or just experiencing serenity in the present moment.  

 The photo above was taken in the Beagle Channel just out of Ushuaia

New Island, West Falklands

Westpoint Island, West Falklands. 

 Devil's Nose, overlooking the sea surrounded by these striking cliffs, is just over a mile walk from the zodiac landing site.  Large colonies of black-browed albatross and hundreds of rockhopper penguins are breeding here.

One of Wespoint Island's graceful landscapes with gorse (Ulex) in full flower

 Taken on nature trek in East Falklands

 

Pastel landscape across the water on walk in East Falklands

This is the highest point on hike retracing the route of Shackleton, Crean and Worsley from  Fortuna to Stromness on the island of South Georgia.  It involved a 1,000 foot climb and steep descent on scree and snow to the old whaling station at Stromness.  The last sentence in the description of this hike was... Once you start the walk there is no turning back.

Brown Bluff

Brown Bluff, on the coast of the Antarctic Sound, is 2,450 feet high.  You can barely see the penguins at the base.

Deception island in a cold wind was miserable. 

 The photo would appear to be in black-and-white were it not for the Antarctic "red" parkas.

Deception island from the sea.

I am saving the Antarctic landscapes, mountains, and glaciers for the end.  Anything following those photos would be anticlimactic.

Birds that Fly

This post is dedicated to all the serious "birders" on our Antarctic expedition (among whom I cannot count myself).  They were all out there with powerful telephoto lenses and their lists (to be honest, I really didn't see anyone with a list) taking incredible photos of birds in flight -- while I was just trying to get a flying bird on my little Canon PowerShot's LCD screen.  The few times I succeeded I would run to them with "Look at this!!!  What is it?"  They were very patient and kind -- and refrained from pointing out that I was an idiot (even the British Antarctic Survey scientists that joined us mid-way through the voyage).  

Anyway these are my photos of birds that fly.  Since penguins make up 80% of all birds in Antarctica I don't feel too bad that I have so few photos of these "other birds", and I feel very fortunate that the Polar Star's management and expedition staff provided a brilliant DVD with great pictures of the birds that I not only missed getting photos of,  but some of which I didn't even see.  The same was true for whales, by the way, but that is another story.  I thought I would post this quickly as it is of necessity very brief.

The lead photo is of mixed colonies of rockhopper penguins, imperial cormorants, and black-browed albatross at New Island, West Falklands.  

 

A pair of nesting imperial cormorants (Phalacrocorax atriceps bransfieldensis)

Portrait of imperial cormorant, also called an Antarctic shag, on the rocks

Black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) sitting on egg

Pale-faced sheathbills (Chionis alba) on an iceberg

Southern giant petrel (Macronectes  giganteus)

Southern giant petrels and sheathbills feeding on a dead seal.

Cormorants on a bluff

Cape petrels known as "pintados" (Daption capense) and a southern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialoides)  following the ship 

Iceberg Images

The icebergs in this post originated in the Bellinghausen/Weddell Sea area (Zone A).  They were seen between South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula  in December 2008.  All shapes and sizes manifested within settings like the photo above to completely open water.  They were magnificent. 

A small "dome" iceberg with deep blue bands

One of many fanciful shapes

It sometimes seemed as though the ship was facing a solid wall of ice

A "wedge" iceberg

A "dome" iceberg

A "blocky" iceberg

"Tabular" icebergs in the ship's wake

Close-up of a "tabular" iceberg

A "pinnacle" iceberg

...and another

This is a "dry dock" iceberg -- defined by erosion of a channel between one section and the main body

Close-up of an incipient tunnel

Portraits of penguins

I haven't figured out whether I have more photos of penguins or icebergs, but the penguins are much easier to select. I knew there were different species but I didn't realize they would be so easy to identify -- for me this was not the case with petrels (with the exception of "pintados"), fulmars, skuas, and even albatrosses if they were not sitting on their nests. I guess you can tell I am not a birder.


These Magellanic penguins (Sphenicus magellanicus) looked like a pile of rocks from high up on a bluff on East Falkland Island




Gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) mother and chicks at Brown Bluff in the Antarctic Sound. We were lucky to see everything from very young chicks, to adolescents (king penguins), to Adelies with eggs.

Gentoo provider coming in from the sea

There are times I am really glad I have photos, as memory can be both elusive and illusive. On the other hand it is important not to focus the entire "experience" through the lens of the camera. A lot of the joy involved just being there and present -- in awe and wonder.

Adelies on an iceberg.

Adelies (Pygoscelis adeliae) are brush tail penguins

The Southern Rockhoppers (Eudyptes chrysocome) are very colorful as penguins go and it is fun to watch them "hop" from rock to rock.

Chinstraps (Pygoscelis antarctica) are distinguished looking and comic at the same time.

A Macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus)

King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) chick

Colony of king penguins on South Georgia Island

Antarctica

Happy New Year! Just returned from Antarctica and packing for Fairbanks. Stay tuned for a blog on sled dog races February - April.



Jackie

Iceberg and king penguin chicks