We left the Drygalski Fjord and Cooper Bay area in the South East corner of South Georgia in late afternoon. This provided an opportunity for a few hours of seawatching before and after dinner, while we were still relatively close to South Georgia. I knew that the next two days at sea were going to be well away from any land and in the deep ocean and consequently they would be a lot quieter. So, it was worth being on deck, while we still had the chance of South Georgia influencing the numbers of Seabirds. Unfortunately, no Cetaceans put in an appearance, but there was a selection of Seabirds that we had been seeing in the recent days around South Georgia.
Antarctic Prion: No surprise that Antarctic Prions were the commonest species seen with over eight hundred noted
Antarctic Prion: They continued to be our regular Prion over the next few days down to Elephant Island and as we passed the South Shetland Islands on our return North
White-chinned Petrel: I saw about a hundred after we left South Georgia
Cape Petrel: We checked every Cape Petrel party in the hope of an Antarctic Petrel, but this was a species that I thought had eluded us on the trip. That is until I found I had a photograph of one while I was photographing an iceberg as we sailed South towards Elephant Island. None of us saw it fly past at the time
On a more interesting note, we saw three single Snow Petrels and they were followed by an stunning party of six.
Snow Petrel: I'm never going to get tired of seeing Snow Petrels
Snow Petrel: How good is this flock of six Snow Petrels
As we headed South, this and the next iceberg passed us as they drifted North
I assume the two icebergs were once connected, given they were within a mile of each other
The final highlight of the day was seeing a number of Diving-petrels. This allowed us the opportunity to try picking out a South Georgia Diving-petrel from what should be the commoner Common Diving-petrels. The breeding population on South Georgia is thought to be about fifty thousand pairs of South Georgia Diving-petrels, compared to the best part of four million Common Diving-petrels. On my first visit to the Drygalski Fjord, I photographed lots of Diving-petrels as me cruised along the Fjord. When I got home, I spent the best part of a day reading all the books I had, as well as, looking for identification articles and photos online. The problem is some of the features overlap and you have to look at a number of features before you can be comfortable with identifying an individual. Once I had got my eye in on the features, then I could tackle the photos that I had taken. To help me remember, I put together a detailed Blog Post of the separation of South Georgia Diving-petrel from Common Diving-petrel, based upon photos I had taken in the Drygalski Fjord. It was good to have this Blog Post to refer on this return trip.
Common Diving-petrel: This Common Diving-petrel has obvious projecting feet, doesn't have a white scapular bar (which some Common Diving-petrels can show), and a chunky bill
Common Diving-petrel: The first individual. It has a long and bulky body, the facial pattern which doesn't stand out strongly and it is more uniform with the sides of the neck
Common Diving-petrel: The first individual. It's important to look at multiple photos to confirm the features and the ten reasonable photos I had of this individual and the blurry rejects all showed the same features
A second Common Diving-petrel.
Common Diving-petrel: The second individual. I only have one worthwhile photo of this individual, however, the protruding feet, the long and bulky body, the facial pattern which doesn't stand out strongly, the more uniform with the sides of the neck and the chunky bill all look good for a Common Diving-petrel
A third Common Diving-petrel.
Common Diving-petrel: Again this individual shows clear projecting feet, a large and bulky body, an indistinct face pattern that merges into the neck and a bulky bill
Common Diving-petrel: This photo shows the projecting feet a bit better
Common Diving-petrel: The large feet are even more obvious as it lowers them
As I was processing the photos of the third Common Diving-petrel, I saw there was a second Diving-petrel flying past in the background. This was a South Georgia Diving-petrel, which stands out very clearly from the Common Diving-petrel. Clearly, I should have focused on the further individual.
South Georgia Diving-petrel: Notice how small, compact, short-tailed, but with no projecting feet, slimmer & short-billed it is compared to the Common Diving-petrels. There is also a white scapular bar, which is more likely to be seen on South Georgia Diving-petrels, but both species can show this feature
South Georgia Diving-petrel: Another view as it turned away from the Plancius
There was a second South Georgia Diving-petrel which flew past the Plancius. These Diving-petrels show the importance of having good camera equipment when looking at Seabirds on these trips. Diving-petrels are no bigger than a small Little Auk and trying to see these subtle features on fast-flying Diving-petrels are sea is very difficult. Yet reasonable photos can provide the evidence that allow these two species to be separated, albeit not ever individual can be identified at sea for certain.
South Georgia Diving-petrel: This individual shows a short tail, but no projecting feet, a slimmer body and a small bill
South Georgia Diving-petrel: The same individual. Note, the short tail, lack of projecting feet, the white scapular bar, the pale crescent on the side of the neck and the small bill
South Georgia Diving-petrel: The same individual. Note, the short tail, lack of projecting feet, the slimmer body, the pale crescent on the side of the neck and the small bill
South Georgia Diving-petrel: The same individual. Note, the short tail, lack of projecting feet, the slimmer body, the pale crescent on the side of the neck and the small bill
South Georgia Diving-petrel: The same individual. Note, the short tail, lack of projecting feet, the white scapular bar, the pale crescent on the side of the neck and the small bill
South Georgia Diving-petrel: The same individual. Note, the short tail, lack of projecting feet, the white scapular bar, the pale crescent on the side of the neck and the small bill
It had been a good ending to the day with the good numbers of Snow Petrels and then both species of Diving-petrels for comparison with each other. We were now firmly in the Drake Passage & had two full days at sea before we reached Elephant Island on the third morning.
