30 Nov 25 - Argentina 25 - Seabirds & Commerson's Dolphins In The Beagle Channel

Having left the Imperial Shag and South American Sealion colonies on one of the tourist boats from Ushuaia, we carried on down the Beagle Channel. The water conditions were like a millpond, which was the main reason for deciding to join this trip on my second day in Ushuaia.

Looking across the water to the most-Southerly town of Puerto Williams in Chile

Puerto Williams: It's possible to get a small boat from Ushuaia to Puerto Williams and then to take a thirty hour ferry ride to Punta Arenas. This could be an interesting ferry route to enter Southern Chile with opportunities to look for Seabirds, including Magellanic Diving-petrels, and Cetaceans. There are further ferries which would finally arrive at Chiloe Island after several further days of travel

The historical Cemetery at Mejillones on the Chilean Navarino Island: This cemetery dates to the first half of the 20th Century and contains the remains of the indigenous Yahgan people who were associated with an Anglican mission in this area. The last known Yahgan speaker died in 2022, although there are descendants who still live in Chile and Argentina

The conditions were ideal to look for Seabirds, albeit there weren't that many Black-browed Albatrosses or Southern Giant Petrels in the Beagle Channel. I guess some would have been around breeding colonies, whilst non-breeding individuals may have moved closer to the sea due to the lack of wind.

Black-browed Albatross: This is the nominate melanophris subspecies which breeds in the Antarctic & subantarctic islands, including islands off southern Chile, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, South Sandwich, Crozet, Heard & Kerguelen islands, Macquarie Island and New Zealand's Antipodes, Snares & Campbell Islands. They range across the Southern Oceans from North of the Antarctic Convergence to the Tropic of Capricorn

Black-browed Albatross: As we passed this individual, it decided to take off

Black-browed Albatross

Southern Giant Petrel: This monotypic species breeds on the islands & coasts of Antarctica to Heard & Macquarie Islands, as well as, off the coast of South Chile & Argentina. It ranges throughout the Southern oceans and generally South of the Antarctic Convergence

Southern Giant Petrel: They can be separated from Northern Giant Petrel, by having a pastel green tip to the bill, compared to the pastel red tip of Northern Giant Petrel. At a distance, these colours can be hard to see, with the bill of Southern Giant Petrels looking a pale uniform colour, whereas the bill of a Northern Giant Petrel looks dark-tipped

Southern Giant Petrel

Antarctic Fulmar: This monotypic species has a circumpolar distribution in Antarctic and breeds on islets & the coast of Antarctica. They range in the Southern oceans from the pack ice to the Humboldt Current off Chile & Peru

Antarctic Fulmar: They are a common species in the Beagle Channel and always nice to see

Antarctic Fulmar

Antarctic Fulmar: I really like the reflections in these photos. It's a treat to see water this still in the Beagle Channel. It was sea state 4 or 5 a couple of days earlier with white water everywhere

Further down the Beagle Channel is another set of small islands which have a large breeding colony of over one hundred pairs of South American Tern. Fortunately, the boat didn't get too close or try to stop. However, just passing close to the island flushed many of the adult Terns which will make the nest vulnerable to predation by passing Kelp Gulls and Chilean Skuas.

South American Tern: It would be good if some of the local Birders discussed with the boat operators about not sailing as close to the Tern Islands to reduce disturbance

South American Tern: This monotypic species breeds along the coasts of & islands of Southern South America & the Falkland Islands

South American Tern

When we were about thirty minutes away from reaching Martillo Island, I picked up three unobtrusive Dolphins occasionally surfacing ahead of us. I managed to get a few photos as they detected the boat and came racing in. Unlike the European species that I normally see being attracted to the boat, they didn't breach and only occasionally surfaced a couple of more times before they reached the boat on the port side. Being on the starboard wing, I was on the wrong side to see if they continued to be seen. Looking at the photos, I was pleased to see they were my first Commerson's Dolphins and one of my two main target species to look for in the Argentinian sections of the trip.

Commerson's Dolphin: Their Porpoise-size, unobtrusive manner, the dark triangular marking on the forehead and much paler body markings up to the small dorsal fin, identify these as my first Commerson's Dolphins

Commerson's Dolphin: It was great to see them, as I had missed them in the Falklands back in Jan 23

Commerson's Dolphin: They occur in the far South of Chile and along the Argentinian Coast as far North as the Southern end of Buenos Aires province. There also occur around the coasts of the Falklands and a second subspecies around the Kerguelen Islands

It had proved to be a good decision to pay the very steep price to take the boat ride on these calm conditions. I think I could easily have missed them given their unobtrusive actions, if the seas hadn't been mirror-calm. I will cover our arrival at Martillo Island in the final Blog Post for the day.

Magellanic Penguin: It was clear we were getting close to the Magellanic Penguin colony, when we started to see them in the water

30 Nov 25 - Argentina 25 - Island Hopping In The Beagle Channel

The weather forecast for my second day in Ushuaia said there would be still conditions. This must be uncommon, given the proximity of all the surrounding mountains, as well as, being so close to the tip of South America. I decided to take the boat down to Penguin Island or Martillo Island, as it actually called.

It was great to look down the Beagle Channel from the flat to find it was a millpond

I arrived early, only to find lots of other tourists had the same idea and there were queues for all the boats. I opted for the same boat operator I used in Jan 23: Hotel Yamanas & Catamaranes Canoero, which is a pale green hut in the cluster of boat huts.

Perfect conditions for Cetacean watching

The Saint Christopher: She was built in WW2 for the US Navy as a salvage tug and loaned to the British Navy in the later years of the war, when she was renamed HMS Justice. After the war, the US Navy decommissioned her in 1947 and she ended up as a salvage tug in Argentina. In 1953, she was involved in the failed attempt to refloat the Monte Cervantes, a German passenger ship that had sunk in 1930 in the Beagle Channel. The ship sunk again and the company owning the Saint Christopher went bust. She was deliberately run around in Ushuaia in 1957 and is now a tourist photo attraction

Finally, after twenty minutes of waiting, I was able to book a ticket. I was shocked to find a five hour trip had risen to ninety-six quid, about double the price it was in 2018. Had the weather been windy, I would have walked away at that price. But with the mirror-calm conditions, I decided to buy a ticket, as I didn't have a plan B for the day. I was hoping the calm waters would give me an outside chance of finding a Burmeister's Porpoise in the Beagle Channel.

Finally, we were leaving the pretty & most-Southerly City of Ushuaia

This is probably a daily scene during the Antarctic season of cruise ships in the port: The large ship is the HX Fridtjof Nansen, which takes around five hundred passengers down to Antarctica. The drawback of these large ships is while they have zodiacs (which not all ships have), they have to limit the number of passengers landing at one time. Far better to book on a smaller ship, if the duration of the landings are your priority

It is important to have a good position on the boat where you can see the windscreen. The boat I was on has small side wings to the upper deck and the front of the starboard wing is the best location. I headed straight to that position when the safety briefing had finished. Within a few minutes of leaving the harbour, we were stopping at the first island which hosts a colony of Imperial Shags.

This is about half of the Imperial Shag island

Imperial Shag: There was a good number of Imperial Shag nests on the island

Imperial Shag: There were a lot of off-duty Adults and maybe some non-breeding immature individuals hanging out on the island, along with a few Kelp Gulls and Dolphin Gulls: presumably hoping there would be an unguarded chick or egg

Imperial Shag: This is the nominate atriceps subspecies which breeds on the islands & coasts of South-central Chile & Argentina southward to Cape Horn

Imperial Shag: One of the more surprising decisions in the new AviList is six geographically isolated species of Subantarctic and Antarctic Shags have been lumped, based upon their appearance and relatively similar DNA. The taxonomy of the Shags and Cormorants in the Southern Oceans has changed on a number of occasions over the last fifty years and I wouldn't be surprised if this group is resplit in the next decade, as further studies take place

Dolphin Gull: This gorgeous Gull breeds along the coasts of South Chile, Argentina & the Falkland Islands

There was a Flightless Steamerduck swimming around the edge of the island.

Flightless Steamerduck: Note, the small wings and the thick orange bill which are two of the main features to separate this species from the more-common Flying Steamerduck in the Ushuaia area

Flightless Steamerduck: This monotypic species occurs in Southern South America from South Chile to Tierra del Fuego

We carried on for another fifteen minutes down the Beagle Channel, before we stopped at a South American Sealion breeding island, with a small colony of the less-common Rock Shags.

Rock Shag: This monotypic species breeds along the coasts of South-central Chile & Argentina, as well as, the Falkland Islands. They winter North to coastal Southern Brazil

South American Sealion: With a nice backdrop of Chilean mountains

South American Sealion: This individual appears to be getting some attention from a Dolphin Gull

South American Sealion: They occur along the coasts of South America from Peru to Brazil, as well as, the Falkland Islands

South American Sealion

South American Sealion: They don't have the pointed snouts of South American Fur Seals (which overlaps in most of their range) and they have smaller ears

South American Sealion: This flipper in this photo resembles the distinctive shape of the dorsal fin of a Burmeister's Porpoise. It's a potential confusion species, if you saw a distant flipper without seeing much of the head and body

However, the main stars of the South American Sealion island come to you. As we slowed for the island, the first star arrived: the range-restricted Blackish Cincloides. They breed on some of the small rocky islands in the Beagle Channel and being Passerines, they need fresh water. As there is little or no fresh water on the islands, they quickly fly onto the boats in search of water to drink and bathe. When I took a boat down to Martillo Island in Mar 2018, the skipper turned the wipers on to give them a drink. On this occasion, the two which came aboard found a pool of water on the side of the boat.

Blackish Cinclodes: Both Blackish Cinclodes visited this small pool of water of the boat and they clearly knew the water was there. This is the maculirostris subspecies which occurs along on small islands and around the coastline of Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn. The nominate subspecies occurs on the Falkland Islands

Blackish Cinclodes: This seems to be the only site where this species is easily seen in the Ushuaia area, although eBird shows some records in Ushuaia and the National Park. Perhaps they wander away from the islands outside of the breeding season

A few minutes later, a Snowy Sheathbill flew onto the boat. It was followed over the next ten minutes by more of its mates, until there were eleven walking around and pecking at the sloping deck below the bridge, with a few more left on the island.

Snowy Sheathbill: It wasn't long before the first Snowy Sheathbill flew in

Snowy Sheathbill: After Penguins, Snowy Sheathbills have the most character and attitude of any Bird species in the Southern Oceans and Antarctica

Snowy Sheathbill: Good to see it greeting its pal in the bridge

Snowy Sheathbill: This individual has got the look of a gnarled old man who has had a hard life working outdoors

Snowy Sheathbill: I'm assuming this is a younger individual based upon the state of the bill

Snowy Sheathbill: This looks to be a very functional bill for their lifestyle and environment

Snowy Sheathbill: And then there were three. This monotypic species breeds on the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetlands, South Orkneys, & South Georgia. They winter as far North as coastal South-central Chile & East-central Argentina

Snowy Sheathbill: With the local lighthouse: two subjects for one photo

Snowy Sheathbill: At one point, there was a tapping above my head. This individual had just approved the strength of the decking above the bridge

Snowy Sheathbill: Number seven flies in. I ended up with eleven walking around on the sloping front of the boat, with at least another four on view on the island

I will cover the Seabirds seen in the next Blog Post.