The plan for the day was for two landings in West Falkland: Carcass Island and West Point Island. Plans from the previous evening in the Southern Ocean are always subject to last minute change due to the weather, but the weather was fine and our two landings proceeded without any problems.
Carcass Island and West Point are located in the North of West Falkland
The first landing was on Carcass Island, which was named after HMS Carcass which first mapped the island in 1766. It is just over six by one and a half miles in size and is mainly low duneland and grassland, with a couple of low hills which reach to 220 metres. It is a privately owned island and is run as a sheep farm. However, as Cats and Rats never reached the island, it has retained a good selection of Birds. Because of its good wildlife, the island is visited every two or three days by expedition ships during the tourist season.
A close up of Carcass and West Point Islands
Carcass Island: We landed on Dyke Beach. Although it was only two and a half miles to the settlement with the added attraction of tea, coffee and homemade cakes, it took us the majority of the morning to get there: as there were so many subjects wanting to be photographed
Sailing into Port Pattison Bay at Carcass Island
It was a calm sea for our first zodiac landing
We had a mile and a half ride in the zodiacs to cross the bay
There were plenty of Steamerducks in the bay as we sailed in and the zodiacs were unloaded. There are two species of Steamerducks in the Falklands: the flightless Falkland Steamerduck and Flying Steamerduck.
Falkland Steamerduck: All the ones I photographed had the short wings indicating they were the flightless Falkland Steamerducks. I didn't see any Flying Steamerducks when I checked my photos
Falkland Steamerduck: This monotypic species is endemic to the Falklands
Falkland Steamerduck: Female and Male. They are a large Duck with very small wings and clearly they have lost the power of flight
Falkland Steamerduck: Male and Female
Falkland Steamerduck: Male
Crested Duck: This is the nominate specularioides subspecies which occurs from central Chile & Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Falklands
The beach was reminiscent of the beaches of the Scottish Western Isles
Kelp Goose: Male. This is the malvinarum subspecies which is restricted to the Falklands. The nominate subspecies occurs in coastal South Argentina & Chile to Tierra del Fuego
Kelp Goose: Female. The sexes are very easy to tell apart
Upland Goose: Male. This is the leucoptera subspecies which is restricted to the Falklands. The nominate subspecies occurs in South Chile & Argentina and winters North to central Chile & North Argentina
Blackish Oystercatcher: This monotypic species occurs from North Peru to Tierra del Fuego & the Falklands. Some winter in Uruguay
Magellanic Oystercatcher: This is another monotypic species which occurs from South central Chile & Argentina to the Cape Horn Archipelago & the Falklands
The first thing we are meant to do on landing is to take off & stow the lifejackets. But this was hard to do when we were greeting on the beach by the endemic Cobb's Wren and endemic subspecies of Blackish Cincloides. My life jacket was eventually stowed after I had finished photographing them. We hadn't left the beach and we had already seen the two Falkland endemic species for the islands: Falkland Steamerducks and Cobb's Wren. There were still three other Falkland specialities to see: Ruddy-headed Goose, Striated Caracara & White-bridled Finch. It's possible to see all three species in the deep South of Chile. Additionally, it is possible to see Ruddy-headed Goose around Rio Grande in Argentina: but I couldn't find any when I visited before boarding the Plancius.
Cobb's Wren: This was the second Falklands endemic seen & I hadn't even left the beach
Cobb's Wren: Carcass Island looks to be one of the best sites in the Falklands to see Cobb's Wren according to eBird. But that may be down to the frequency that expedition ships visit
Blackish Cinclodes: This is the nominate antarcticus subspecies which is endemic to the Falklands and it is known as Tussacbird by the locals
Blackish Cinclodes: The maculirostris subspecies occurs in Tierra del Fuego & the Cape Horn Archipelago. It can be seen from the small boats in the Beagle Channel. It is blacker with a yellow bill with a dark upper mandible
Blackish Cinclodes: Perhaps this is a fresh juvenile as its knackered like the beach individual, albeit feeding daily on the beach is going to create a fair bit of wear to the feathers
There were still a few more endemics to see & I'll cover them in the next Blog Posts.
