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: 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.
