7 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Ten: At Sea From South Georgia To Gough Island

The previous day I had been mainly Birding from a cosy chair by the window in the observation lounge, as rough seas had stopped us from going out on deck. This allowed me to see my first Great-winged Petrels & Atlantic Petrels, with a few Spectacled Petrels from the deck when we were allowed out again in the late afternoon when the seas moderated. The observation lounge was fairly reasonable for looking at the sea & had the benefits of being warm & dry with easy access to the drinks machine. However, it wasn't any good for Bird photography. So it was good to wake up to find the seas had moderated & we had free access to the decks again & I could get the camera out again.

Sooty Albatross: Adult. It was good to get the opportunity for some better photos

Sooty Albatross: Adult

Sooty Albatross: Adult. Sooty Albatrosses are very elegant in flight

Sooty Albatross: Subadult. The pale collar & scruffy mantle indicates this is a subadult. Both species can have a pale collar, however, subadult Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses would also have the pale colouration extending onto the belly & Sooty Albatrosses will have a predominately dark mantle. Therefore, this is a subadult Sooty Albatross

Sooty Albatross: Subadult. Another view of the same individual

Wandering Albatross: The plumages of Tristan Wandering Albatrosses & Snowy Wandering Albatrosses overlap & therefore it is not possible to be sure which subspecies this is

Wandering Albatross: Apparently, Tristan Wandering Albatrosses are smaller & slighter than Snowy Albatross, but I'm struggling to see this in my photos. The location is the best way to separate the two subspecies, but given the Plancius was roughly halfway between the two populations, I don't think this individual can be assigned to a particular subspecies

Kerguelen Petrel

Spectacled Petrel: Spectacled Petrels only breed on inaccessible Island in the Tristan da Cunha group

Great Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Brown Skua: Falklands Brown Skua. The dark colouration confirms this is a Falklands Brown Skua, rather than the first Tristan Brown Skua of the trip

When we were at sea, there were generally a couple of lectures a day from members of the Expedition staff. However, we also had a superb guest lecture from Bob Flood who was one of the passengers, on the identification of Black-bellied Storm-petrel & White-bellied Storm-petrel in the Atlantic. This isn't as simple as checking the belly colour as some populations of Black-bellied Storm-petrels have white-bellies. Simplistically, the Southern population of Black-bellied Storm-petrels are most likely to have black-bellies, whereas the populations that breed further North in the South Atlantic are more likely to have white-bellies. Bob said there are other populations in the Pacific with streaky bellies, but they were not covered within the lecture. I will come back to this subject in a later Post.

'Black-bellied' Black-bellied Storm-petrel: This individual clearly has a black central belly stripe

'White-bellied' Black-bellied Storm-petrel: This individual clearly has a white-belly, but is a Black-bellied Storm-petrel

'White-bellied' Black-bellied Storm-petrel: Another photo of the same individual

Black-bellied Storm-petrel: Not all Black-bellied Storm-petrels can be identified to a subspecies

There had been up to three Cattle Egrets around the Plancius since the previous day. They generally were hanging around on the relatively quiet zodiac deck, but every now & then, somebody managed to disturb them & force them to fly around again. I suspect some of the photographers were keener to get photos, than necessary thinking about the best interests of the Cattle Egrets. My photos were all taken when they appeared in front of me as I didn't think it was right to go looking for them on the back deck & risk disturbing them.

Cattle Egret: This individual has been disturbed again

Cattle Egret: Trying to look camouflaged on the front deck

Eventually, they were seen flying off the following day when we were still a couple of days from Gough Island. At least, one was seen dropping into the ocean before it got out of sight. I guess it hadn't eaten for several days & was probably exhausted. It sounds harsh, but perhaps that was the better option than for these Cattle Egrets to reach Gough Island. Once there they might become another predator on the Seabirds on Gough Island. Cattle Egrets have a world wide range & have rapidly colonised South America in recent decades. It is not clear if these individuals had originated in South America or Africa or were perhaps from South Georgia, as we had seen one or two there. They are a relatively recent arrival to South Georgia. There have generally been a few Cattle Egrets seen on each of the recent Odyssey voyages, therefore their range expansion still seems to be continuing.

1 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Four: At Sea From Ushuaia To South Georgia - Macaroni On The Menu

After leaving the Shag Rocks we were still Birding keenly, as we were within a day from South Georgia with the hope of a few of the breeding South Georgia species putting in an appearance.

Fishing Boat: I wasn't expecting to see this fishing boat as we left the Shag Rocks given we were inside South Georgia waters, where fishing is tightly controlled

Fishing Boat: Even less expecting to not be able to figure out the boat's name

The highlight of the rest of the day was our first Macaroni Penguins & Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses of the trip.

Macaroni Penguin: I saw them on two of the three days in South Georgia, but it's always good to see a new Penguin. Penguins can be tricky to see far out to sea & this one was no exception: it quickly dived. I also saw a handful of King Penguins & Gentoo Penguins, but all escaped the camera

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross:

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: A cracking Albatross

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: They breed throughout the Subantarctic islands & range as far North as 35 degrees South

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: The Albatrosses, Petrels & Shearwaters book by Onley & Scofield state that moult isn't well understood for the Sooty Albatrosses, but in line with other species that breed biannually, then they probably moult the inner primaries in one year & the outer primaries in the following year

Northern Giant Petrel: Adult. As they get older they become whiter. The grey cap and white lower face which contrasts with the mottled underparts helps to confirm this as a Northern Giant Petrel

Northern Giant Petrel: Adult. Additionally, the darker bill tip confirms the identification (Southern have a uniform pale greenish bill). I've noticed a number of the Seabirds have drips of water on their bill which is how they remove excess salt

Kerguelen Petrel: Good to see more of these Pterodroma Petrels

Kerguelen Petrel: Upperwing shot

Fairy Prion: At last a decent Prion photo. The well defined M shape on the wings, broad tip to the tail, white underwing & pale grey sides to the breast that gently merge into the rest underparts help to identify this species

Fairy Prion: Not a sharp photo, but it does show the underparts

Common Diving-petrel: Diving-petrels are not easy to identify in this part of the South Atlantic, but I think this one is a Common Diving-petrel. In fresh plumage, South Georgia Diving-petrels have while scapulars & white fringes to the secondary coverts & a contrasting pale upper collar which contrasts with the greyer supercilium. The collar & facial pattern is more uniform on Common Diving-petrel

Common Diving-petrel: All photos are of the same individual. The strong bill & protruding feet also point towards Common Diving-petrel

Common Diving-petrel: This looks to have a dusky grey patch on the upper sides of the breast again pointing towards Common Diving-petrel (whereas South Georgia Diving-petrels have less of a grey patch on the sides of the upper breast). South Georgia Diving-petrels are also expected to show a cleaner white underwing

Wilson's Storm-petrel: The all dark belly & pale crescent wingbar identify this as the world's commonest Storm-petrel

Wilson's Storm-petrel: The white rump extends around the sides of the body to the edge of the vent and the long legs again help to identify this species

South Georgia Shag: It was no surprise to see another South Georgia Shag towards the end of the day

There were a couple of mandatory briefings in the afternoon: the zodiac & biosecurity briefings. The zodiac briefing was fairly quick & focused on getting in & out of the zodiacs safely & only moving quickly in & out of the zodiac when we were told to do so. We were also told to ensure that we had both hands free, but it was surprising the number of people who thought hands free still allowed them to carry a large camera in their hands.

Iceberg: This very large iceberg was my first iceberg. Even at over a couple of miles away it looked very long. The photo doesn't do it justice, but it extended to the right hand side of the photo

Iceberg: Close up of the edge. We would have liked to get closer as sometimes Snow Petrels or other Antarctic Seabirds can hang around these big icebergs, but this wasn't possible this time

Biosecurity is taken very seriously in South Georgia & Antarctic to ensure that anybody going ashore doesn't carelessly take any seeds or other plant material ashore. Fruit & other similar foods were also banned from being taken ashore. So it was good to see a thorough biosecurity briefing. This also included how to behave when ashore & not to get too close to the wildlife or stress it. Afterwards, we were called to the observation lounge in groups so we could vacuum clean any clothing or bags we were planning on taking ashore, to ensure there was no plant material attached to them. All the South Georgia landings were expected to be wet, but as the ship had supplied us with insulated wellies for the landings, that wasn't expected to be a problem. In preparation for the trip, I had bought a dry-bag rucksack from Overboard which was excellent. I could get my 7D Mark II and 100-400mm lens, along with the little SX60 in my 15 litre rucksack: an excellent investment & I was hands free. The South Georgia landings were all landing into shallow water, but there is always the chance of a rogue wave or falling over as you get out of the zodiac. More likely was as the zodiacs were moving then waves were thrown up fairly often. Salt water is a killer of camera as one of the other Birders found out to his cost, when he forgot to shut his bag & later found water had been got into the bag. We were ready for our arrival at South Georgia in the morning & looking forward to getting ashore after four days at sea.

30 Mar 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Two: At Sea From Ushuaia To South Georgia

One of the things about the Plancius is her normal speed is around 11 - 12 knots when sea conditions allow. Therefore, we would travel around 275 nautical miles in a 24 hr period. South Georgia is around 1100 nautical miles from Ushuaia, so we were expecting to be at sea for four days. Anybody taking a trip on ships like the Plancius has to be happy to spend a fair bit of time looking at sea. Travelling at 12 nautical miles an hour doesn't sound a lot, it is only about 14 miles an hour. But travelling that steadily means Seabirds can often keep up with that speed & thus spend longer in the wake or speed up and cross the bows. A faster cruise ship would not have that advantage. When we got to the calmer Tropics we were often able to pick up Cetaceans at over a nautical mile ahead of us, with large Whale blows at greater distances. But that was only about 5 minutes sailing away. If they were only surfacing occasionally, we could quickly lose them as we sometimes misjudged where they would re-reappear relative to our position. Even when we were watching Cetaceans on the surface, then we passed them all too quickly, unless a decision was made that we would stop the ship & slowly approach them.

The Southern Ocean seas: The weather had deteriorated overnight, but it wasn't too bad in the morning.

By lunchtime, the Plancius had started rolling more significantly & all the decks, apart from the bridge wings were closed. This wasn't great as the more hardy Birders were all trying to pack into a small area, not helped by the limited handholds when the rolling got worse. Having footwear with a good grip was essential for the next two weeks while we were at sea. It wasn't feasible to try using the camera at this point, given the number of Birders & the sea state. In the end, I carried on birding from the comfort & warmth of a chair by the window in the observation lounge: which was surprisingly OK.

Grey-headed Albatross: Adult. My favourite Albatross

Grey-headed Albatross: Grey-headed Albatrosses are circumpolar & occur North as far as about 35 South, although we only saw them on the crossing from Ushuaia to South Georgia

Kerguelen Petrel: My first Kerguelen Petrel. I saw a few most days we were at sea in the Southern Oceans with the last seen as we approached Gough Island

Antarctic Prion: I saw them daily on the crossing from Ushuaia to South Georgia. These are presumably the South Georgian banksi subspecies (although to be certain you need to see one with a spray can in the foot)

Antarctic Prion: The same individual. The darker grey chest patch, the heavier bill & a stronger M on the upperparts help to separate this species from the Slender-billed Prion (see the Post for Day One at Sea from Ushuaia to South Georgia)

White-chinned Petrel: This was a fairly common Petrel seen in the colder Southern Oceans with the last ones that I saw being as we approached Gough Island

White-chinned Petrel: Not as sharp as I would like, but very atmospheric

South American Sealion: I was surprised to see this individual so far out to sea which I think is a South American Sealion rather than one of the Fur Seals