29 Jan 23 - The Antarctica Trip - Force Eight Around The Antarctic South Shetland Islands

After two long days with very early starts and deck watches until last light, I needed a bit of a lie in. This decision was reinforced overnight by feeling the ship moving a lot in the sea. So, I had a lie in until about 07:30 which allowed time for a look at the conditions from the lounge over a cuppa tea before heading off to breakfast. The sea was lively and the conditions were living up to the Force eight gale that Expedition Leader Ali has promised us, or was that warned us, about for the journey back across the Drake Passage. The plan for the morning was a zodiac ride around the South Shetland Islands, but that seemed optimistic.

A post-breakfast view of one of the South Shetland Islands coming out of the mist

Another island in the mist

Another island

As we got closer to the South Shetland Islands, the seas and winds picked up. But that's not too unusual as the wind and sea can increase due to funnelling through the islands. We checked out the planning zodiac location and it was clearly too rough to consider anything.

The seas did moderate at times around the islands

Another island taken from the comfort of the lounge

Steve, Siegfried, Bill & I discussing our plans for the day: Not sure who took this photo

The seas were very lively at times around the islands

I was surprised to see a navigation marker on one of the islands

Ali & the Captain checked out a couple of other locations, hoping to find a more sheltered area, but to no avail. When I spent time on deck, I saw a number of expected Southern Ocean Seabirds, but this Antarctic Tern was the only species I photographed.

Antarctic Tern: Carrying a fish & presumably breeding on one of the islands

Antarctic Tern

By later morning, it was clear that we weren't going to get a final zodiac ride in the South Shetland Islands: c'est la vie. Plan C was adopted which was to start out a bit earlier for Ushuaia. This would give us a bit more time to the cross the Drake Passage. However, it also meant we passed through a very rough channel between two islands just as we went to lunch. This made for a very bumpy meal. In hindsight, I guess the catering team would have preferred for the ship to stay in the lee of the islands for an hour to finish lunch, before we covered that rough channel. But it was to be a quiet lunch for those of us who ate, as about twenty to twenty-five passengers had retreated to the cabins and we didn't see them again until the final afternoon as the seas finally moderated as we reached the Tierra del Fuego coastline. I was really pleased that the sea-sickness patches were working well and I was able to carry on Birding & eating, despite it being a Force eight gale and corresponding seas.

One of the last views of the South Shetland Islands

Looking back on the South Shetland Islands as we depart

Wandering Albatross

Wandering Albatross

Wandering Albatross

Grey-headed Albatross

Antarctic Fulmar

Antarctic Fulmar

Antarctic Fulmar

Soft-plumaged Petrel

We also had a couple of large Whales, either Fin Whales or Sei Whales, but given the sea conditions we did well getting any photographs at all. Sadly, these had to go down in the notes as not specifically identified.

Fin/Sei Whales: Sometimes the photos are just not good enough to be able to identify a Whale to a species. There were two individuals right next to each other

Fin/Sei Whale: This is about the best dorsal fin shape that I have got from a later photo. Based upon the bulk and dorsal fin these two large Whales are either Fin or Sei Whales. But there isn't a good enough photo of the dorsal fin shape to be sure

The rough conditions brought a number of the non-wildlife passengers up to bridge wings with the hope of getting the perfect photo of the sea breaking over the bows. I never succeeded to get this photo. But the next two photos show how much we were moving in these seas, which had moderated a bit from the even rougher seas around the South Shetland Islands.

Whenever we climbed this high there was a chance of a good splash photo

This one didn't produce the perfect photo: It looks like we had passed through a front that afternoon as the skies are looking brighter

Sadly, it felt like our Antarctica trip was all too rapidly coming to the end. However, we still had two full days at sea left and so there was still time for some interesting Cetaceans. However, I'm sure quite a few of the passengers that evening were wishing we only had two hours of these seas left to endure.

18 Jan 23 - The Antarctica Trip - South Georgia Here We Come

In the previous Blog Post, I focused on a pod of four gorgeous Hourglass Dolphins that appeared for only three minutes on our first full day at sea between the Falklands and South Georgia. This Blog Post will focus on the Seabirds on this first day. It was typically choppy seas throughout the day, but that didn't worry the Seabirds. With the exception of the Brown Skua, the taxonomic order is also the same as the ordering in Seabird size from largest to smallest.

The seas were fairly lively

Wandering Albatross: Adult Female. The black tail band, the lack of white on the leading edge on the inner wing and the lack of a dark line along the cutting edge of the upper mandible confirms the identification as a Wandering Albatross. The black continuing all the way to the scapulars and the lack of obvious white in the wing indicates it's an Adult Female. Perhaps the slight barring on the mantle and rump indicates it's a younger Adult

Wandering Albatross: Adult Female. The likely subspecies is exulans or Snowy Albatross, which is the breeding subspecies on South Georgia. However, separating the subspecies is often based upon range. Looking at my photographs this individual was around the ship for several hours. Situations like this, makes it difficult to count Seabirds, as they sometimes appear to go before returning thirty minutes later. It is only when photos are compared from different times of the day, that it is possible to confirm that it was the same individual that kept reappearing

Northern Giant Petrel: This monotypic species breeds on the Islands North of the Antarctic Convergence from South Georgia to Macquarie & the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands

Northern Giant Petrel: Northern Giant Petrel have a pastel red tip to their bill, whereas Southern Giant Petrels have a dark pastel green tip

Northern Giant Petrel: A close look at the bill is always needed as their range at sea overlaps significantly with Southern Giant Petrels

White-chinned Petrel: Typically, it's not possible to see the white chin

White-chinned Petrel: This monotypic species occurs in circumpolar Subantarctic waters

Grey Petrel: I saw a dozen of this nice-looking Petrel during the day

Grey Petrel: They breed in & range across the circumpolar Subantarctic seas

Grey Petrel

Soft-plumaged Petrel: With a posture like this is must be a Pterodroma Petrel. It was the commonest species seen during the day with over eighty individuals, with Great Shearwater being the second commonest species with about fifty seen

Soft-plumaged Petrel: This is presumed to be the nominate mollis subspecies which breeds on Gough, Tristan da Cunha & the Antipodes islands. The dubia subspecies breeds on Marion, Crozet, Kerguelen & Amsterdam islands and it is a bit darker with a heavier breast band

Soft-plumaged Petrel: This is one of my favourite Pterodroma Petrels

Black-bellied Storm-petrel: The dark wings and paler coverts in this photo aren't giving too many clues of which species of Storm-petrel it is

Black-bellied Storm-petrel: But when it turned, the white belly with the black central stripe immediately identifies this as a Black-bellied Storm-petrel

Black-bellied Storm-petrel: A later individual. This is the nominate tropica subspecies which breeds on circumpolar Subantarctic islands & ranges North to the tropics

Grey-backed Storm-petrel: On this view, this Storm-petrel could be one of several species: White-bellied Storm-petrel, Black-bellied Storm-petrel or Grey-backed Storm-petrel. Black-bellied Storm-petrels this far South have a black stripe down the centre. But some populations of Black-bellied Storm-petrel that breed on Gough Island & the Tristan da Cunha Islands have white-bellies and could Winter this far South. Better views are needed of this individual

Grey-backed Storm-petrel: There is grey and some mottling in the wings which rules out White-bellied Storm-petrel and Black-bellied Storm-petrel as both have black wings with paler coverts

Grey-backed Storm-petrel: As it turns, it's possible to see the medium grey wings and paler grey rump. Confirmation that this is a Grey-backed Storm-petrel in heavy wing moult

Grey-backed Storm-petrel: This monotypic species occurs in circumpolar Subantarctic waters, as far North as 35 degrees South

Brown Skua: This is the nominate antarcticus subspecies, AKA Falkland Brown Skua. They breed on the Falklands & South East Argentina. They Winter off South East South America

I will cover our second full day at sea, before we reached South Georgia, in the next Blog Post.

17 Jan 23 - The Antarctica Trip - Leaving Port Stanley, Falklands

It was time to leave Port Stanley. Personally, I would have liked a full day around the area. But the distances meant if we left at lunchtime, we would be able to enjoy two landings on the first day in South Georgia, whereas, a full day in the Falklands, would mean losing a landing in South Georgia. It's always a compromise in planning landings in the Southern Oceans, before the ship has to plan for any adverse weather. Another factor is the landings need to be booked months in advance with the South Georgia authorities to ensure that there wouldn't be two expedition ships looking to land passengers at the same location on the same day. Only one hundred passengers are allowed to be ashore at any time, which was fine as that allowed all our passengers to land together. But some of the larger ships have twice that number of passengers and their landings have to be staggered and shortened. The logistics of having two ships at the same location would be far more complex to manage and most importantly there would be a bigger impact on the wildlife.

One of the outer bays in the channel leading to Port Stanley: I was scanning all the bays and beaches as we left Port Stanley, in the hope of a Commerson's Dolphin. One of the Peale’s Dolphins is just visible in front of the beach

As we sailed out of the bay leading to Port Stanley, I picked up a pod of distant Dolphins. They were near to the beach (in the previous photo) and they clearly did not want to come & check out us. Initially, all we could see were they had prominent dorsal fins. There are several potential Dolphin species in the Falklands: Risso's Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Dusky Dolphin, Hourglass Dolphin, Peale's Dolphin, Southern Rightwhale Dolphin and Commerson's Dolphin. The first two species are right on the edge of their extensive world range.

Peale's Dolphin: All it is possible to say on this view is it is either a Dusky Dolphin or a Peale's Dolphin

Very quickly most of these species can be eliminated. The colouration and shape rules out a Risso's Dolphin. The lack of a distinctive beak and the patterning rules out Bottlenose Dolphin. Hourglass Dolphin can be ruled out as these Dolphins don't have the well-marked patterning on the sides of the body. Southern Rightwhale Dolphin is a very distinctive black and white marked species and it doesn't have a dorsal fin. Finally, Commerson's Dolphin has a very broad-rounded dorsal fin & looks more like a Porpoise, than a classical Dolphin. This just leaves Dusky Dolphin or Peale's Dolphin as the only likely species.

Peale's Dolphin: The dorsal fin shape looks different as it starts to go under

Peale's Dolphin: Further into the dive

Peale's Dolphin: Another individual came up at the left hand side of my view through the camera. It seems to have a pale stripe behind the dorsal fin

Finally, one of the Peale's Dolphins jumped out of the water and it was possible to see the dark facial pattern which confirmed this was a Peale's Dolphin.

Peale's Dolphin: The dark facial pattern, pale sides to the body and lack of a pronounced beak rules out the other candidates

Dusky Dolphin: One of the Dusky Dolphins from the first evening in the Beagle Channel which shows the short beak, but the pale stripes that continue through the face (14 Jan 23)

We didn't see any other species of note until we reached the open sea. Here we were greeted some large feeding flocks of Sooty Shearwaters.

Sooty Shearwater: A large feeding flock of Sooty Shearwaters

Sooty Shearwater: Another party of Sooty Shearwaters on the sea just before we reached them

Sooty Shearwater: About one hundred thousand pairs of Sooty Shearwaters breed on the nearby Kidney Island. They also breed on the temperate & Subantarctic Islands from South Chile & the Falklands to South Australia & Tasmania, Macquarie & the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands

The numbers of Seabirds quickly dropped off as we left the coastal parts of the Falklands, but we stuck it out on deck anyway.

Southern Royal Albatross: Southern Royal Albatrosses can be separated from the similar looking Northern Royal Albatross by the narrow white leading edge to the wings

Southern Royal Albatross: A second individual. This is the nominate epomophora subspecies of Royal Albatross according to Clements. The other subspecies is Northern Royal Albatross which IOC split and is another future armchair Tick when I switch to IOC taxonomy

Southern Royal Albatross: A third individual. This is an immature & I think it's a 1st year individual. Adult Southern Royal Albatrosses have a white band on the inner secondary coverts which narrows as it reaches the bend in the wing: this area remains black in Northern Royal Albatrosses

Southern Royal Albatross: The third individual. Southern Royal Albatrosses breed on the Campbell & Auckland islands and Northern Royal Albatross breed on Chatham Islands & New Zealand's South Island. Both Royal Albatrosses range throughout the Southern Oceans

Snowy Wandering Albatross: This is a Snowy Wandering Albatross and it is the nominate exulans subspecies which breeds on South Georgia. Clements lumps all the Wandering Albatross subspecies, whereas, IOC splits Wandering Albatross as Snowy Wandering Albatross, Antipodes Wandering Albatross, Tristan Wandering Albatross & Amsterdam Wandering Albatross. This is a third cycle which I think corresponds to second (Southern) summer based up the more commonly used UK moult terminology

Soft-plumaged Petrel: We saw the first Soft-plumaged Petrel of the trip & one of my favourite Pterodroma Petrels

Soft-plumaged Petrel: This monotypic species breeds on the subtropical to subantarctic islands including Tristan da Cunha & Gough Islands, Marion, Crozet, Kerguelen & Amsterdam islands in the South Indian Ocean, to Maatsuyker Island, to the South of Tasmania and Macquarie & the Antipodes Islands to the South of New Zealand

We would have two more full days at sea before we reached South Georgia.