|
|
|||||||
|
February 4, 2000 |
|
prion island |
|||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Position: Prion Island Elsehul Today's Bird Sightings: Mammal Sightings: Today's Reading: The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin Victor's Field Report (scroll down to the bottom of the page)
Copyright © 2000, Janet I. Egan |
|
"I now belong to a high cult of mortals, for I have seen
the Albatross." - Robert "Wow! Albatross!" - Janet Egan
We got to sleep in until 5:30 this morning, a treat after yesterday's 3:30 wake-up call (even though I went back to sleep 'til 5:30 yesterday I definitely felt the 3:30 call all day). Our "seven impossible things before breakfast" (just how many was that in Alice and Wonderland) mission was a landing on Prion Island off the north coast of South Georgia. The tussock-grass here is home to prions, white-chinned petrels, Southern giant petrels, wandering albatrosses, the endemic South Georgia pipit, and of course fur seals (they're everywhere, they're taking over).
Back down the trail to the beach, dodging fur seals and trying not to sink into the mud, and enjoying the view. The beach was full of king penguins and fur seals,who seemed to be enjoying the bright sunshine as much as we were. After lunch we made our final South Georgia landing at Elsehul on the western tip of the island. Albatrosses were everywhere, sitting on the water, nesting on the hillsides, flying in the air. I gather that previous expeditions have not been able to land at Elsehul because of the fur seals. The place was indeed teeming with fur seals. I had already decided to stay on the ship and watch the albatrosses that filled the air and water, because my boots were still wet inside from my encounter with the boot-sucking mud, and I had developed a blister on one toe that slowed me down considerably. I knew I wouldn't be able to hike up the ridge to where the light mantled sooty albatross nests, so I figured my best bet was to skip the landing altogether. I missed the chance of a lifetime, as it's rare to land here, but I still enjoyed the gorgeous weather and the fabulous gorgeous wonderful spectacular scenery with ice bergs, green hills, mountains, mist -- and albatrosses. They glided overhead, black-browed, gray headed, light mantled sooty... they rested on the water... and the spectacle of those green hills just dotted with nesting albatrosses was something never to be forgotten. We had gray-headed albatrosses, white-chinned petrels, and Antarctic prions following the ship as we left South Georgia. I have to say that South Georgia was everything I expected and more. We managed to cram in the whole intensive experience in just a couple of days, and every outing was memorable. Now to keep us from total boredom on the way to the Falklands, we're back to having lectures again. Victor talked about the two trips he has organized and led on the Amazon River with the MS Explorer, and Charley showed slides from many of the previous Amazon trips, which the Explorer has been doing for years, with or without Victor. At the end of the day we did the bird list and recap, and Brent gave us an informal talk on the breeding cycle of the king penguin. |
|||||
Cushman
Murphy, Logbook for Grace
We
all got good views of the South Georgia pipit, kind of a
strange thing to see on an island way out here in the frigid
ocean. This pipit is the only passerine in the Antarctic.
Not a lot of places for passerines to perch when there are
no trees. They seem to do just fine in the tussock-grass. I
startled one when I stumbled near a nest hidden in the
tussock. Anyway, as Pete put it at recap, "If you didn't see
a pipit today you're probably dead." I mean, you 'd have to
be actively trying to avoid the South Georgia pipit if you
didn't score one for the life list today.
We
hiked up a muddy, wet, path that felt more like a stream bed
than a trail, past tussocks each sporting their own fur seal
pup. Tons of pups, even some still nursing. They didn't seem
quite as tough as the ones the other day on the trail to the
macaroni colony, and they pretty much stayed off the path. I
on the other hand sank into the path. Twice. The mud sucked
my boot off. Fortunately, Pete held me up while Jeff
extracted my boot from the mud and put it back on. That was
on the way up. On the way down the boot-sucking mud got my
left foot so stuck that I pitched backward when I tried to
take a step. I landed on my butt and managed to get my boot
back on but couldn't get into a position to tie it. Again I
had to get help tying my shoe! I haven't needed this much
help dressing since kindergarten. But apart from the
boot-sucking mud, the hike was sublime.
The
undisputed high point of island for me, however, was my much
longed-for chance to see a wandering albatross on the nest.
This is why my Antarctica trip itinerary had to include
South Georgia. There were dozens of nests fairly widely
scattered in small open areas of soft green vegetation
between clumps of tussock-grass. The albatross nesting
areas are not dense like the penguins and cormorants. The
nests are bowl-shaped mud and grass constructions on the
ground. The nests I saw were empty, but had one adult
sitting on them. They preened themselves, or worked on
rebuilding or refurbishing the nests. I was transfixed
watching these massive birds move with grace and delicacy.
Their pure white plumage is tinged with a wash of pink on
the head near the beak. A very pale pink, exquisitely
beautiful. It was almost a religious experience watching
them. They seemed so calm and dignified. They spend the vast
majority of their lives at sea - young ones may stay at sea
five years before they return to land to mate - in the most
windswept and hostile ocean environment in the world. The
Southern Ocean is no picnic and the albatross is certainly
built for survival with that huge beak and powerful wings.
That's what makes seeing them on the nest so special.