Journal of a Sabbatical

February 8, 2000

the falkland factor

Position:

Stanley, Falklands
51-41 S
057-049 W

Today's Bird Sightings:
sooty shearwater
rock shag
upland goose
ruddy-headed goose
flightless steamer duck
Falkland steamer duck
crested duck
turkey vulture
southern lapwing
rufous-chested dotterel
Magellanic oystercatcher
dolphin gull
kelp gull
grass wren
Correndera pipit
black-throated finch
long-tailed meadowlark
house sparrow

Mammal Sightings:
sheep
cow
domestic cat

Today's Reading: The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin

Somehow I managed to get packed last night and get the luggage into the hallway before 6:00 this morning. The time has come to say good-bye to the Little Red Ship, of which I've grown kind of fond over the past two weeks. We disembarked at 7:00 after a quick breakfast, identified our luggage and showed our passports to the security people before it got transported to the airport, and boarded a bus for one last birding expedition in search of the rufous-chested dotterel.

Our guide, who goes by the name of Montana and wears an ear ring, is a local birder, professional tour guide, and airport security officer. In the Falklands everybody wears lots of hats. He led us a merry chase along the beach in search of the rufous-chested dotterel (a very attractive shore bird). The beach was gorgeous, with fine gray sand, blue water, interesting rocks and lots of birds. Some of the group had found one yesterday on Sea Lion Island, but many of us hadn't and this was our last chance. Strangely, it was Victor rather than Montana who found us one in the grass just above the beach. Good views were had by all.

It was a pretty productive bird walk. I was thrilled to see some black-throated finches, which I somehow missed yesterday, the Correndera pipit, which nobody had yet seen on the trip - in fact I think it might have been a life bird for Victor - and the grass wren at long last - we'd tried mightily to scare some of those up yesterday too without success.

On the drive back into Stanley I noticed the "streams of stones" Darwin talks about in Voyage of the Beagle. In fact, the landscape looked exactly the way Darwin described it except for all the fenced off fields of land mines. Well and the new modern houses and the SUVs all over the place. Oh and the huge British garrison at the airport. There are enough British troops stationed there to give every man,woman, and child his or her own soldier. Amazing.

On the LAN Chile flight to Santiago I got trapped in the back by the meal cart for most of the flight, and a flight attendant spilled milk on me. Otherwise, the flight was unmemorable. The sunset over the mountains surrounding the Santiago airport was stunning. The wait for the flight to Miami was long, but I had The Voyage of the Beagle with me.

There's way more I should say about my last day in the Falklands but I stopped writing in my notebook, and even merely scribbled the bird list on scrap of paper until I could edit it at the Santiago airport. The way home is long. The trip was good.