Heeeeere’s John: John Avise, I mean, who’s back with his regular Sunday dollop of bird photos. John’s IDs and narrative are indented, and be sure to click on the photos to enlarge them. The theme this week is Antarctic sea birds. John visited Antarctica a while ago, and, damn him, even got to South Georgia, and island I’d dearly love to visit. (It’s where Shackleton ended his lifeboat journey in his successful attempt to rescue his men.)
Antarctic Region Seabirds
During his recent Antarctic adventure, Jerry didn’t very write much about seabirds (other than penguins). However, on my own visit to Antarctica in 2019, I found that watching seabirds from the ship’s deck was one of the trip’s most pleasurable activities. This week’s batch of pictures shows some of the abundant seabirds that I managed to photograph from the deck of a Quark Expedition ship to Antarctica, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands.
Antarctic Prions, Pachyptila desolata:
Black-browed Albatross, Thalassarche melanophris:
Grey-headed Albatross, Thalassarche chrysostoma:
Light-mantled Albatross, Phoebetria palpebrata:
Wandering Albatross, Diomedea exulans:
another Wandering Albatross:
Northern Giant Petrel, Macronectes halli:
another Northern Giant Petrel:
Brown Skua, Stercorarius antarcticus:
Kelp Gull, Larus dominicanus:
Snowy Sheathbill. Chionus albus:
another Snowy Sheathbill:
Snowy Sheathbills on the ship’s deck:
Southern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialoides:
Wilson’s Storm Petrel, Oceanites oceanicus:
South American Tern, Sterna hirundinacea:
Cape Petrel, Daption capense:
another Cape Petrel:
flock of Cape Petrels:
another flock of Cape Petrels:
Amazing set of photographs! I am struck with the beauty of the Snowy Sheathbill’s feathers against the sky and sea. Exquisite!
Great “comeback” – as it were – set!
Thanks. I love the perspectives which let you see and appreciate some amazing wingspans. Makes me wonder if there are some correlates with a ratio of wingspan (or surface area??) to body mass, e.g., how far they range in a day, etc.
I know that the albatross has a very high aspect ratio wing, but that is more about the length/width of the wings and what the birds strengths and weaknesses are in flight, and it seems like you were talking more about overall mass? I love looking at the wingspans and wing shapes too. Some of the gliding sea birds look almost comically like jets and paper airplanes, though I guess it’s more accurate to say that those things resemble the birds.
Great collection. Thanks.
It’s 11:35am and, via the webcam, I see someone feeding a pair of ducks. Is this PCC(E)? Where’s Honey?
Another terrific set! Thank you for sharing these, John.
I wonder if those Snowy Sheathbills left a mess on the ship’s deck.
Wow!!
Talk about drama. Reminds me of F1…and I’m happy to have watched Melbourne’s race this weekend.