John's Hong Kong Birding

11 Jul 2018

"Atlantic Odyssey 2018" - Part 3 To Gough Island

To Gough Island and beyond

Broad-billed Prion - Pachyptila vittata

The waters close to South Georgia gave us a last chance to get to grips with separating South Georgia and Common Diving Petrels. Here then is my modest contribution. On the right-hand (Common D-P) bird, note bigger bill, less grey wash on the face, extended feet and a bit of a "saddlebag".

The South Georgian D-P (left) has clearer "tramlines" down the back, no trailing feet, and see two shots of single D-P below.

South Georgian (left) and Common (right) Diving-Petrels

South Georgian Diving-Petrel - Pelecanoides georgicus (Same bird as left, above)

South Georgian Diving-Petrel - Pelecanoides georgicus (As above)

More days passed in the windy South Atlantic, but there was a constant presence of tubenoses to keep the birders and photographers occupied. Here we form a diagonal line across deck three, just back from a strong gale.

Oceanwide Expeditions had been making rumblings about this being the last “Atlantic Odyssey” and so we weren’t the only punters to have decided “It’s now or never…” prior to booking. This meant that, for the first time in years, the Plancius was mostly full on her voyage back towards Europe.

Among the passengers was Bob Flood, who - as well as a willingness to dispense seabird identification wisdom on deck - gave a presentation in the lounge on the finer points of separating White-bellied and Black-bellied and "White-bellied Black-bellied" Storm Petrels at sea. As someone else commented "He gave us confidence that we could all do it too..."

We settled into spending plenty of the daylight hours on deck, with observers at the front, rear and on the bridge wings. There were several walkie-talkies in use by different groups of passengers, as well as input from the Expedition staff.

We were confident that if anything “good” turned up everyone would know about it quickly.

Giant-Petrel and Black-browed Albatross

Soft-plumaged Petrel - Pterodroma mollis

Atlantic Petrel - Pterodroma incerta

"White-bellied" Black-bellied Storm-Petrel - Fregetta tropica

Subantarctic Little Shearwater - Puffinus elegans

Broad-billed Prion - Pachyptila vittata

Atlantic Petrel - Pterodroma incerta

White-headed Petrel Pterodroma lessonii and Sooty Shearwater Puffinus griseus

Spectacled Petrel - Procellaria conspicillata

Sooty Albatross - Phoebetria fusca

Southern Giant-Petrels and BB S-Ps

Great Shearwater - Puffinus gravis

Sooty Shearwater - Puffinus griseus and Great Shearwater - Puffinus gravis

Shy Albatross - Thalassarche cauta

With thirty people booking through “Wildwings” , a Birdquest group and about thirty mostly Dutch birders on board this left a couple of dozen non-birding passengers who were mainly focussed on visiting the remote Atlantic islands on our itinerary.

Spectacled Petrel and Great Shearwater - "Race you back to Gough !"

Gough Island is 350km south of Tristan Da Cunha, and according to Birdlife’s “Endemic bird Areas of the World” 2,800km from South Africa and 3,200km from South America.

I think we can all agree Gough is remote. Uninhabited by humans apart from the scientists at a research station, huge numbers of seabirds breed there, including many of the birds we had seen in the previous few days, such as Sooty Albatross, Spectacled Petrel, Great Shearwater and Broad-billed Prion.

Even more birds would breed there but - (wouldn’t you know it ?) - introduced mice pose a hazard to many of the breeding birds. An eight-million pound eradication programme has been approved.

We arrived in late afternoon on April 9th when the skies were clear, but there was a fearsome wind, even shorter-lensed cameras were hard to keep steady.

Gough Island in view

A sea covered in Prions

The silhouettes of returning seabirds stood out against the yellowing haze as the sun set. I had to butt the 500mm lens against various parts of the ship to keep it steady.

Gough Island

Cloudy the next morning, but calmer, we did a Zodiac Cruise off the shore of Gough (landing is forbidden for tourists).

Searching for the Gough Bunting...

A Gough bunting was spotted on a rock on the foreshore. An unusual spot for a passerine, but I quote from the Birdlife Datazone fact sheet… “This species is seriously threatened by introduced mouse predation, which has forced the population to use suboptimal habitat.”

Gough Bunting - Rowettia goughensis

Northern Rockhopper Penguins - Eudyptes mosleyi

Sub-Antarctic Fur Seal - Arctocephalus tropicalis

Rough seas off Gough, later in the day

Tristan Albatross - Diomedea dabbenena

"White-bellied" Black-bellied Storm-Petrel - Fregetta tropica

A day-and-a-bit of sailing brought us to the lee side of Tristan Da Cunha, where we saw more Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses, and Black-bellied Storm-Petrels like the one above. A Zodiac cruise was arranged with a view to getting closer views of the resident birds.

Watch the birdie

There were plenty of birds in view from the back deck, and the weather seemed to be calming down.

Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross - Thalassarche chlororynchos

The "Island Tickers" were getting restive, too - Tristan's settlement - Edinburgh of the Seven Seas - was just around the corner.

6 Jul 2018

"Atlantic Odyssey 2018" - Part 2 Exploring South Georgia

South Georgia

King Penguin - Aptenodytes patagonicus

We arrived at South Georgia after four full days at sea.

This 170km-long island of spectacular mountains and bays was named and claimed for King George III by Captain James Cook when he landed in 1775.

Captain Cook was soon followed by whaling and sealing ships, and the early 19th century was a bad period for South Georgia wildlife, with both fur seals and penguins easily caught. It is estimated that by 1825 over 1.2 million Antarctic Fur Seals had been killed for their skins.

By the early 20th century the number of King Penguins had been reduced to only a few hundred individuals. Fortunately, the penguin population has recovered somewhat, and there are now 60,000 pairs of King Penguins near Salisbury Plain, where we landed on the morning of April 2nd, 2018.

King Penguins - Aptenodytes patagonicus

A breezy four degrees Centigrade....

The conservation regulations dictate that visitors should not approach the penguins to within 10 metres, but if visitors stay still, the fearless penguins will walk right up to them.

Jemi took the 360 camera (seen here on a stick) ashore.

Curious penguins

There were parading penguins all across the plain.

King Penguins - Aptenodytes patagonicus

King Penguin - Aptenodytes patagonicus

In the afternoon, we had a landing and a Zodiac Cruise around Prion Island, where Wandering and Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses breed, as well as Gentoo Penguins.

Prion Island, South Georgia

South Georgia Pipit - Anthus antarcticus

South Georgia Pintail - Anas (g) georgica

There were good numbers of South Georgia Pipits, too - a sign that a rat-eradication programme is having an effect.

The biggest King Penguin spectacle (120,000 pairs) is at St. Andrews Bay on South Georgia, and on April 3rd we arrived at dawn in clear weather.

St Andrews Bay, South Georgia

More of the same ? No, again the penguin spectacle was completely absorbing...

King Penguins - Aptenodytes patagonicus

Elephant Seals - Mirounga leonina

The afternoon was spent at the former whaling station of Grytviken. Apart from the ruins, there is a museum, Post Office and Gift Shop.

Between 1904 and 1965 over 175,000 whales were “processed” at Grytviken. The whaling business ceased only when there were no longer enough whales in the area to be caught profitably.

Now, half a century later, the whale and seal populations are recovering slowly, but their populations are still a fraction of the numbers that existed around South Georgia before before humans arrived.

View from the graveyard, Grytviken

Wreck of a Whaling ship, Grytviken

Grytviken is also the starting and finishing point of Sir Ernest Shackleton's most famous expedition to Antarctica in 1914-16. He also died there in 1921.

On a third and last morning at South Georgia we had high winds but clear skies.

Plancius sailed slowly up Drygalski Fjord. (named after Professor Erich Von Drygalski, of the 1903-5 German Antarctic Expedition).

Chinstraps at Coopers Bay

Giant Petrel melee, Drygalski Fjord

South Georgia Shag, Drygalski Fjord

Terminal Glacier, Drygalski Fjord

South Georgia Diving-Petrel - Pelecanoides georgicus

Added 18 Aug 2018 from a comment by Johannes Fischer: - "That diving petrel is a Common Diving Petrel of the exsul subspecies. This subspecies can show the tramlines and the paler ear coverts, but the distribution of blue on the lower mandible as well as the bill shape gives this species away. Cheers!"

Clear but windy conditions were enjoyed all day, and a late afternoon Zodiac Cruise gave us plenty of photo opportunities.

Macaroni Penguin - Eudyptes chysolophus

Antarctic Fur Seals - Arctocephalus gazella

South Georgia Pipit - Anthus antarcticus

Phil and Glenn

Antarctic Fur Seal - Arctocephalus gazella

Brief views were had of a Leopard Seal, in wait, perhaps for returning Chinstraps...

Leopard Seal

Chinstrap Penguins, Coopers Bay

South Georgia had a final surprise, in the shape of a Southern Right Whale that we stopped to look at as dusk was falling.

Southern Right Whale

So that was South Georgia. We started in the west and ended near the east of the island, then began our journey northeast, towards Gough Island, five days away.

(I realise this is the most "broad brush" of impressions; - Steve Smith has done a more detailed account on his blog here.)