3 DAYS AT SEA

At 20.44 on the 13th  Feb we weighed anchor and set a course East throught the Straits of Magellan into the South Atlantic. I then sailed North for 3 days  seawatching for 14th, 15th and 16th before arriving to Motivideo on the 17th and finally my return to Buenos Aires on the 18th.

This shall be my final photo update, so I thank all those who contributed to the site and hope all who have read it have found it of interest and enjoyed in the sharing of some great photographs. This has without doubt been one of greatest seawatching experieiences of my life and it's been a pleasure for me to share some of the more memorable moments with you.  So until next time..Mucho gracias y hasta luego mi amigos

Great Shearwaters showing heavy post breeding moult; will these be the same individuals passing the Bridges of Ross in August I wonder?

A cropped section of a much much larger flock of Great Sheartwater. Approx10,000 in this sea area

Adult Black browed Albatross

Southern Giant Petrel (note Green tipped bill)

Northern Giant Petrel (note Red tipped bill)

A nice series of Wilson's Storm Petrel shots, showing distinctive pale carpal bar, large hand, and projecting toes.

PUNTA ARENAS

A trip to the Patagonian steppes was accompanied by a constant and Icy wind blowing down from the Andes. Many thanks to Steve Rock for the first three pictures in todays update.

Chilean Flamingo (above) and Least Seedsnipe (below)

Below Correndera Pipit would have been a new bird for me if I had seen it !!

One of the target birds of the trip Magellanic Plover (below)

The Mighty Llama

A few familiar faces; a small flock of White rumped Sandpipers

LAND AHOY !

On the 12th & 13th We stopped at Ushuaia (Argentina) and Punta Arenas (Chile) respectively. We had two excellent land based days birding starting at Teirra del Fuego national park.

Male Magellanic Woodpecker (above) and action shot of  female below.

Austral  Pygmy Owl

Chimanga (below)

Dark bellied Cinclodes (below)

Immature(left) and Adult Dolphin Gulls

Below a record shot of Chilean Skua and White throated Caracara at the Ushuaia rubbish dump

LIGHT MANTLED SOOTY ALBATROSS

On the 10th I left the Antarctic via Deception Island heading North across the Drake Passge en route to Cape Horn. At 23.58 I passed out of 60°S, officially marking the vessels exit from Antarctica. As I arrived at Cape Horn on the 11th the wind picked up again to Beaufort  force 10. We then picked up our Chilean Pilots who guided us into to Ushuaia.

Light Mantled Sooty Albatross was undoubtedly the bird of the trip for me. The only photographs obtained were these two taken by Cherry Wong of Hong Kong; many thanks to her.

Adult 'snowy' Wandering Albatross (below)

Adult Southern Royal Albatross (below). The great Albatrosses proved harder to age, sex and seperate than we had anticipated

One of many force 10's that struck our vessel whilst sailing the Southern Oceans.

One last look at Antarctica before I headed North to Cape Horn....

SNOW PETRELS

During the 8th , 9th and 10th we cruised around the Antarctic Penninsula, taking in Admiralty Bay and the Polish Research Station. A force ten prevented us from navigating the Neumayer Channel on the 9th. I had reached the most southerly point of the trip being 64°55.2'S, 063°17.0'W at noon of the 9th. We returned up the Gerlache strait and Bransfield Straits en route for Deception Island on the 10th.

Snow Petrels (above and below)

Antarctic Tern were numerous

 Always worth scanning the larger Icebergs for resting Snow Petrels 

The Polish Research Station below.  A cold looking place in the summer let alone the depths of an Antarctic winter

White morph Southern Giant Petrels were very impressive in the flesh..

Yellow webs on Wilson's Petrels are definetly not something you see with ease in the UK

Icebergs

During the 6th & 7th February we sailed due south en route for Elephant Island. At 14.25 on 6th I crossed into the Antarctic convergence zone, which marks the uppermost limit of Icebergs in the Southern Hemisphere. At this point extra lookouts are posted and at 04.16 on the morning of the 7th the first Iceberg was spotted by the bridge as we made our approach to Elephant Island.

Below: Pintado's. Although ever present I never got bored of these charismatic little petrels.

I appreciate it all sounds a bit arty but the shapes and particularly the 'blues' in some of these bergs was truly spell binding. One of the most jaw droppingly beautiful things I have ever seen.

Below: These were difficult to follow with the 'bins', never mind a lens. Chinstrap Penguins.

A series of photographs of Black bellied Storm Petrels, showing the very variable ventral stripe which cannot always be relied upon to seperate it from it's cousin White bellied Storm Petrel which shows paler more contrasting upper wing coverts and a lesser toe projection. Both fetures of course can be difficult to discern at sea or at distance.