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.

Four hour Falklands

Our first sighting of land sinceleaving Buenos Aries. The Falkland Islands. Owing to bad weather on our approach our time here was reduced from 8 hrs to 4 hrs. None the lsee we got som pretty nice photographs.

Antarctic Prion (above). Magellenic Penguin colony (below).

Below: female Kelp Goose.

Below: Male Kelp Goose.

Below: Falkland Steamer Duck

Below: Falklands Steamer Duck

Below: juvenile Austral Thrush.

Below: One of my target birds of the trip; Long tailed Meadowlark (Male)

Below: The Trip Photographer himself, Mr Mark Gibson, enjoying a pint of John Smiths in the Globe Tavern, Port Stanley.We leave for Antarctica this evening...

ALBATROSS ALLEY

4th Febuary 2010. At sea  en route to Stanley todays position was 44°08.1'S 056°24.2'W; West Northwest force 7.

Plenty of new seabirds in this sea area, with many hundreds of Albatrosses. Black-browed Albatross, like this adult below, were numerous from about this latitude downwards.

Adult Black-browed Albatross (above) and juvenile (below).

Sub adult Black-browed Albatross below - note dark tip to bill and dark underwing.

Adult Grey-headed Albatross above. Giant Petrel below left and  juvenile Yellow-nosed Albatross belwo right.

Adult Yellow-nosed Albatross above.
Below- Atlantic Petrel was an extremely common speices on this trip.

Tomorrow, landfall on the Falklands.

Photo Fest

Mark has now kindly provided me with some of his excellent photo's so I shall over the next few days post these in chronological order starting with our trip to Costenera Sur  in Buenas Aires Argentina on 1st and 2nd Feb. Congratulations to Mark on his patience and skill in getting some great shots, in at times, some pretty rough conditions..........

Below: Saffron Finch

Eared Dove

Black faced Parakeet

Red crested Cardinal; we saw a few small flocks of these cracking birds throughout our visit

                                                                                                     Rufous Hornero:The only shot we managed of these very common and extremely obliging birds was one facing away from camera!!

DAY 3 (03/02/10). At sea heading south en route for the Falklands,  position 35°53.83'S, 055°24.2'W. West Northwesterly force 3

Soft plumaged Petrel

One of the commonest seabirds of the trip we logged in excess of 2000 birds.

White chinned Petrel, another numeous petrel of the trip. This individual shows a minimal white chin at the base of the bill, however this can vary to be quite extensive. cf Spectacled Petrel

Our first Wandering Albatross of the trip, a fantastic chocolate brown juvenile