Sunday, September 25, 2011

Walkabout

A couple of days after my sister's wedding (see a couple of posts below) I went off station on a 6 day walk. I made it down to Hurd point again and had a lovely rest day down there. I also met up with many of the expeditioners who are based in the field, which was very nice indeed. However the most amazing thing to happen was a perfectly calm, still, bright, glorious sunny day - I was even able to take off the gortex outer layer we generally get around in.

One of the expeditioners mentioned that that sort of doesn't come around too often, maybe once every 5 or so years.

Moon rise out of Green Gorge Hut

Mt Hamilton on a fantastic day

Mt Jeffryes looking a little tamer than the last time I was there. See the post from a few months ago

Looking towards Carrick bay, to the west of Windy Ridge (which was only breezy)
 
Round 1: Fight!

They can move fairly quickly for something that weighs around 3 tonnes.
This guy decided I was interesting enough to come and have a close look at



More Giant Petrel photos, these birds are the pterodactyls around here.

Aurora over Hurd Point Hut
Aurora to the south of Waterfall Bay Hut   



Sunday, September 18, 2011

Other Birds of Macca: Skuas

There's plenty of different birds around here. Most are native and others are introduced (either by humans or by themselves). There's even a couple of native species that are are endemic, which I suppose is nice for them. I'll be making some posts about birds that aren't penguins. As cute as the penguins are, I can't neglect the other wildlife.

Skua, keeping watch for any food coming along.

Today I'm looking at one of the scavenging birds, Skuas (sometimes pronounced skoo-uhs, sometimes skewers; depends who you talk to). These guys are cheeky bastards. They'll get into any and everything they can, including waiting for the afterbirth when seal pups are calved. They're also not afraid of human movement and watch very closely with beady, evil eyes. When a number of them decide to flock together for a feed they'll take the eyes of whatever animal they're going for first and then proceed to tear it to shreds - usually helped out by any passing Giant Petrels (the petrels are bigger and will stake a kill or carcass from a skua).

Waiting for the pup's feeding time





This skua decided taking the spilt milk was easier than trying to annoy the pup into dropping milk



Saturday, September 10, 2011

2 Weddings...



My little sister is getting married today, it's a shame I can't be there (being here and all that), but I'm there in spirit... and on cardboard. Congratulations, I know you'll have a fantastic day and don't forget to send some photos.

Also, over in the UK, my friends Vicki & Steve are getting married today. Congratulations to the two of you.


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Spring has sprung

And the animals are returning to the island for the breeding season. This is really exciting as we've been able to watch a few male elephant seals having fairly large fights as they jockey for position. Apparently the larger ones - the beach masters - are still to arrive.

We've also had the penguins starting to turn up and make their nests - right next to work! On Monday morning there were about 5 penguins and by the afternoon there this many:



They're so cute to watch waddling around and chasing each other off their prime piece of real estate. Many more will be turning up shortly and the first elephant seal pups will be born over the next couple of weeks.