I should not a few days ago when I was looking for my eBird checklists, I couldn't find a number of them. I finally found them and they were designated as "High Seas" not "countable" in South Africa. While we were near Marion we were back in South Africa. Interesting -- they announced when we were leaving and returning to South Africa countable area. I like the idea I was birding on the High seas -- and yes, they were HIGH!
Unfortunately, this morning my camera acted like it was taking shots but did not record them. Grrrrr, it is working now, but no clue what happened. Things are certainly picking up, and tomorrow looks to be a stellar day!
A few things before the birds
This is my friend Andrew’s photo, in mine you can’t see the island - Marion Island
Gives you an idea of the waves -- at one point they were at 6 meters!
Again not my photo (not sure who's it is) - a very cool Flying Squid!
Some (yes only some -- so many birds) of Today’s birds… near Marion Island (the goal place for the trip) we have another 6 hours in the area tomorrow (I am hoping my balcony will be on the “right side” tomorrow, today it was facing away from the island.
Mixed flock to give you can idea of how many birds were flying and floating around.
Albatross
Gray-Headed - Note gray head and wide irregular black on the leading edge beneath the wing. Very similar in size & shape to the Indian Yellow-nosed.
Gray-Headed in Front, Sooty in Back
Wandering in Front, Grey-headed in back
Prion in front, Gray-headed in middle (top) & Sooty in back
Prion (front) Gray-headed in back
Indian Yellow-nosed
Had less of them today - note similarities to Gray-headed
Wilson's Storm Petrel (front bottom -- it's tiny), Indian Yellow-nosed (back)
Sooty Albatross (my favorite)
Sooty (front) White-chinned Petrel (back)
Sooty (front), Indian Yellow-nosed (back)
Light-mantled Albatross - used to be a sub-species of the Sooty Albatross -- fairly easy to tell apart.
Wandering Albatross (Call Snowy in eBird -- no idea why, Wandering is such a lovely name!)
Note the orange stain on the neck -- it is discharge from their tubenose - essentially snot
Sub-adult
Sub-Adult (foreground) Adult (background)
Adult
Sub-adult
Petrels - the diversity really kicked up today! The number of Great-winged Petrels was down, but the most ubiquitous one here was the White-chinned Petrel
White-chinned Petrel
Pintado (Cape) Petrel -- my favorite
Giant Petrel - this comes in both a Northern (greenish nail on the bill) and Southern (nail same color as the bill) species. It's a bull of a bird that one might mistake for one of the smaller albatrosses from a distance. I can't tell them apart when the bill is not clearly visible, so will only mark the ones I can see the nail (tip of bill).
Northern - not the greenish bill tip (nail)
Northern
Southern
Northern
Northern
Northern
Northern
Not Sure -- bill color unclear
Birding on my balcony!
Sometimes it was a little wet -- so nice to be able to go inside!
And sometimes windy & cold -- ok most times during the two days near Marion
Everybody is cold, I just recently put my gloves on and still not cold - most of these birders are from South Africa and can bear the heat but not the cold!
Spent the afternoon on the balcony and there was a huge uptick in Prions -- as before tough to call even from photos. With Pelagic birding in the Southern Ocean there usually more birds one (even very experienced folks) can not ID down to a specific species - no doubt very frustrating for listers. Just in case you want to try -- here is my cheat sheet:
Prion - Average body length 8-11 inches, Average Wingspan 22-24 inches - Tiny compared to any other species excepting the smaller Diving Petrel.
There had hundreds of them streaming past the ship and they are fast!
I’ve had way too many crazy Trump discussions – the South Africans all think we are nuts and I try to explain it isn’t all of us. That is greeted with skepticism. Having fun hanging with the guides and learning a few Afrikaner words – Oke is a guide or a client – usually someone whose behavior they don’t like. Heard some good stories about Zoos (Max the Gorilla who got shot by an escaped prisoner at Marc’s Dad’s Zoo and by a strange coincidence Andrew was visiting the Zoo that day – some 20 years ago). Andrew has a skill I was unaware of – he does impressions (mostly of clients – so I get why I did not know that) but also had a story about meeting Mandella and being forced (by his boss) to do his Mandella impression for Mandella – it was very funny and apparently Nelson was also amused – I wish I had a recording (sorry).
Although the birds really kicked up this morning, but apparently pales in comparison to last time (2022) because there was a storm blowing in then.
The ship was rocking and rolling tonight – almost felt like I was going to fall out of bed. I moved to the center of my king-sized bed.
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