Sightings of rare albatross a treat for birders
Postmedia columnist Daphne Bramham crosses the notoriously rough Drake Passage from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia — known as the Serengeti of the Southern Ocean — to Antarctica. Her daily reports from the 18-day expedition will cover issues from climate change and micro plastics in the ocean to Japan’s continuing whale hunt, the antics of penguins and the world’s wild race to tour, and exploit, this last frontier.
As we make our SCOTIA SEA three-day trip from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia, we’ve been warned to “Drake-proof ” our cabins and ourselves as the waves are starting to build and the side-to-side rocking gets more pronounced.
We’re heading southeast for the next two days. It means going across the Drake Passage, which is the roughest patch of ocean in the world. We will also be going through what is called the convergence, where water from the Atlantic Ocean meets the icy waters of the South Ocean. Quite often where they meet is visible from a distance as a huge fog bank.
So far, we’re lucky. At sunrise, it was blowing between 20 and 30 knots, a moderate wind for here.
Still, this is a fickle place for weather.
The people on Sea Lion Island where we were the previous day had only 15 minutes’ notice that a hurricane was approaching before it hit.
The first dose of anti-seasick medication should have kicked in.
So, everything is stowed, with latches closed on the portholes, closets and lockers.
There are great and small seabirds following the ship, including several species of albatross, the most endangered family of seabirds.
Their largest nesting grounds are here, which is why South Georgia and Sandwich Islands have developed stringent fishing policies. Albatrosses and other seabirds are dying at a rate of more than 300,000 a year, including 100,000 albatrosses because they get caught in baited, longline nets, and drown.
They mate for life and come ashore only to breed every second year.
Only recently have researchers discovered that they often jig fish for squid at night, settling on or hovering over the water, flapping and moving about to stir up the phosphorescence, which in turn attracts the squid.
The wandering albatross, which caused such grief for Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, was spotted from the ship. It has a 3.35-metre wingspan and weighs up to nine kilos.
But for the birders on board, the greatest excitement was the sooty albatross that came alongside and circled the ship. It’s a rare bird that will likely top or be near the top of any serious birder’s list.
There are also preparations that must be made before the South Georgian administrators will allow us to land, since this is a marine protected area. It is home to the largest number of nesting albatross, as well as an estimated 300,000 breeding pairs of penguins.
The other reason for the concern is that, over the years, species such as dandelions, rats, mice and even reindeer have been introduced to the island, and millions of dollars have been spent eradicating them.
There is also a mandatory briefing required by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators that sets out the protocols for what can or can’t be done onshore. Mostly it’s a warning not to get close to the wildlife, especially the notoriously ill-tempered fur seals. But king penguins and elephant seals can also be aggressive when they’ve got babies or when they are in the midst of their annual “catastrophic moulting.”
There is another warning as well. Watch out for unexploded ordinances — landmines — placed there after Argentina invaded the British overseas territory on April 2, 1982 — the day after a new administrative office had been opened.
The few British fisheries officers and administrators put up a fight, but eventually were forced to surrender.
The island reverted to being a British territory after the Argentinians were defeated in the Falkland Islands.
Between getting Drakeproofed, vacuuming and dipping into biocide, there is still lots of time to gaze out and wonder about what lies both above and below the grey, rolling sea.