John Gordon/Listening to Birds: Pelagic birding the Southern Atlantic Ocean

Pelagic Birding

Southern Atlantic Ocean

Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctic Peninsular.

Oct 24-Nov 11 2024

I had visited every continent, except one, Antarctica. Finally I had the means and time to go. The plan was to incorporate some birding in Uruguay before the trip and bird a little in Argentina before returning home. A link to the Uruguay portion is at the end of this account. During the course of the twenty day voyage there would be at least ten days on the open sea, the perfect opportunity for do some pelagic birding of which I had previously done very little. Good enough reason to venture out into rough and unpredictable seas.

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Opinions vary about when is the best time to visit the region. The Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula receive the most direct sunlight during the months of December, January and February. Late October or November see the birds arriving to court, display and mark territory. Later, January onwards through March there would be fledglings to photograph. My schedule was tight so I chose to go in late October and early November. I found a re-positiong trip with G adventures.com out of Montevideo, Uruguay. I secured a twenty-five percent discount by booking early. I saved thousands of dollars, some passengers saved even more by booking a week to tens days before the trip. No one it seems pays full price, it's smart keep an eye on the G Adventures or other websites for last minute deals. G Adventures have a Canadian and UK office and also quote in Canadian dollars.

Hourglass Porpoises were seen on just one occasion during the trip.

While the ship, the MS Expedition may not be the newest vessel plying the ocean it's more than adequate. The cabin, food, staff were top notch. It wasn't a birding cruise either which provided even more savings. My advice is to book your own trip. The MS Expedition had expert guides who had answers to each and every question. The twice daily lectures were informative and James, the ship's resident naturalist and ornithologist was out on the deck whenever we needed to help identify a bird or cetacean. A note for those ticking birds, the number of species is low compared to most other birding locations. I added fifty-three lifers on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula.

The first albatross on the trip was an Black-browed. Some days, a dozen or more would follow the ship. They were present throughout the trip except for the Antarctic Peninsula leg of the trip.

Black-browed Albatross

After a stormy three day voyage from Uruguay we arrived in the Falkland Islands. After exploring Stanley, West Point Island and Sanders Island we set sail once more. Sea conditions varied, all I can say is the ships's doctor was kept busy prescribing motion sickness medication. Good news it worked. Sometimes the decks were icy, treacherous and off limits. Sometimes snow flurries made visibility a challenge. Sometimes biting cold meant retreating indoors for a few minutes to warm up cold feet and hands.

Greater Shearwater

Throughout the trip we encountered Wilson's Storm Petrel's, Black-browed Albatross, Southern Fulmers and ever present Cape Petrels. More species were to follow. There would be three days at sea between Uruguay and the Falkland Islands, the same between The Falklands and South Georgia. Between South Georgia and Antarctic Peninsula the dominant species were, Brown Skua, Antarctic Tern and Snow Petrels with fewer pelagics. Making up for their absence were colonies of penguins on floating ice, mostly Chinstrap and Gentoo. Not a bad trade off.

Cape Petrel flock with a Southern Fulmar.

Southern Fulmers were often seen with a flock of Cape Petrels. These birds took advantage of the lee of the ship. During really rough weather birding wasn't possible, it was just too dangerous to be on deck. Too calm and few birds were present. Just the right amount of wind and wave action provided the best birding.

Happy birders l-r James Smith, myself and Daniel Bastaja.

On occasion it was warm enough to bask in the sunshine, at other times ice formed on the guard rails. Of the one hundred and twenty passengers only five were birders so most days we had the decks to ourselves. The other passengers may have thought we were quite mad spending all day out in the elements. They had no idea what they were missing.

Brown Skua

Brown Skuas, Cape Petrels and Prions would come within feet of the ship before suddenly veering off toward the bow and then reappear at the stern.

The Antarctic Shag, often referred to as the Antarctic Cormorant, is the only species of the cormorant family found in the Antarctic.

Antarctic Cormorant

The Sooty Shearwater is an elegant flyer winging its way over waves and swells.

Sooty Shearwater

Southern Fulmar

Southern Fulmars visited the ship throughout the voyage especially around South Georgia.

Snowy Sheathbill

Even though The Snowy Sheathbill is not a true pelagic they would follow the ship for an hour or more before turning back to land. They normally forage around penguin colonies where they consume carrion and penguin droppings. As disgusting as it sounds the krill laden feces still has plenty of nutritional value. The birds often landed on our Zodiac where they would occasionally leave foul smelling deposits.

Adult Southern Giant Petrel

A large fierce looking bird with a two metre wingspan, the Southern Giant Petrel uses the minimal amount of effort to glide across the ocean. Southern giant petrels have also been observed drowning Yellow and Black-browed Albatrosses. During the breeding season they make nocturnal raids on seabird colonies.

A young Southern Giant Petrel is darker than the adults.

The Falkland Islands is the most important breeding location worldwide for Southern Giant Petrel. Southern Giant Petrels and range from Antarctica to the subtropics of Chile, Africa, and Australia.

Southern Giant Petrel (White morph)

Light morph Giant Southern Petrels (above) are rare. We were lucky enough to see three on our trip.

White-chinned Petrel

The white-chinned is a large petrel also known as the Cape hen or shoemaker. It ranges around the Southern Ocean as far north as southern Australia, Peru and Namibia, and breeds colonially on scattered islands. There ivory coloured bill is diagnostic the white under the chin is often difficult to see but can just be seen in this photo. The white-chinned petrel is the most common bird species recorded as fisheries bycatch in the Southern Ocean. Conservation status is vulnerable.

Blue Petrel

The Blue Petrel inhabits the southern oceans ranging as far north as South Africa, Australia and portions of South America including South Georgia where this photograph was taken. The blue petrel feeds predominantly on krill, as well as other crustaceans, small fish and squid. It can dive up to seven metres in search of food.

White-headed Petrel

White-headed Petrel breed in colonies on islands in the New Zealand region and the South Indian Ocean.
Populations suffer from predation from introduced species such as feral cats and rats on breeding grounds..

Snowy Albatross

The Snowy Albatross has the largest wingspan of any bird on earth. It is the largest of twenty-one albatross species and has the greatest known wingspan of any living bird, reaching up to 3.6 meters (12 feet). Currently listed as vulnerable.

Atlantic Petrel

The Atlantic petrel is a gadfly petrel endemic to the South Atlantic Ocean. The term Gadfly relates to the way the bird weaves in flight. There are thirty five species of petrel.

Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross

A smaller Albatross (mollymack), the Atlantic Yellow-nosed albatross has seen a 50% decline in numbers due to longline fishing. Recent improvements in the long-line fishing techniques has helped but poaching still continues.

Grey-headed Albatross

Note the orange and yellow along the ridge of the bill. Grey-headed Albatross are the species hardest hit by long-line fishing. Most of the young birds when fledged migrate to areas where Japanese fishing fleets operate year round.

Light mantled Albatross

Light mantled Albatross pairs bond for life. Like some other sea birds Light-mantled Albatrosses have a gland above their nasal passages that produces a saline solution to help expel excess salt taken in from sea water while feeding. Light-mantled Albatrosses are one of the species of birds that produce foul-smelling oil in their stomachs that can be used to feed their young, feed themselves during long flights, or can be sprayed out of their mouths to deter predators. Light-mantled Albatrosses are masters of gliding, able to travel thousands of kilometres on wind currents without flapping their wings.

Northern Royal Albatross

Northern Royal albatross (above) can be identified by the dark line seen on the bill. Along with the Snowy Albatross, Northern Royal Albatross are one of the largest seabirds in the world. The southern is slightly larger. At sea it can be distinguished from the northern by its white upper wings with black edges and tips, whereas the upper wings of the northern are completely black.

Antarctic Prion

Estimated population of fifty million, the Antarctic Prions followed the ship for days then disappear only to re-appear a few days later. Like all prions, the Antarctic prion eats primarily zooplankton, which it obtains by filtering water through its upper bill.

The preferred habitat of the Snow Petrel

Snow petrels are almost entirely restricted to cold Antarctic waters and are associated with pack ice, icebergs and ice floes. Flocks are characteristically seen sitting on icebergs.
At sea, snow petrels eat mainly fish, some cephalopods (squid), other molluscs, and euphausiids. They also feed on seal placenta and the carcasses of dead seals, whales and penguins, and occasionally eat refuse on land. Snow petrels do not normally follow vessels.
Snow Petrels are one of three species that have been seen at the Geographic South Pole.

A Chinstrap Penguin colony( top right).

Sailing on the Southern Pacific was an experience I will never forget. I made the most of it spending hours outside in all kinds of weather, watching and waiting, occasionally being rewarded with a new species of Albatross or Petrel. Memories that will last a lifetime.

* For those interested I birded Uruguay for five days before setting sail.