Giant Petral

Cooper Bay and Drygalski Fjord

img_1581-2This is a juvenile blue-eyed Cormorant, still in brown plumage. A giant Petral takes off before me. img_1505

 

 

 

Cooper  Bay is a mountainous land carved by glaciers on the Southern end of South Georgia.
Here you’ll find the largest nesting site of Chinstrap penguins on South Georgia.  Can you guess why some of them have pinkish-brown staining? They eat mostly Krill and some Shrimp. These guys laid in guano and need to take a bath.

Cruising along the coast, bumping around kelp festooned boulders and jutting pieces of rock, we found a large group of Macaroni Penguins. Big, soft snowflakes began to fall, making the scene otherworldly. These birds weigh about twelve pounds and stand about 28″ tall. They get their unusual name from 18th century slang for a person who is flamboyant in their dress, rather than having cheesy-noodle crowns.

Just before leaving this large sub-Antarctic island (we aren’t at the continent yet), the captain sailed the ship through narrow (seven miles long) Drygalski Fjord. Glacier scoured mountains soar out of the ocean, blocking the sky. We floated through brash ice, and heard the shot-gun blast of calving ice falling into the water around us.

At the terminal end is  Risting Glacier, named for a Norwegian whaling historian. These pictures were taken from the ship, so try to comprehend the magnitude of the tidal face looming many stories tall and burying almost five miles of terrain.

 

Glowing Gold Harbor

Located on the Southeast side of South Georgia with the Bertrab Glacier hanging over soaring cliffs,img_1287 Gold Harbor is as beautiful as the metal, but not named for it. Instead, the moniker originated from sentimental sealers for the brilliant aura the sun casts on the cliffs in the morning and at sunset.img_1412

Waddling about in the bright green tussock grass are male Gentoo penguins searching for just the right color or shape of rock to offer his beloved(s). Some lonely females swoon with pleasure, when baby penguin daddy takes his turn to feed at sea. Pretty rocks are very tempting.

Drag your eyes from this telenovela, and listen to the crescendo of trumpeting King Penguins . Many stand tipped back on their heels with fur poofing over the egg balanced on their feet. Parents hatch one chick. It takes over a year (14 months) from egg to fledge, that’s a long time for a bird to be a parent. Usually long-lived animals are monogamous, but divorce for King Penguins is high. Time is of the essence when they return to breed. The survival rate for chicks is higher for early hatches. If last years mate is late–there ain’t no date.

Brown, fluffy juveniles hound their parents for food. Another interesting fact: in winter the juveniles live in “creches” and don’t eat when food is scarce, relying on their fat reserves. In spring, the parents resume feeding their young.

Molting makes the kid penguins look a wee rough. Too grungy. Strung out and seeking solace. Many act kind of goofy, running around in circles. Adolescence is hard on everyone, but flipper-flapping is exercise for when they can finally swim.

Closer to the beach, “weaner” elephant seals roar and wrestle, becoming strong too. They’ll be mature in four years, but it takes six to eight before they can fight hard enough to become beachmasters, and control an average harem of 70 cows. Being a ladies man requires hard work, resulting in a short life.

Patrolling the beach are bird predators: Skua (related to gulls) and Giant Petrals, with the illustrious reputation of  ‘vultures of the Antarctic’ for how they gorge on dead carrion.