Danzenbaker Tour Journal: Day Six in South Georgia

January 11: Macaronis for breakfast and a South Georgia farewell
 
The weather forecast was not the greatest, but being hopelessly optimistic we anticipated a landing this morning at Cooper Bay. There is a fairly large Macaroni Penguin colony here that’s hidden in the tussock grass near the south end of South Georgia. Initially, we had planned a landing at the nearby
Chinstrap Penguin colony, but after assessing the difficult combination of a steep sloped beach and healthy swell, we opted for the Macaronis.

Once ashore at 6am, I worked my way upslope to find a pathway through the ever-present fur seals and the tussock to the Macaroni colony. A light snow, which had fallen overnight, blanketed the
bent-over tussock grass making for some slick footing. I was encouraged to see that the colony, which now extends farther up the hill, appears to have grown since last year's visit. However, that meant that a walk across to the other side of the colony would be nearly impossible due to the terrain and the limited amount of time. 

South Georgia Pipit: this endemic, the only passerine on South Georgia, was fairly common at Cooper Bay.

The thick tussock allowed the Macaronis to hide well. Our first glimpses of them were often limited to the sight of a slicked-back yellow crest weaving through curved green vegetation that was heavily accented with white. Throughout our visit, the Macaronis were belting out their vociferous calls, defending territories, renewing pair bonds, or advertising for mates. Many birds were on eggs and a few had very young chicks. Macaronis are fast becoming one of my favorite penguins. I am captivated by the way they hop up hillsides, their bright plumage and their strong personalities. They are quite pugnacious, always ready to defend their turf against interlopers.
 
Sadly, this would be our last landing on South Georgia. Seemingly everywhere we had turned in recent days we faced less than ideal weather and potential landing spots that were being battered by unrelenting swells. Since safety is paramount on these tours, we reluctantly made the wise decision to sail on, departing Cooper Bay and leaving South Georgia. I bade a fond farewell with hopes that I'll return here someday soon. South Georgia is such a magical place and the Cheesemans execute this tour magnificently. I continue to hope that more and more people get the opportunity to experience South Georgia’s abundant wildlife and fantastic scenery.
 
As has been the case on previous trips, seabirds increased in abundance during the first several hours after South Georgia disappeared behind the horizon. Common Diving-Petrels in the thousands,  a small number of South Georgia Diving-Petrels, loads of Antarctic Prions, ever-present Southern Giant and White-chinned petrels and Wilson’s and Black-bellied storm-petrels were everywhere. Blue
Petrels increased and the occasional Light-mantled Sooty and Wandering albatrosses remained with us. The sighting of two Minke Whales, our first whales of the day, was a sign of things to come. 

One look at the shape of a Common Diving-Petrel and it's not hard to understand why they are colloquially referred to as “flying potato birds." These small alcid-like birds were abundant as we left South Georgia. Amazingly, they can fly right through the crest of a wave and pop out the other side without skipping a wingbeat!

The exceptional quantity of marine life that we encountered in this area matched up with the krill abundance map that the researcher had shown us in Gritvyken several nights before, reinforcing that there is a strong correlation between krill abundance and the abundance of seabirds and marine mammals. The seas, which had been turbulent when we left South Georgia, became gradually calmer, thus whale-viewing conditions improved steadily throughout the day. By day's end we had tallied an amazing number of whales, including 2 Minkes and 37 Fin whales, some of which came close enough to the ship that we could see their white lower right jaws. Additionally, seven Kerguelan Petrels (a visitor to these waters from 4000 miles to the east) were seen – more than the combined average for the two-day crossing to the Orkneys from previous trips.
 
Lectures were also on the schedule since we would spend all day at sea. The presentations included photo workshops on Antarctica and the Natural History of Antarctica. I applauded Rod Planck and Doug Cheeseman for their excellent presentations. I gave my third in a series of seabird identification talks. Happily, it was well received as well. In the aftermath of the usual full dinner, sleep came rather easily.
 
All photos by Jim Danzenbaker