Birds

If you don’t know me by now…

I came for the birds: penguins, albatross, petrel, shearwater. Without the DSLR I couldn’t photograph well any that flew but I did manage to capture those that don’t, aka penguins. But I’m not really a bird photographer person. I just like to see them with my own eyes (enhanced by my waterproof Nikon 8×24, which were perfect for this particular trip). I do keep track of those that I can confidently confirm on my own or with the help of a guide. Those go on my “life list” which I track on Merlin Bird ID. You can see that at the very bottom of this post. There were many that I could not confirm, especially on the open sea. But that’s how it goes. Anyway…enjoy the penguins!

This is called “porpoise-ing” – describing how the Penguins swim a bit like dolphins.

Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins passing each other. The Gentoo is heading to the left; Chinstrap is heading to the sea. You can hear how loud they can be, but you can’t smell them like I did. It’s not a fragrance you’d want to wear.

This is the courting display. Is it working?

Not a graceful water entry but utterly amusing.

This guy was getting too close. Avian Flu is an issue now so we needed to be very mindful and exit quickly. This guy had me boxed in a bit so my video is not that good. Check out his little pink feet though.