Antarctica – Albatross

[Antarctican]

There are many varieties of albatross in the Antarctic region. Here are a few shots I got of them (scanned on a really terrible scanner…sorry!)

Black-browed Albatross

Black-browed Albatross chick on nest

Light Mantled Sooty Albatross.

Wandering Albatross soaring offshore

Wandering Albatross nesting

 

[Nix]

i thought antartica was frozen!?

 

[Antarctican]

Tourists visit the Antarctic region during the 'summer', when much of the snow is gone from the beaches and landing areas. And the nesting birds were observed on South Georgia, which is a sub-Antarctic Island (ie north of the Antarctic Circle - 66° 33' 38"). That stop was near the beginning of the trip, as we went all the way down to the Antarctic Continent. On this map, our ship did the red route

 

[Peanuts]

That must have juat been an amazing experience to say the least! All of these look like something that could be seen in biology textbooks. Fantastic work - I am certain you have seen many things in Antartica that many of us well never even come close to seeing!

 

[Antarctican]

^^^ Funny you should say that...when we first pushed aside the tall grasses on South Georgia and saw the nesting Albatross (photo 2), we all remarked how it was like something off of the Discovery Channel. Quite mind-boggling.

The Albatross are really big, with a huge wingspan. On one hillclimb we did, we unknowingly were near a cliffside nest of the light-mantled sooties and they started doing 'fly-bys' to warn us off....you could literally hear a 'zoom' or 'whoosh' sound as they flew by, very fast, with those enormous wings. Amazing stuff.

 

[lostprophet]

#4 is a winner!