December 22, 2024
Our visit to Port Stanley allowed us to see four of their five penguin species. (The macaroni penguins did not make an appearance.) To get there, we rode in an off-road caravan of 4-wheel drive vehicles forging a path through the terrain.
Our journey began at the small port where we tendered in.
Not too far from the docks, we were assigned our car. Our young driver, Kristin, (a year younger than our son, Jordan!) was a great guide. He was driving his fiancée's car so was being extra careful with it. Our journey began on a paved road past the small mountains where the Argentian soldiers fought in the Falklands War between Great Britain and Argentina.
Our guide pointed out the remains of a downed helicopter left over from the war. Luckily, they have cleared out all the land mines that had also been left over. However, it took almost 40 years with the last land mines being cleared in 2020.
The Falkland Islands are largely bare of trees, consisting mostly of grass, shrubs and rocks. However, there are occasional tree farms attempting to provide some source of wood for the islands.
Although there was no traffic, the roads can be hazardous with not a lot of visibility with the bends in the roads.
Before too long we passed Port Louis near the property we would traverse to see the penguins.
We got out to stretch our legs before heading off road. Their was some Christmas bush blooming on the ground.
Then we were off, playing follow the leader as she paved a trail through the hilly terrain. Our guide let us know that they scout out the best paths before each tour.
We had our first stuck car on the way their (luckily not ours!). Kristin helped hitch it to another vehicle who pulled it out.
Our first penguin stop was amazing. The rockhoppers were intermixed with king cormorants. At first, I couldn't see the penguins as they were dwarfed by the larger cormorants. Can you see the penguins?
Distinctive features of the royal, or imperial, cormorant are the blue eye ring, the bright yellow knob around the beak, and its pink webbed feet. Unlike most cormorants, they do not need to dry their wings because of the waterproof barrier given by their dense under foliage - a must in the freezing Antarctic waters.
It was fun watching them fly down.
Many of the cormorants were busy adding material to their nests.
However, this one seemed to have trouble finding its own nest at first. (Unless it had just finished stealing the material- something these sneaky birds do at times.)
Others were busy grooming themselves and their partners.
Rockhopper penguins often share breeding sites with the king cormorants. This combination decreases the number of predators who approach the colonies.
The chicks were fun to watch. Some were lovingly tended by an adult penguin.
Others were gathered together in creches with just a few adults nearby while their parents went out searching for food.
This rockhopper wandered away from the others to a little stream.
We also saw other birds. The snowy sheathbill likes to nest near penguins. They are often thieves, stealing the food from the penguins - even when they are feeding their babies.
Although rare on the continent of South America, the ruddy-headed goose is fairly common on the Falkland Islands.
We then headed to our next penguin stop. On the way we saw some sheep. There are more sheep than people on the Falklands.
We had to cross a shallow pond to reach the penguins.
I was excited because the king penguins were there! They aren't always as their breeding colony is in another location on the island. Here they are with some Magellanic penguins.
There were also several gentoo penguins, so the only penguin we didn't see today was the macaroni penguin.
The Magellanic penguins were named after the Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, who was the first European sailor to cross from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the straits now known as the Straits of Magellan. They are easily recognizable because of the unique pattern of white feathers forming a crescent moon on their heads and the horsehoe of black feathers on their white chests.
Gentoo penguins can be recognized by their bright orange beaks and feet, as well as the white splotch at the top of their heads.
For about 150 years, naturalists believed king penguins were the largest penguins in the world after they were discovered in the early 18th century. Then in the mid 19th century, explorers encountered the emperor penguins. The two species are close relatives, both sporting the distinctive yellow-orange ear patches and towering over the other penguins. However, in addition to being shorter than the emperors, the kings are a little thinner and have larger flippers compared to their body size. Their ear patch colors are slightly different as well. The king's patches are more orange than yellow (although not as orange as their beaks) and surrounded by black feathers, although their chest patch is on white feathers like the emperor's.
When penguins preen, they release a special oil that keeps their feathers waterproof so they don't freeze in the bitter cold waters near Antartica.
The king penguins were molting. Like all penguins, kings undergo a "catastrophic molt" once a year where they lose all of their feathers. For the kings, this process takes 4 weeks during which time they can't eat because they can't swim to get food. They lose half their body weight, including all their fat reserves and quite a bit of muscle as well.
On the hill above the king penguins, was a colony of gentoo penguins, many of whom were on their nests. One nesting penguin appears quite upset with the dolphin gull. The dolphin gulls are not a threat, only an irritation as they only take small scraps and the penguin poop. The babies who were visible here had grown out of their puffball stage and looked like mini gentoos.
We then wandered down to the beach where we saw all 3 species of penguins.
It was fun to watch the penguins in the water.
We also saw a family of geese and an oyster catcher.
The rocky beach also had shells and other sea animal remains.
On the ride up the hill to collect the other couple from the restroom, we passed by the gentoo colony.
It was a beautiful view from the top of the hill.
Our final stop was to another gentoo penguin colony. This was a protected colony so we had to stay in the car.
On the way back, we admired the different shades of colors in the grass.
Our journey back was slowed by several "bogging" incidents when vehicles got stuck, including Kristin's father-in-law who very rarely has to be rescued from the mud. Whoever has to be rescued owes a case of beer to his rescuers. Kristin took good care of his fiancée's
vehicle though and we didn't get stuck once (though there was one time we came close).
We took more time to admire the stone runs on our way back. Although Charles Darwin theorized these "streams of stone" were caused by earthquakes, modern geologists favor a theory that they were caused by repeated freezing and thawing that began in the last Ice Age.
The Falklands are very windy islands and they make use of this by installing windmills to help generate electricity.
We didn't have time for the planned city tour on the way back, but Kristin did point out some sites as we hurried back to make the last tender.
The houses in Stanley typically are white with red or green roofs.
The Christ Church Cathedral is the southernmost Anglican church in the world. Next to it is the Whalebone Arch made of the jawbones of two blue whales. It was built in 1933 to celebrate 100 years of continuous British rule in the Falkland Islands. (The Falkland War in the 1980s was fought with Argentina contested this rule, claiming the Falkland Islands were part of their territory.)
When we arrived back at the tender port, there were southern sea lions and turkey vultures hanging out.
Brent got up in the middle of the night and took this beautiful moonrise. It doesn't really get dark in late December this far south.