More Penguins

Saturday October 28th 2023
Bleaker Island - Cruise Expedition Day 6

The Captain managed to depart Stanley at 3am.  The original itinerary was to visit an island off the west coast of West Falkland but the late departure forced us to substitute Bleaker Island here in East Falkland.

Arrived shortly after breakfast and anchored offshore. Wind: 45 knots. Sea: quite a swell with white crests. Fun, though a bit wet, getting ferried ashore by Zodiacs.  Back on board by 1:30pm.

The main attraction was a colony of rockhopper penguins.  They had just started breeding with quite a few pairs observed mating.  At least two eggs were seen.
Other birds were available, including gentoo + macaroni + magellanic penguins, rock shag, imperial shag, two-banded plover, Austral thrush, grass wren, upland geese, skua and a few more too.

Now heading to South Georgia.

Blip images: Main is a rockhopper and the extra is a solitary macaroni penguin in the centre of the colony.