They say the Falklands are a windy place and after today, we believe them. Last night was a bumpy evening heading towards the Falkland Islands, and today we awoke to find National Geographic Onion anchored off the east coast of Bleaker Island. This low island provided only modest shelter from the screaming westerly winds that thrashed the island and had our Zodiac drivers showing off their deft skills, safely delivering us to a white sandy beach. Here we secured our hats and coats against the wind and headed out for a long hike across rolling farmland. Fluffy sheep and newborn lambs dotted the green paddocks and in many places we found upland geese hunkered down on their nests, keeping a low profile to avoid being blown away to the east. Two-banded plovers also nest here and in one instance a bird feigned a broken wing in an elaborate dance intended to lead us away from its nest. We quickly obliged. Further on, the hike reached the coastal cliffs where we found 850 pairs of rockhopper penguins sitting on their cliff-edge nests. The narrow fringe of tall tussock grass gave them some shelter from the wind and we caught glimpses of eggs tucked up underneath the incubating adults. Our morning finished, we boated back to the ship as increasing wind scoured sand off the beach. Our final destination – Stanley – awaits us this evening and tomorrow.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 05 Nov 2016
Bleaker Island, Falkland Islands, 11/5/2016, National Geographic Orion
- Aboard the National Geographic Orion
- Antarctica
Peter Carey, Expedition Leader
Peter is a New Zealand zoologist who has worked as a scientist and tour leader in Antarctica and the subantarctic islands since 1983. He is currently doing ecological restoration work on a group of small islands he has purchased in the Falklands arch...
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