King Penguins

Hi.
It has been quite a while since my last post on Albatross  It has been a busy time here on this magnificent island. We have had 13 tourist vessels visit Macquarie Island over the summer. The reaction from the tourists who come ashore at the station, Sandy Bay or a viewing from zodiacs off Lusitania is always the same. They are astounded by the wildlife.

Previously I have inserted the following text…..

"The little island is one of the wonder spots of the world. It is the great focus of the seal and bird life in the Australian sub-Antarctic regions, and is consequently of greater significance and importance in the economy of that great area than its small dimensions suggest"       Sir Douglas Mawson, 1919

As my time on the island is coming to an end, I will endeavour to complete some posts on the wildlife - starting with the King penguin

King penguins at Sandy Bay approximately 8 km south of the station on the East Coast

Albatross

     "A good south wind sprung up behind: The Albatross did follow"
                                              (From the Rime of The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

There is nothing more special then to see a wandering albatross in effortless flight. On all voyages that I have been on the Aurora Australis, there has been albatross flying around and with the ship. I have spent so much time on the decks watching these magnificent birds.

They have the greatest wingspan of any bird - up to 3.4 metres (12ft ) - get a measuring tape and see how large that is). They can glide with the ocean winds for hours at a time without flapping their wings.
On the AA some followed us for days.

A couple of weeks ago, while on a boating trip down the east coast, their were a number of black browed albatross that flew silently over the calm ocean.

Black browed albatross just off Landing Beach (photo - Barend Becker)

Orca encounter

Hi,
Welcome back after the Christmas and New Year break. It has been an amazing few weeks here on Macquarie Island.

One of the many spectacular sights on the island is that of a killer whale (Orincus orca), commonly know as an orca. 

Just a couple of days ago I was on field trip (another story) with Clive (the doctor). We were walking back to station from Brothers Point hut, where we had spent the night. We walked along the east coast, sometimes on a grey/black sandy beach, then at other times over larger rocks and pebbles. Some parts of the route along the east coast are along some very rugged coast, usually the extension of a ridge off the escarpment right up to the waters edge.

It was as we were scrambling over some large boulders that we happened to glance out to sea. About 50 metres offshore a large dorsal fin broke through the crystal clear water.

Large male orca seen off the east coast on Monday the 7th of January 2014