Sea Lion Island Monochromes

Apr9

5th to 8th November 2015. Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands.

The entrance to Port Howard inlet in West Falkland and the mountains beyond.

It was wild weather on Sea Lion Island, particularly to the south of the island.

A silvery grebe in a sheltered pond.

The king cormorants were washed out of their earlier roost and had to decamp to higher ground.

Now at the quieter end of the island where some were oblivious, including this bull elephant seal.

Kelp geese.

The beachmaster arrives…

… and heads for a female…

Back in the south of the island, with king cormorants and wild weather.

Ole Jørgen Liodden cleaning his lens in the wild wind and spray.

North end of the island again. Elephant seal portrait.

An encounter on a beach…

Kelp and sand.

A dash of a gentoo penguin…

A cruise ship in Stanley harbour.

Rockhopper penguins.

Pebble Island Monochromes

Apr1

1st to 5th November 2015. Pebble Island, Falkland Islands.

Somehow it seems almost heretical these days to show wildlife in mono, yet mono wildlife can often be commanding in its own right. Though there are colour versions of these images in previous posts, sometimes we may need to forget about the colour image.

Striated cara cara.

Turkey vulture.

Striated cara cara.

Rockhopper penguins.

Skuas with penguin egg.

King Cormorant.

Upland geese.

Yellow-billed teals (not that you can tell).

Falklands war wreckage.

Coastal panorama.

Striated cara cara.

Flightless steamer ducks.

Rockhopper penguin colony.

Rockhopper penguin and egg.

North end of the island with the weather turning wild.

Returning to the homestead.

South American terns diving for marine food in the waves by the shore in late afternoon light at high tide.

Storeroom in the old farm.

Sheep pens in the old farm.

Tractor ready to go (almost).

Return to the Wild South of Sea Lion Island

Mar5

4th November 2015. Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands.

On Sea Lion Island I met up with a small group of Norwegian Photographers led by Ole Jørgen Liodden of Wildphoto. I had previously met Ole on the plane from Santiago to Mount Pleasant Airport (East Falkland) and we were all due to join the ship on the voyage to South Georgia Island in a few days.

Ole asked me if I had seen anything interesting in my quick tour of the island and I told him of the wild conditions at the south end of the island so we all headed off there in two or three four wheel drives.

Juvenile King Cormorant.

The sea was thundering into an inlet and throwing up spray high into the air as well as a rainbow.

And here is the King Cormorant colony in a rare moment with little spray, though the wind was no doubt unabated.

The sea was wild in the background, the spray carried for a long way and you had to be careful not to be blown over by the wind.

The birds in the sky are a mixture of the more drab juvenile King Cormorants and adults in their magnificent finery.

A lone dolphin gull over the colony. The birds stand with their heads tucked away due to the force of the winds.

And the force of the waves is amazing. The ocean is a long way down.

Not a good place for swimming. Awesome power in the waves.

There were a few rockhopper penguins there too.

A challenging environment for photography. Cleaning of the front element would be happening here.

This is Ole Jørgen Liodden.

I must have walked a bit further north from Rockhopper Point and the HMS Sheffield Memorial (HMS Sheffield was a destroyer sunk near here by an Exocet missile in the Falklands War). The point in middle distance is part of Sea lion Island but it must be Rum Island in the background.

Striated cara cara in the spray.

Dolphin gulls over the cormorants and photographers in the background.

Ole was using two Nikon D5s with Beta firmware during this trip and there is a review of the D5 on his blog which includes images from the Falklands and South Georgia.

Sea Lion Island – Quick Tour

Feb20

3rd November 2015. Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands.

On arriving at Sea Lion Island, I opted for a quick tour of the island in a four-wheel vehicle. There was just myself and a couple as well as the driver.

There were some wild seas.

… and they were washing in and out of the hole in the cliff.

Silvery Grebe.

The south end of the island was receiving the brunt of the storm.

The King Cormorants had been washed out of their lower roosting position and had to take refuge further up.

There was a wild wind but I was able to photograph from the quiet and comfort of the passenger seat of the four wheel drive.

Back at the Lodge in the east part of the island, I went for as walk before dinner. This is an elephant seal arriving on the beach.

The seas were a bit wild at this end of the island too.

Magellanic Penguin.

This is the Gentoo Penguin Road. Stretching from the beach in the far left distance…

… past where I was standing to their colony.

Here is the far point and the Penguin Road in the middle foreground.

And a bit further on they cross some shallow water to get to the beach.

Dominican Gull in front of the wild sea.

Flightless steamer ducks.

Gulls wheeling in the air.

An elephant seal coming in to shore and announcing his arrival.

Probably the same one. There were lots of elephant seals on Sea Lion Island but no sea lions at this time.

A harem of elephant seals stretched out on the beach.

A couple of young ones practicing for their adult contests.

Snuggling in the seaweed.

Peacefully sleeping on the beach. Note the traces of blood though on the neck. There have been some territorial contests going on.

King Cormorants (Pebble Island)

Jan5

1st November 2015. Pebble Island, Falkland Islands.

A colony of King Cormorants, the Falklands Island subspecies of Imperial Cormorant, or alternatively there may be many separate species. This is probably Sturgees Point, at the south west of Pebble Island.
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