ZECO TRAVEL TALK

Mark Brazil, a longtime Zegrahm leader and lecturer, has just put the finishing touches on his new book—The Birds of East Asia—which describes and illustrates all of the birds of the region within a single volume for the first time.

In a recent email to the office, Mark wrote: “I have been living a week chained to my computer—the final proofs of my book arrived and I have had to put everything on hold until I could complete checking every aspect of text, map and plate. It has been like being in a pressure cooker! But it’s finally finished and on its way to the printer…”

The identification guide includes 985 species of birds of eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and northeast Russia—the residents, migrants, and vagrants. The elegant illustration plates (236 of them) were contributed by an international team of artists.

The book will be available in January.

http://sites.google.com/site/birdsofeastasia/

Nobody could have imagined a more perfect start to our Antarctica, South Georgia & Falkland Islands adventure. As we set sail from Ushuaia, heading east toward the Falklands, the sky was blue, the bay surrounded by snow-capped peaks, and the waters of the Beagle Channel were smooth and calm. Our day at sea disappeared far too quickly as we became acquainted with our ship, Le Diamant, her wonderful crew, and exquisite French cuisine.

We awoke this morning to another day of sunshine and calm seas and set out to explore Bleaker Island with a short hike that revealed two penguin species. Our first encounter was with the Magellanic penguins and their underground burrows, followed by rockhoppers. We delighted in watching as the surf swept them up among the rocks and they scrambled onto the rocky ledges of their nesting sites. It’s clear that these are tough little creatures! The birding enthusiasts were also thrilled to view the rock and king shag colonies.

After lunch on board we set out to explore Sea Lion Island. As the zodiacs rode up onto the beach, we novice Antarctic travelers were surprised that the giant boulders dotting the beach were, in fact, male elephant seals. We spent the afternoon energetically exploring the island—from stumbling through Falkland tussock which stands more than 6 feet high, and immediately makes you lose all sense of direction.. to standing in awe at a gentoo penguin colony, frantically photographing the chicks that had hatched just a few days earlier. Our day in the Falklands culminated with tea, coffee and fresh baked biscuits at the island’s lodge. Thrilled with the adventures of the day, we returned to the ship for good night’s sleep.