ZECO TRAVEL TALK

March with the Penguins

We’ve just returned from what can only be described as a pilgrimage to see “chicks on feet,” the minute, most picturesque, avian youngster of all – the Emperor Penguin. Yes, it was cold. Yes, it was hard. It was also Antarctica in its purest and most elemental form. Temperatures and sea ice this year were the coldest and most extensive since records began in the early 1970s. Even for our 23,000 hp Russian icebreaker, the Kapitan Kblevnikov, getting so far south so early was a huge challenge. The ice eventually stopped us some 40 miles from the colony. During the next two days our helos flew over 2,800 miles to take everyone to the colony and back safely. Considering the distances involved it was the most ambitious and audacious expedition made in recent times to see a bird that is justly named, the “Impossible Penguin.” We spent two days at the penguin colony witnessing one of the greatest spectacles on Earth – Emperor Penguins, “Lords of the Antarctic,” in their icy and ethereal domain. We witnessed firsthand the “March of the Penguins,” the steady stream of adult Emperors making their way from the sea edge to the colony to feed their youngsters, many of whom were still on the feet of adults and provided incredible photo opportunities. Even for those of us who have been to “the deep South” before this will long be remembered as one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, of all Antarctic voyages.

Zegrahm cofounder and seabird expert, Peter Harrison, is working on his next book Seabirds: A Handbook. Peter has written and illustrated over a dozen books, of which Seabirds: An Identification Guide is considered the bible of seabird identification. Peter has shared with us several pages from his manuscript in progress. Below are links to detailed pages on the emperor penguin and the three newly designated species of rockhopper penguin (see Peter’s previous blog post on this subject).

Rockhopper Penguin PDF
Eastern Rockhopper Penguin PDF
Northern Rockhopper Penguin PDF
Emperor Penguin PDF

It is now official, a recently published paper in the journal Polar Biology, confirms what many of us have long suspected, there is more than one species of Rockhopper penguin out there!

For many years debates have raged with many an ornithologist having his feathers ruffled on the topic to split or not to split. The recent paper, by Banks et al. compared the genetic distances between the three Rockhopper subspecies and compared them with such sister species as Macaroni penguins. The results left Banks and his colleagues in no doubt, the three putative Rockhopper subspecies, currently living far apart in different areas of the Southern oceans, should be split into the following three species;

Rockhopper Penguin, Eudyptes chrysocome

Northern Rockhopper, Eudyptes moseleyi

Eastern Rockhopper, Eudyptes filhoi

This change in penguin taxonomy will now increase the number of penguin species from 17 to 19. For all of you that have traveled to Antarctica you will have seen Rockhopper Penguin as this is the species that is now restricted, as a breeding species, to islands off South America and the Falkland Islands. For those of you lucky enough to have traveled with Zegrahm on our historical Steppingstones of the Atlantic voyage, several years ago, you will now be able to check off Northern Rockhopper Penguin, as this was the species that we all saw so wonderfully well on Inaccessible Island. This species is now restricted to the islands of Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island, and St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands in the Indian Ocean. Finally we have the Eastern Rockhopper Penguin which is restricted as a breeding species to Crozet, Kerguelan, Heard, Macquarie, Auckland, Campbell, Bounty, Antipodes, Marion, and Prince Edward Islands. Read more

Is it a loon or a diver? The United States and Britain had different names for the same bird which a new book, 16 years in the making, now standardizes. Until recently it all depended on which side of the pond you were from. A birder from Britain on our current Spitzbergen and White Sea trips would call the duck-like bird paddling around in front of him a Red-throated Diver. To the birder from New York standing at his side however, the same bird would be a Red-throated Loon.

The correct English name for any of the world’s currently recognized species has been the topic of heated debates for many years and has caused much confusion for the entry-level birder. All that has recently changed however with the publication of BIRDS OF THE WORLD, a 272 page compendium that now gives the correct English name to every bird species in existence–10,068, give or take a few, depending on your taxonomic bias. In the case of diver versus loon alas, the English lost out. There are no divers anymore, they are now currently referred to as loons. The Brits also lost out on those Common and Brunnich’s Guillemots some of our travelers were looking at on a recent Fire and Ice Expeditions in Russia. They are now known by their American names Common and Thick-billed Murre. But the American birders also had to make some concessions. Gone for instance is your American Dovekie, it is now known by its British name the Little Auk. Also, your Common Gallinule, as you Americans call the plump, chicken-like swampland bird, is now the Moorhen, a name that we Brits held onto tenaciously. Read more

Wahlenbergfjorden, Spitsbergen to the White Sea

We had a great day again today… Went to a fjord called Wahlenbergfjorden and then up a side arm called Palanderbukta. We did a great walk on a glacier this morning, and in the afternoon we visited some absolutely amazing bird cliffs, Alkejfillet, where there were thousands and thousands of birds. The rock cliffs themselves were spectacular; we saw small chicks dive-bombing into the sea with their dads, then having to learn to swim… all in a couple of minutes. We saw gulls eating chicks… big drama, fast action, and everything you could imagine in this bird colony. In the evening we made a landing to view a large number of walrus and 71 passengers got out there to quietly watch and photograph the walrus. They got really close and had a great look at them.

Liefdefjorden, Spitsbergen to the White Sea

A change of plan turned out to be just what we needed today and we had a fantastic time up in Liefdefjorden where we started the morning with a polar bear sighting… it was eating a seal! We spent some time with him and when he went into the water we continued up the fjord where we found another bear rolling around on a piece of ice. Last night we stopped at Moffen Island after dinner and had a great experience from the ship with a number of walrus.

During the 1982 - 1983 El Nino event, sea surface temperatures were exceptionally high in the entire eastern tropical Pacific. In the seas around the Galapagos, they reached levels as high as 86F. There were dramatic changes which took place in the Islands; waterfalls developed, plant life abounded and the impact of soild erosion was obvious. Beneath the surface of the sea, the population dynamics of many species of fish and invertebrates was also altered. One species of fish that seemed unable to cope with the unusual marine conditions was the Blackspot Damselfish, Azurina eupalama. First described by Edmund Heller and Robert Snodgrass (1903) their illustration of the Blackspot Damselfish, is included the Fishes of the Galapagos (Grove & Lavenberg, 1997).

It has now been twenty five years since the ENSO event of 82-83; there have been no photo or observation records of this damselfish since that time. Is it possible that this species disappeared as a result of an El Nino? Not likely, because it must have survived many similar events throughout it evolutionary history. But if that were the case it would be an important discovery. It sure is fun to look for this “Missing Damsel” during our Zegrahm Expeditions trips to the Islands. If it is the case, that the fish disappeared, it would be the first documented “natural extinction” of a fish caused by an El Nino. During the many, many hours I have spent in the waters leading snorkelers and divers in the Galapagos, in the wake of that historic El Nino, not one of these damsels has been seen. So, if you are going to snorkel or SCUBA in the Galapagos keep an eye out.

As the ornithologist and birding leader for Zegrahm Expeditions, one of my greatest joys is the start of a trip. The air is charged with anticipation with people arriving from all corners of the globe. There are smiles, handshakes, and humorous banter as you meet previous traveling companions and relive previous adventures shared together. However, despite all this fanfare, what you really are eagerly awaiting is the start of the next great adventure.For one couple, Don and Donna, the start of our recent Azores to Gibraltar expedition was filled with even more excitement and anticipation than usual. Keen birders, they have traveled the world in search of birds and had arrived at São Miguel in the Azores on April 13th, 2007, poised to break the 5,000 barrier. For the uninitiated, the 5,000 barrier may not mean that much. However, to a birder it is one of life’s mega-events. Managing to see your 5,000th bird species puts you in a class all on your own. With 10,068 known species that means that you have seen just about half of all of the bird species that inhabit our planet. Read more