Falkland Islands - Beaver Island, New Island

Friday, 6 March 2020

Our trip is coming to an end. Today is our last day of excursions, then we spend all of tomorrow at sea towards Ushuaia.

Our first stop of the day was Beaver Island. This island has not been visited by tour/expedition ships and was a totally new experience for the ship's crew, naturalists, and, of course, passengers. We passed through two small "settlements" (hardly worthy of the term "colony") of gentoo penguins on our way to the cliffs.

A Patagonian gray fox was lurking in the grass behind the gentoos. An adult penguin is too large for the fox to take down.

The penguins know that the fox is not a threat to adults, and at this time of the year, there are no vulnerable eggs or chicks. Several molting gentoos are in the background.

Cliffs on the Atlantic side of Beaver Island.

For our afternoon excursion we repositioned to a protected harbor on New Island, not far from Beaver Island. It is the westernmost inhabited island in the Falklands, and thus the closest to Ushuaia. A wrecked ship is prominent at the landing.

Looking back down the easy trail to the landing beach and ship.

A short walk from the settlement and small museum brought us to the Atlantic Ocean side where there is a black-browed albatross rookery. This is a chick molting into adult plumage.

The island is also noted for its rockhopper penguin colony. The yellow tags label individual rockhopper nests that are the subject of research by an active research group on the island.

Turkey vultures in the high tussock grass near the penguin and albatross rookeries.

The tussock grass grows much taller in the Falklands than it does on South Georgia - a testament to the milder climate in the Falklands.

The striated caracara, also known as the "Johnny Rook".

The striated caracara in flight.