[Leica] South Georgia 1

[montoid at earthlink.net (Montie)]

Excellent work! 

Montie

>>South Georgia is one of the most amazing places I have ever visited
for sheer profusion of wildlife - the only comparable place I can
think of is the Serengeti ecosystem. Our first landing was on
Salisbury Plain, unfortunately on a dreary, foggy day - one can only
imagine how wonderful this place must be in sunlight! During the 5
minutes of sunshine we had the entire day, I got this from my balcony
on the ship:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Panoramas/antarcticpanos_001/Antarctica_20140111_2409.jpg.html

When you get on shore, you see this - this is around 75% of the colony:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Panoramas/antarcticpanos_001/Salisbury-Plain-Pano.jpg.html

There are an estimated 100,000 breeding pairs of King Penguins in this
colony. Of course, with so much life around, you get various behaviour
- the difficulty is always in isolating it in the din and stench of
the milling hordes! You have exultant ones, announcing their presence
in no uncertain terms:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2458.jpg.html

Pairs going about late season romance - King Penguins have one of the
most complicated breeding cycles amongst birds - it takes around 14
months, so at any time of the year, breeding goes on - it is not
restricted to any particular season:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2834.jpg.html

There are moulting birds everywhere. King Penguins moult at once -
they lose and grow all their feathers at the same time, so cannot go
into water or feed for the six weeks it takes:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2451.jpg.html

There are fledglings at every stage of the process:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2709.jpg.html

You have moulting Elephant Seals peeking with their limpid eyes from
clumps of Tussock Grass:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2920.jpg.html

Fur Seal bulls, on the beach, guard their harems with a wary eye:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2442.jpg.html

Other Fur Seal youngsters sharpen up their skills with mock fights:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2786.jpg.html

Finally, there are those who need to disconnect once in a while:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/antarctica/Antarctica_20140111_2526.jpg.html

Please see LARGE

Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome

Cheers
Jayanand