Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2019/11/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The next installment of photographs from my South Georgia trip is of birds, mostly sea birds, to be exact, the Albatross and Petrels that roam our oceans. Most of the photographs, except for the last four, have been taken from the boat. Let us start with the king of the oceans, the Wandering Albatross. These are quite remarkable birds, they have been known to fly over 100k km in a year, they seldom touch the ground except to breed, and they have the longest wingspan of any bird - 2.5 to 3.5 metres, as can be seen from this photograph (natural sky, not replaced!!!?) http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191012-16833.jpg.html The most common albatross in this region is the Black-browed Albatross, which can be seen quite easily, and nest in large numbers both in South Georgia and more so in the Falklands: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191013-124.jpg.html Petrels are the scavengers of the oceans. Here are two of the smaller ones: Cape Petrel: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191012-16700.jpg.html Snowy Petrel: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191023-6831.jpg.html The most common large bird that we encounter in the open ocean, and on shore in South Georgia is the Giant Petrel, a formidable and rapacious predator and scavenger, so it is not unusual to have more interesting photographs of this species over any other: Metallic Seas: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191022-5620.jpg.html Sunset: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191022-5876.jpg.html High Seas: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191012-106.jpg.html Take Off: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191022-5221.jpg.html Wingspan: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191015-450.jpg.html Bath Time: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191024-10345.jpg.html The last two photographs are of common species on shore: Kelp Gull: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191022-4905.jpg.html Skua: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/SGF/South+Georgia/South+Georgia-20191022-5293.jpg.html Please see LARGE. Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome. Cheers Jayanand