South Georgia Island and the Falklands- in benefit of the South Georgia Heritage Trust - #

Please note: all proceeds from purchases of prints for this collection are donated to the South Georgia Heritage Trust for rat eradication to protect this important environment!

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These "billing" Black-browed Albatross are in the dance. Falkland Islands. This species is listed as Endangered because it is estimated to be declining at a very rapid rate over three generations (65 years) on the basis of current rates of decline at the large breeding colonies in the south-west Atlantic. These declines have been attributed to the impact of incidental mortality in longline and trawl fisheries, similar to the Wandering Albatross which is nearly twice its size. Colonial nesters, these birds forage quite a distance at sea before returning to feed their mates and chicks.

Stepping into the light of a new dawn, these king penguins greeted our arrival as they set out on a fishing trip. The sunlight was brief, and we had all kinds of weather while ashore. St Andrews bay, South Georgia Island.

A light snowfall greeted these two King Penguins back to shore. I marveled the entire time of this trip on both how quickly weather would change, and how clear and aqua colored the water was. Penguin beaks have unusual properties as it turns out: they reflect ultra violet light (UV) in ways which attract mates. (Birgitta Dresp,1 Pierre Jouventin,1 and Keith Langley2)

A favorable light and blue background! These king penguins were exiting the surf - nice and clean from their time in the water. There are about 400,000 breeding pairs of King Penguins on South Georgia, and the population of these birds has increased about 5% per year over the past 80 years, according to the South Georgia website.

Molt nearly finished, this King Penguin eyes me up. Like all birds, King Penguins molt - and in the Antarctic, the energy requirements are substantial. Adult king penguins annually fast ashore for 1 month for molting. By the end of molt, they have lost 44% of their prefasting body mass. About 18% of new feather synthesis occurs at sea, thus reducing both nutrient requirement and fasting duration. Credit for research, and for further information: "Energy and protein requirements for molt in the king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus."
Cherel Y, Charrassin JB, Challet E.

Wandering Albatross Chick, South Georgia Island (Prion Island). This chick is nearly fledged, and is testing its feathers in the high winds, rain and snow. According to Wikipedia: Procellariiformes (Tube-nosed birds) is an order of seabirds that comprises four families: the albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, storm petrels, and diving petrels. They are almost exclusively pelagic (feeding in the open ocean).The Wandering Albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird, typically ranging from 2.51 to 3.5 m (8 ft 3 in to 11 ft 6 in), with a mean span of 3.1 m (10 ft 2 in). The biggest threat to their survival is long-line fishing hooks.

King and emperor penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus and Aptenodytes forsteri) are the only species of marine birds so far known to reflect ultraviolet (UV) light from their beaks. (NIH National Library of Health and Medicine, Birgitta Dresp,1 Pierre Jouventin,1 and Keith Langley2,*) in an apparent way to enhance attraction of mates. There is a "structural basis arising from microstructures that manipulate light within the reflecting tissue."

These "billing" Black-browed Albatross are in the dance. Falkland Islands. This species is listed as Endangered because it is estimated to be declining at a very rapid rate over three generations (65 years) on the basis of current rates of decline at the large breeding colonies in the south-west Atlantic. These declines have been attributed to the impact of incidental mortality in longline and trawl fisheries, similar to the Wandering Albatross which is nearly twice its size. Colonial nesters, these birds forage quite a distance at sea before returning to feed their mates and chicks.