Antarctica Voyage Day 2 – 20 December 2015, The Falklands, Sea Lion Island

Antarctica Voyage Day 2 – 20 December 2015, The Falklands, Sea Lion Island

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on The Vavilov

Our first evening on board,  we got used to sea watching from a ship.  It was great to see so many Black-browned Albatross and Wilson’s Storm Petrels.  It’s funny because I have seen both of these birds in the UK, on the other side of the world.  The weather was beautiful and the sea very flat calm.

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Zodiac boat

Our first morning on our boat, The Vavilov, was brilliant.  We first got kitted up and ready for our first landing.  We got onto our Zodiac boat, to get to shore on Sea Lion Island.  As we landed, there was quite a swell and I got completely covered in water, so it was good that I was wearing the boat’s waterproof clothing and wellies (rubber boots).  My soaking was soon forgotten as we took in the penguins and other birds.  After watching the Gentoo Penguins for a few minutes, we moved on to find our main targets.  First was Striated Caracara, then Blackish Cinclodes and then after a walk up the beach to a secluded spot, we found our much sort after Cobb’s Wren, a Falklands endemic.

We then had fantastic views of enormous Elephant Seals, which I kept a safe distance from.  Last year a passenger was lying on the ground to get good photos and didn't notice the Elephant Seal racing towards him, until it was too late and it and taken a big chunk out of his shoulder. Fortunately there was a vascular surgeon on board, who could operate. It was something I was not going to risk. The Elephant seals were stunning. Most of them were just lying around lazily, but some were play-fighting.

Elephant Seal

Elephant Seal

Gentoo Penguin

Back in search of penguins, we took our time to watch the hundreds of Gentoo Penguins, the lower numbers of Magellanic Penguins and two King Penguins which were lost but settled in the colony. There was a colony of Rockhopper Penguins also on the island, but because of the swell we couldn't go to visit them. We tried to scope them but had no luck locating any, so we were feeling a bit sad that we might have completely missed these colourful birds.

We were back on the boat for lunch and then spent the afternoon and evening sea watching.  At the end of the day we finally saw a Southern Royal Albatross, two Rockhopper Penguins close in to the boat and two Grey-backed Storm Petrel. It was uplifting to see the penguins so well, after thinking we had missed them.

Best birds and animals on Sea Lion Island:

Gentoo Penguin

Magellanic Penguin

King Penguin

Striated Caracara

Turkey Vulture

Blackish Cinclodes

Cobb's Wren

Dark-faced Ground Tyrant

Kelp Goose

Ruddy-headed Goose

Upland Goose

Falkland Steamer Duck

Black-browed Albatross

Falkland Skua (subspecies of Brown Skua)

Elephant Seal

Best birds from ship:

Black-browed Albatross

Southern Royal Albatross

Brown Skua

Southern Giant-petrel

Sooty Shearwater

White-chinned Petrel

Wilson’s Storm Petrel

Thin-billed Prion

Grey-backed Storm Petrel

Rockhopper Penguin

About the Writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 13 year old young birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and is looking forward to watching Penguins in Antarctica in a week (arriving on 22 December 2015), which will be her 7th continent. 

Mya-Rose is a Bristol European Green Capital 2015 Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol 2015 Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter