Oh there will be high winds tomorrow and it will be bumpy in the plane — haha.
So I did not sleep well, though i slept through the high winds of darkness. By 10 am, 'twas normal Falkands weather ie windy. A minor indignity was standing on the scales to determine the trim of the a/c. The small twin prop plane with ear plugs nestling in the redundant ash trays took off from Stanley airport to Saunders Island.
Saunders Island 51o22'S 60o05'W population 5 pers plus visitors
A smooth flight and then the wide gravel strip of Saunders. We kissed the earth with the wheels and I felt like kissing the earth myself. Then a 10 mile landrover trek taking one hour to reach The Neck. In the Landy were Paul from Poland, our host, we two and an PhD student from the US studying the Striated Caracara of this island.
Superb location on the neck with all 4 local penguins
- Gentoo
- Rockhopper
- Magellanic
- King
In addition to
- Black Browed Albatross
- Striated Caracara (Johnny Rook)
- Giant Petrel
- Kelp Gull
- Upland Goose
- Rock Cormorant
- Kelp Goose
Hot and sunny here, so high factor sunblock slapped on and off to try out my 400mm Canon L lens for real.
Back for our evening meal with the Caracara tiptoeing across the corrugated roof of the hut — must have been extras for Alfred Hitchcock
