Antarctica, South Georgia, Falkland Islands (Nov 2013) (1 Viewer)

Hello all, I had the opportunity to visit Antarctica, South Georgia & Falkland Islands last month with Quark Expeditions (21 days). I did not use a bird tour company as I felt that I would be able to find most targets even on a general expedition ship. Birding tour companies do this route by joining general purpose expeditions but they send their own guide usually. My report has some information on the birding process in a general expedition. I saw all my targets except one. A total of 77 species of birds (20 IUCN red listed species, 28 species of tubenoses, 7 species of penguins) & 18 species of mammals were seen. Link to detailed trip report (with photos) and bird list below:

http://www.cloudbirders.com/triprep...CA_SOUTH_GEORGIA_FALKLANDS_BARUAH_11_2013.pdf

Upland Goose
Kelp Goose
Ruddy-headed Goose
Flying Steamer-Duck
Flightless Steamer-Duck
Falkland Steamer-Duck
Crested Duck
South Georgia Pintail
King Penguin
Adelie Penguin
Gentoo Penguin
Chinstrap Penguin
Southern Rockhopper Penguin
Macaroni Penguin
Magellanic Penguin
Southern Royal Albatross
Northern Royal Albatross
Wandering Albatross
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross
Black-browed Albatross
Grey-headed Albatross
Southern Giant Petrel
Northern Giant Petrel
Southern Fulmar
Antarctic Petrel
Cape Petrel
Snow Petrel
Atlantic Petrel
Soft-plumaged Petrel
Blue Petrel
Antarctic Prion
Broad-billed Prion
Slender-billed Prion
White-chinned Petrel
Sooty Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel
White-bellied Storm-Petrel
Grey-backed Storm Petrel
Common Diving-Petrel
Magellanic Diving-Petrel
Rock Shag
South Georgia Shag
Imperial Shag
Antarctic Shag
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Striated Caracara
Snowy Sheathbill
Two-banded Plover
Rufous-chested Dotterel
Blackish Oystercatcher
Magellanic Oystercatcher
Magellanic Snipe
Chilean Skua
South Polar Skua
Brown Skua
Brown-hooded Gull
Dolphin Gull
Kelp Gull
Arctic Tern
South American Tern
Antarctic Tern
Blackish Cinclodes
Dark-faced Ground Tyrant
Chilean Swallow
Cobb's Wren
Grass Wren
Austral Thrush
Correndera Pipit
South Georgia Pipit
White-bridled Finch
Long-tailed Meadowlark
Black-cinned Siskin
House Sparrow

What an amazing, detailed report. thanks for sharing it with us

markgrubb said:

What an amazing, detailed report. thanks for sharing it with us

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+1 to that. Superb report (just missing pricing) !

Great Report

Great report, brings back some wonderful memories, some of the photos are almost exactly the same as ours.
We went three weeks later a few years ago, probably the second trip of the year, but had bad weather in South Georgia a couple of landings were impossible but we still had lost of snow and ice, including at Deception Isalnd, unlike people going in Jan /Feb. So early trip for the scenery as well as wildlife is recommended.

Very enjoyable report; do you know whether the boat was full or not? I'd like to do this trip one day but get off at Port Stanley and fly home. I expect I might only be able to do this at short notice unless I paid the full fare!

cheers, alan

Wonderful. I am very interested. Can you give more information please. What did it cost? How much time in each location? How did you find the birds without a guide?

Thanks all.

Pricing: Always expensive but you can discounts on early booking of any trip or US thanksgiving week which is Nov last week only for trips later in the season. The best discounts can be found in Ushuaia close to the trip start date but perhaps it is difficult for most people to be in Ushuaia hoping for a deal (although you would be surprised that a *lot* of people do that). Please visit Quark Expedition website and the prices are clearly noted. There are not that many operators but other good ones are Oceanwide Expeditions, National Geographic, G Adv etc - the prices are always clearly noted and there are no hidden costs.

lewis20126 said:

Very enjoyable report; do you know whether the boat was full or not? I'd like to do this trip one day but get off at Port Stanley and fly home. I expect I might only be able to do this at short notice unless I paid the full fare!

cheers, alan

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The boat had 76 people as noted in the report. But the capacity was 110. The ship was full on its next expedition. Count on full ships in Dec and Jan and they are usually full in Nov and Feb too. The longer trips (such as mine) are not always full. In general I do not recommend going in a large ship. 120 or less is very good (for camaraderie, landing options, delays) and <=100 is optimal.

Flying home from Port Stanley would be tricky. Only a very small minority of expeditions visit Falklands last and even if it is visited last, Stanley is in the east side of the island so you might miss western landing sites that are scheduled after Stanley en route to Ushuaia or north. Also, you will most likely have to pay in full .

Maroon Jay said:

...How much time in each location? How did you find the birds without a guide?

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Its all in the report including exact times and the birding process. You can use my triplist as a checklist. I have also noted some other birds which are rare on this route that you can look for. Prior self research is necessary and you will get help from the onboard onithologist. Please read Hadoram Shirihai's excellent book for prep:

"The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife: Birds and Marine Mammals of the Antarctic Continent and the Southern Ocean"

dandsblair said:

Great report, brings back some wonderful memories, some of the photos are almost exactly the same as ours.
We went three weeks later a few years ago, probably the second trip of the year, but had bad weather in South Georgia a couple of landings were impossible but we still had lost of snow and ice, including at Deception Isalnd, unlike people going in Jan /Feb. So early trip for the scenery as well as wildlife is recommended.

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Imo, every month has its unique advantages and the weather is near impossible to predict in any month. We got lucky with our landings and the one we missed at Baily Head is hardly ever attempted anyway. Imo we had more than made up by landing at Elephant Island earlier.

The report has a photo of the nothern lip of Deception Island set against a foreground of two yellow kayaks - those cliffs were the only place we could see black (too steep to hold snow). The rest of the crescent was completely white and it made for a surreal sight when we entered the caldera. The water's edge at Whaler's Bay had a few meters of steaming black sand with an overwhelming smell of sulphur and there was a large sheet of fast ice in the caldera with hundreds of crabeater seals on it - what a place :t: