New Island and West Point Island, Falkland Islands
Endeavour lies snuggly in harbor at West Point Island, in the Falkland Islands, and passengers and several of the crew have come ashore for a stroll. It’s an easy two-mile walk from the low, rolling pastures of the leeward side of the island to the steep rocky cliffs on the windward face. Once there, we walk out onto the Devil's Nose, a narrow headland 200 ft above the waves. It is not cold: the air temperature must be 45°F or higher, but there's half a gale blowing, the sea boils below us, and the air is filled with lively, swooping black-browed albatrosses flying every-which-way above their breeding colony.
Brent's picture shows a quiet, sunny corner of the colony, not far from the Nose, but out of the wind. Seemingly in a saner, calmer world, it is a corner shared by dozens of black-browed albatrosses —that is one on the nest to the left —and dozens more rockhopper penguins. The albatross sits on a solid bongo-drum of mud and grass, built by itself and predecessors over several years. A high nest lifts the sitting bird and the egg well above the general level of the colony, which can flood in wet weather. There is no danger of that on this dry spring morning, so he (or possibly she) sits quietly, watching the world go by. Of the three rockhopper penguins, the one in the middle occupies a much simpler nest of grass. She (or possibly he) too has an egg, and the partner stands above, ready to take over incubation when the sitting bird needs a break. Both keep an eye on the rockhopper on the right, who seems to be prospecting for a nest site, and could decide to settle in this corner too.
Endeavour lies snuggly in harbor at West Point Island, in the Falkland Islands, and passengers and several of the crew have come ashore for a stroll. It’s an easy two-mile walk from the low, rolling pastures of the leeward side of the island to the steep rocky cliffs on the windward face. Once there, we walk out onto the Devil's Nose, a narrow headland 200 ft above the waves. It is not cold: the air temperature must be 45°F or higher, but there's half a gale blowing, the sea boils below us, and the air is filled with lively, swooping black-browed albatrosses flying every-which-way above their breeding colony.
Brent's picture shows a quiet, sunny corner of the colony, not far from the Nose, but out of the wind. Seemingly in a saner, calmer world, it is a corner shared by dozens of black-browed albatrosses —that is one on the nest to the left —and dozens more rockhopper penguins. The albatross sits on a solid bongo-drum of mud and grass, built by itself and predecessors over several years. A high nest lifts the sitting bird and the egg well above the general level of the colony, which can flood in wet weather. There is no danger of that on this dry spring morning, so he (or possibly she) sits quietly, watching the world go by. Of the three rockhopper penguins, the one in the middle occupies a much simpler nest of grass. She (or possibly he) too has an egg, and the partner stands above, ready to take over incubation when the sitting bird needs a break. Both keep an eye on the rockhopper on the right, who seems to be prospecting for a nest site, and could decide to settle in this corner too.
