Seabirds

As I’m sure you can imagine, I get to see quite a few seabirds out here in the South Atlantic. I just wasn’t prepared for how many I’d see. There are THOUSANDS. We’re in the Loligo fishing grounds at the moment and it’s pretty much the height of the season so there are quite a few trawlers around, each with their own contingent of seabirds. That makes for a lot of birds.

Now, when I say seabirds I don’t mean scrawny seagulls like you get in Weston! Admittedly, there are a few seagulls, but they are vastly outnumbered by the albatrosses. The majority are black-browed albatrosses (Diomedea melanophris):

but there also northern and southern giant petrels (Macronctes halli and M. giganteus) (I can’t tell the difference yet)

and cape petrels (Daption capense) in abundance.

There are also quite a few royal albatrosses (Diomedea epomophora) around which amazing and have, according to my bird book, a larger wingspan than wondering albatrosses.

Royal albatrosses are huge birds which can be spotted a mile off, literally. They have a white body and when you see them head-on their wings seem to disappear except for the very tips which are black.

I can’t describe what so many albatrosses in one place is like, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s two!