Snow Petrels

tony
August 23, 2015
Antarctica / biology / birds

Snow Petrel flying near an iceberg. There was a small flock sitting on this berg as this one flew by

Snow Petrels are a delight. Their pure white plumage and buoyant flight make this little petrel unique. They occur in areas of abundant ice and seldom north of 55 degrees south, so Crystal Sound was a great place to see them. They are the smallest of the fulmarine petrels and, with the South Polar Skua, have the southernmost breeding range of any bird, breeding on cliff faces of the Antarctic mountains up to 440km inland. They are also one of only three species that have been found at the South Pole.

We first noticed them off in the distance flying around large icebergs after we had crossed the Antarctic Circle and saw one flying relatively close when on the Zodiac at Detaille Island. Heading into Crystal Sound we saw a flock on a large iceberg as we passed relative close to it and then as conditions calmed we saw a number flying and occasionally dipping down to the water surface to catch a prey item before pattering off over the surface. Edin and I were determined to get some flight shots but found it challenging as they didn’t approach the ship very closely and were hard to focus on and track being pure white blobs again white blobs of ice in a blue sea. We were quite obsessed with our mission so when the announcement of German sausages and beer on the aft deck came though on the speaker system it took only a brief understanding glance to agree that we weren’t leaving the bow.

We found ourselves alone with only the birds for company and they began approaching more and more closely allowing us some lovely flight shot opportunities. I was lucky to also get sequences of two dropping down for prey, one catching a Krill and one a fish from the surface which it then took to a nearby ice floe to swallow. One flew so close to us over the bow it felt as though we could have just reached up and touched it. It was a quite incredible experience to see them so close and see them feeding and we were buzzing with excitement when two of the naturalists, Doug Gualtieri and Bud Lehnhausen, having noticed how unusually close the Snow Petrels were flying, arrived with their cameras and challenged us to get sharp flying shots, which we already had.

Snow Petrel taking off after catching a Krill. The Petrel name is from St. Peter and the ability to “walk on water” as this one demonstrates

I am lucky to have had a number of exciting bird photography moments including a Blue Duck solo camping expedition in New Zealand, three days of 4 a.m starts to get a Little Kingfisher in Australia and a couple of Vulture Adventures with Edin at Giants Castle in South Africa, but this experience sits at the top of the list. It was very special to have a moment of shared wonder and excitement with Edin and the “Angels of Antarctica” at the end of the earth.

The next item on the agenda was a toast to Ernest Shackleton (“The Boss”) to celebrate the centennial of his expedition. The toast was made with a dram of Mackinlay’s replica based on three bottles of recovered whisky from the expedition. It seemed a fitting way to celebrate the amazing day we had experienced, little knowing there was more to come.