The lives of Antarctic birds are unlike anywhere else in the world
The rugged terrain and unique wildlife ecosystem means there’s a different set of rules for who’s in charge, how they live and who eats whom. From a ship, it’s hard to see much of this happening, but we still managed to see a few glimpses of Antarctic bird life.
Here’s a selection of some of our favourite Bird pictures, followed by a little Antarctic adventure we watched unfold between predator and prey.
Birds Flying High
An Antarctic Shag in flight, a type of cormorant
Antarctic birds don't see people as predators
Water landings look like great fun
Cormorants looking after their young
They seem to ignore everything around them
At distance, cormorants can look like penguins (for a moment)
Picking at seaweed (not human rubbish)
The definition of tranquility . . .
An Antarctic Adventure Story
Life looked deceptively simple for the antarctic terns . . .
But they had babies to protect this time of year
One survival tactic is to hide the nest - can you see it? (Trick question - it's in the rock crack)
The Kelp Gull considers Baby Arctic Tern a tasty delicacy. So not a friend.
This gull seems to have been seen off by the plucky parents, despite the difference in size.
Just to make sure, the tern escorts the gull from the premises
The exhausted parents return home to the oblivious child, who's only interested in food. Not so different to humans then.