Bleaker Island 1st November 2016 

We were due to fly from Sea Lion Island to Bleaker Island but the actual time of the flight kept changing so deciding on what to do for the half of morning that you had free whilst also trying to be at the runway on time was a testing time.So we walked down to the beach to see the elephant seals.

A young male elephant seal

Me near an adult male but I won't go any closer.

 The scientists were still hard at work

 A selfie with a harem near the dunes in the background

 A Southern Giant Petrel next to an adult elephant seal

 Caracaras eating and squabbling over a dead tagged seal ( we took a note of the number and details to report it).

 A Turkey Vulture with a bird all to it's self.

 A sleepy harem of elephant seals

 Something that had missed our attention until it ran to the sea for safety, a Sea Lion.

 We were back at the `lodge just in time to see roland and Irene take off on the early morning flight.

 An elephant seal bellowing it's call

 A young pup fitted with an electronic transmitter

 A female just dozing on the beach

 Me taking tag details

 That sleepy female snoring into the water

 A new born pup with Caracaras circling not for the pup but for some of the afterbirth

 At some time after lunch our figs airplane arrived and we met Phillip and Shona who we had first met as we left Carcass Island a few days before. We were soon up and away and flew over long Pond, doing a tight turn and over the coast for the ten minute flight to Bleaker Island.

 The settlement at Bleaker Island and our house, the large one to the right of the photo and the all important shearing shed, the large building at the bottom of the photo.

 We landed and were taken the few kilometres to our house to drop our bags off.

Then Fran and I were taken on an orientation drive across the centre of the island and left to make our  own way back hopefully in time for dinner.There were Gentoo and Magallenic penguin colonies and a highway of penguins making the journey to or from the sea.

 Their aim was the near side end of a beautiful white beach

 We watched as they dived in  or stood on the beach to dry off.

And of course took hundreds of pictures

 They time their approach just right to coincide with a wave and if it is not right, they got back out to sea and try again so there are always some dark shapes along the shore line.

 Penguins are super fast under water and getting the right moment when then jump out of the surfs difficult

 We wandered along the beach and sometimes you just have to be incredibly lucky to get a good shot

There was another penguin exit point near another colony albeit much smaller but it was on our way to a cliff top location where there were Rockhoppers and shags a little way beyond a broad bay.  A got a good picture of a pair of Rockhoppers just changing shifts to sit on their sole egg.   

 The cormorant or shag colony.

Then there was a strange sight of shags nesting on the ground in an open aspect whereas they usually prefer to nest on the edge of cliffs. This site was also largely empty and there were a lot of empty nests.

 Then later that evening it was tie for sunset shots across broken quays, abandoned wheels, great landscapes and of course trying to get the bird flying past the sunset shot.