TEL AVIV, ISRAEL- Though cuddly and wobbly and down-right adorable, penguins aren’t the only birds that Antarctica has to offer. Birds are one of the more common types of animals that inhabit our world. Just like anywhere else in the world, Antarctica has several species of birds. Accompanied by the expedition ornithologist (bird expert) Santiago Imberti, we learned about the many interesting species of birds in Antarctica. Apparently, there are birds in Antarctica that aren’t penguins.
After leaving Ushuaia, our ship, we started seeing many different species of sea birds. In the Drake Passage, there are many species of birds. Every day during the crossing of the Drake Passage we conducted a bird survey. In the survey we counted not just what species of birds we had seen but also how many. Without seeing the Drake in my own eyes, I probably wouldn’t have believed we had seen dozens of Black Browed Albatross and Giant Petrels. The birds there were flying very close over our head.
The Wandering Albatross, which lives over the waters in the Drake Passage, is the largest bird in the world. Its wing span is 3.5 (11.5 feet) meters long. After a lecture from Santiago about the various species of birds that we were likely to encounter in Antarctica and in the Drake, we saw the Wandering Albatross. It was an impressive sight.
In Antarctica itself there aren’t many species of birds, but the birds that are there are quite unique. Other then penguins, the bird we probably saw the most is the Skua. The Skua was a medium brown bird that feeds on penguin chicks and eggs. It’s one of Antarctica’s most common birds. We saw Skuas in almost every place we went.
Another common bird is the Snowy Sheathbill. The Sheathbill is a small bird that looks really like a white pigeon. The Sheathbill mostly lives on the ground and it scavenges food, usually in penguin colonies. We had seen this bird almost in every colony we went to, and in several other places as well.
But the bird we saw the most, was definitely the Cape Petrel. The Cape Petrel is a fairly small type of Petrel. It’s black and white, and eats fish and krill. The Cape Petrel are so common that they are considered one of the most common seabirds in the southern oceans. Their population is estimated to be about two million birds. We saw them pretty much everywhere.
There were many species of birds we saw in Antarctica. The birds of Antarctica are unique, and it was fascinating to see and learn about them.
