ZOOTHERA BIRDING BLOG: EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: DAY 8 CAPE HORN

Monday, 20 March 2023

EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: DAY 8 CAPE HORN

We left Ushuaia port well after midnight due to high winds and several hours later than scheduled and we woke around 3 hours north of Cape Horn, our destination this morning. Unbelievably this normally rough Southern Ocean was extremely calm and unfortunately rather quiet with just a few Black-browed Albatross and Sooty Shearwaters for company.

Cape Horn...

As we neared the Cape more and more of the same two species appeared before we began the journey north-east towards The Falklands. This is very deep water and not conducive to good seabird movements or observations, so we all took plenty of ‘time off’ up until around 5pm when things really kicked off. First of all we had a superb Black-bellied Storm-Petrel along the starboard side of the boat, which not everyone managed to get on. But we had a better and much closer individual a bit later that even lingered long enough for a couple quick record shots. And a little while later a couple Cape Petrels flew by.

Black-bellied Storm-Petrel

But the most amazing sighting was of a Sooty Albatross that flew 200m from right to left and right across in front of us.

The best pics I have of Sooty Albatross

And this most extraordinary sighting pre-empted an absolute albatross-fest, with maybe over 150 individuals of mainly Southern Royal Albatross, but with the some Snowy Wanderers and the extremely common Black-browed Albatross in amongst them all in view at one time. It was a fantastic experience to see the sea alive with these magnificent birds, undoubtedly drawn in by a nearby fishing vessel. Add to that a couple pods of Pilot Whales as well....