Steeple Jason, The Falkland Islands
Way up off the northwest corner of the Falkland Islands is the Jason group, a set of isolated and wind-swept islands surrounded by treacherous tidal currents and foul waters with rocky reefs just beneath the surface. Is it any surprise that they are seldom visited? The hazards are enough to deter most mariners, but not our intrepid Captain Leif Skog and Expedition Leader Tom Ritchie, whose excitement to set foot on Steeple Jason was palpable and contagious. We began our expedition with a departure from Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands. An overnight and morning at sea brought us to Steeple Jason. Favorable (and somewhat unusual) winds from the northeast made a landing feasible. And what a reward awaited us: gentooo, magellanic, and rockhopper penguins (one can be seen peeking out of the lower corner of the picture above), striated caracaras (known locally as Johnny rooks) in abundance, and above all, black-browed albatrosses (the world’s largest breeding colony with over 150,000 pairs). Nests are densely packed between the rocky coastline below and the dense tussock grass above, on the side of the island facing into the prevailing westerly winds, the better to soar effortlessly on stiff wings into the skies over the productive southern seas. Now most pairs are in the latter stages of incubating their single egg; however, the bird above proudly presents one of the first of the albatross edition of 2004. It will take all of the efforts of two adults to provide enough food to raise this chick to fledging, and then it will be on its own to learn to fly, learn to find food, and run the gauntlet of long-line fisheries. Hopefully, it will return to Steeple Jason as a breeding adult and make its own contribution to the dance of the albatrosses.
Way up off the northwest corner of the Falkland Islands is the Jason group, a set of isolated and wind-swept islands surrounded by treacherous tidal currents and foul waters with rocky reefs just beneath the surface. Is it any surprise that they are seldom visited? The hazards are enough to deter most mariners, but not our intrepid Captain Leif Skog and Expedition Leader Tom Ritchie, whose excitement to set foot on Steeple Jason was palpable and contagious. We began our expedition with a departure from Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands. An overnight and morning at sea brought us to Steeple Jason. Favorable (and somewhat unusual) winds from the northeast made a landing feasible. And what a reward awaited us: gentooo, magellanic, and rockhopper penguins (one can be seen peeking out of the lower corner of the picture above), striated caracaras (known locally as Johnny rooks) in abundance, and above all, black-browed albatrosses (the world’s largest breeding colony with over 150,000 pairs). Nests are densely packed between the rocky coastline below and the dense tussock grass above, on the side of the island facing into the prevailing westerly winds, the better to soar effortlessly on stiff wings into the skies over the productive southern seas. Now most pairs are in the latter stages of incubating their single egg; however, the bird above proudly presents one of the first of the albatross edition of 2004. It will take all of the efforts of two adults to provide enough food to raise this chick to fledging, and then it will be on its own to learn to fly, learn to find food, and run the gauntlet of long-line fisheries. Hopefully, it will return to Steeple Jason as a breeding adult and make its own contribution to the dance of the albatrosses.
