A Special Place!

Whilst Bird Island is an absolutely amazing place to work for the people, wildlife and scenery sometimes there is so much work to do that it is important to take a step back and just enjoy what is around us. In mid-February I was able to do just that and spend a few hours simply enjoying watching the wildlife. I had planned to watch the macs entering Big Mac only, but I saw so much more. Here is a picture gallery of that afternoon....

I had come to watch the parade of macs entering the colony, the view certainly never disappoints!

But on a calm afternoon it was also possible to get close to the water and watch the macs swimming

They were getting ready to enter the colony and watching them jump out of the water is spectacular

But it wasn't just macs we saw - spot the chinstrap!

Just to make it easier, here is one of 8 chinstraps found at the bottom of Big Mac, a high turnout for this species here!

Not to be out-done by its close relatives a gentoo also came ashore near the chinstraps

King penguins completed the set of all 4 species in one place - what must the macs think to all these other penguins!

Snowy sheathbills are a common sight in mac colonies, pecking at small bits of food

But when the food is bigger the larger birds come to eat!

Geeps and skuas fight over a recently dead penguin

Back to the more peaceful views before leaving Big Mac

Not content with supplying so much at Big Mac, Bird Island also provided displaying wanals on my way home

Lying back in the tussock and watching them fly overhead is an incredible sight!

Getting in to the evening and many wanals land to begin displaying rituals

It certainly looks like the wanals are smiling, and I was too!