15 Jan 2020

Penguin Royalty on Macquarie Island

Our Macquarie Island experience began as Akademik Shokalskiy sat on anchor off Sandy Bay, the ripeness of its wildlife carried by a gentle breeze over the calm water as we boarded the Zodiacs surrounded by a welcoming flotilla of King Penguins.

After a briefing by head ranger Chris and his team, we set forth to explore Australia's icy outback and observe its abundant wildlife, now flourishing following a massive pest-free eradication effort.

Elephant Seals littering the black sand and rocky landings of Sandy Bay lay lethargic in blubbery huddles, roused by occasional bouts of flatulent expulsions from their salt-crusted nostrils, spectacular body-slam jousting for position and the effort of traversing to and from the ocean rippling through their hulking bodies. Once in the water, they transform into altogether graceful creatures.

Nearby, nearly regal King Penguins stand in clusters shaking off the last of their moult among swirls of downy feathers before they can return to the ocean with fetching, waterproof new plumes. Those at the colony are observed standing at attention, the fronts of their feet lifted incubating eggs and keeping chicks warm in their brood pouches. Lowering their bills, we watch tiny heads poke out from the bulge of feathers and demand feeding as the colony hums with the electronic trill of their calls and occasional squawks of neighbourly despites.

Over at the Royal colony it's a much rowdier and fragrant experience, the racket of some 60,000 birds standing flipper to flipper defend crèches of chicks from relentless skua working the colony's perimeter as parents take turns returning to and from the sea to feed their ravenous chicks.

While we enjoy lunch back on board, our expedition ship steams north to Buckle's Bay and the island's Australian base located on the eastern side of the isthmus. Breaking into three groups we're given guided tours by the rangers as Elephant Seals raise wary heads from the tussocks and we spott our fifth and sixth penguins of the expedition - Northern Rockhopper and Gentoo, the latter nursing chicks rapidly approaching their parent's size. A lone Leopard Seal is also observed laying among penguins and young elephant seals, both oblivious to the apex hunter in their midst.

The successful day's expeditioning is capped off with an after dinner treat in the bridge watching a pod of four Orca cruising the coastline.

Image © I. Wilson, Heritage Expeditions