Bill Tuckers Field Journal

I just returned from a three-week trip two of which was spent in the Falkland Islands. The trip was wonderful, the only real down side is the travel, as the flights are long and typically you need to overnight in Chile both coming and going. Inter-Island flights in the Falklands are also a bit disorganized.

It is summer now in the Falkland Islands and most species of birds are busy nesting. Weather was a bit mixed. Sunny and clear for parts of the trip which is not so common there and overcast and windy at other times which is more the normal. We had a little rain on a couple of days but not too bad. One day the temps were in the low forties and the winds were above 30mph. This made things a little challenging that day.

We had wonderful opportunities with Gentoo, King, Rockhopper & Maellanic Penguins, Black Browed Albatross, Striated Caracara, King & Rock Cormorants, Skua, South Atlantic Terns, Dolphin & Kelp Gulls, Flightless Steamer Ducks, Southern Giant Petrels, Southern Sea Lions, and Southern Elephant Seals. All the above species of birds were at different stages of nesting. Most all species were quite approachable and are not threatened by people. Some species of Penguins are quite curious of you and if you sit or kneel around their colonies they (including the chicks) will come right up to you, check out your camera or whatever. I think some of the baby penguins are just hoping you are some odd looking relative that may feed them. I was also surprised how approachable the Albatross are, you can literally go right up to their little dirt mound nests and they have no concerns about you. The chicks at a certain age are left in the nest alone and when approach the start snapping. This seems to be more of a begging behavior than a defensive behavior.

We visited the main island of Stanley, Saunders Island, Carcass Island, Sea Lion Island, Bleaker Island and West Point. West Point is a day trip island reached by boat. All others are reached by Inter-Island flights. Saunders & Sea Lion Islands were my favorites. Carcass by far had the best accommodations and if we had been scheduled to stay there longer the island probably had a lot more to offer than what we saw in two areas.

Macaroni Penguins are in the Falklands in low numbers and while some have been spotted mixed in with the Rockhopper colonies we never saw one. This is not too uncommon as they look very similar to the Rockhoppers and their colonies are large and are a lot of the time span up hillsides that are not that accessible. One day on Saunders we had dolphins schooling fish in the surf. A number of other birds and waterfowl were seen that were either not accessible, or where not of major interest to photograph. Sea Lion Island has a large pond with Silver Grebes, one pair had chicks and we wanted to photograph them in the afternoon on the was back from the tern colony but the rain changed those planes. A couple from our groups passed on the tern colony and were rewarded with a number of images from the one pair.

With the exception of main island of Stanley mot islands are working farms mostly sheep and cattle, you are guests of the family that owns the island and they provide lodging, meals, etc. Sea Lion Island used to be a working farm but is now owned by the government, while the lodge is privately owned. The livestock with the exception of a few horses were removed a few years back and the island is considered conservation land.

Getting around on each island is either done by foot or via 4×4 vehicles. A few islands are flat but most are hilly. Going from one side of an island to another can be slow moving as the terrain can be very bumpy. On Saunders the neck is 10 mile ride and it takes about 50 minutes to get there. While all my photo equipment survived the journey I had my Asolo hiking boots literally start coming apart about halfway through the trip. The soles on both boot just started separating from the inner or cushion part of the sole and then from the boot themselves. For the remainder of the trip these were held together with duct tape that had to be re-applied almost daily. While these boots were a few years old they don’t have much use on them a top of the line hiking boot should not come apart like this. I will now get to see how Asolo stands behind their product.

I would defiantly recommend the Falklands to anyone who has interest in photographing penguins. I would certainly return although I would probably choose to stay for 3 weeks and spend a little more time at various islands as so much time is wasted moving from island to island. I really wish we had had more time with the King Penguins, they are the largest of the species in the Falklands and the most colorful. They are not as active as some of the smaller species so capturing a lot of their actions and behaviors takes more time. The Rockhoppers were probably my favorite, as they and the Gentoo are probably the most active however the Rockhoppers just have a great attitude about them..

While for the past number of years I have always traveled to Bosque Del Apache NWR around Thanksgiving to photograph Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese the opportunities there have been awful the past few years so this year I headed back down to Costa Rica to do some more hummingbird photography. I spent some time around the San Jose area with people I have met there and then headed out to spend a few days at Rancho Natuural Lodge with Greg Basco. This lodge is in a different area of the country and the drive out was much easier than other I’ve previously visited. The roads are certainly in better condition. The lodge is a beautiful property and we had plenty of opportunities with the hummingbirds.  Rancho Naturalista is known as one place to find the Snow Capped Hummingbird, which is quite small (may be the smallest hummingbird) unfortunately both the male and female eluded us. A female or two had been spotted around but they are routinely chased away from the feeders by some of the other larger species.

Immediately after returning from Costa Rica I left on another flight to Churchill Manitoba Canada to photograph Polar Bears for a week. I was home just long enough to dump the clothes I had in Costa Rica and re-pack cold weather clothing, grab a bite to eat, sleep three hours and head to the Tampa airport for 8am flight. As a matter of fact I wrote the last blog entry on my flight to Canada and put the finishing touches on it at the Winnipeg Airport while waiting for my connection to Churchill.

I have wanted to photograph Polar Bears here for a number of years. A last minute opportunity presented itself this year to join friend and fellow photographer Charles Glatzer on a tour he was running. So despite the rushed nature of doing two trips back to back I jumped on the opportunity. The customs officer in Winnipeg noticed I was just in Costa Rica and asked how it was and I replied a lot warmer than here, he then asked where I was headed and I said Churchill and he laughed and said it would be a lot colder there than here. I said I know!

Churchill is a very small town where everybody knows everybody. For roughly seven weeks each year hundreds of people visit Chruchill to view polar bears before the waters totally freeze over and the bears head out to hunt. Weather was very cold due to the winds. There was a little snow on the ground but not much of an accumulation. I had expected more for an area so far north. After the first day it seemed the bays and such were freezing over but the ice broke up and moved in and out with the tides for the rest of the time I was there. We had periods of sunshine over three of our days, which is good for this area, and this time of year.

The first two days we spent in vehicles driving around to various locations looking for Polar Bears and other wildlife. Wildlife activity around town was very minimal. For the rest of the time we went out on Tundra Buggies each day and the activity was much better. We found plenty of Polar Bears, ptarmigan, and an artic fox.  Unfortunately we never saw a snowy owl or an artic hare. Some had been spotted here and there but not in the numbers they usually are. We spotted some other species of foxes but never close enough or in the clear to get a good photograph. The last day had to be the most active. The wind had died down which made it seem a bit warmer and the day started off with light rain, which turned to snow later on. Early on we found a female bear with a cub and observed them swimming, then drying off and interacting. We had seen females with cubs on previous days but seeing one swimming at this time of year is a bit unusual. Later we found another younger bear probably in its second or third year and watched him catch and kill a seal. After dragging it around for a bit and taking into the willow brush to eat for 15-20 minutes the scent drew in other bears. The first to come in was a bigger one who appeared to have already been eating something as he had blood on his fur and paws. Without any confrontation the smaller bear surrendered the catch to the larger bear. After this one had it for a while a larger bear came in and took the remains, it was hard to believe there was anything left. During this time the original bear hung around and another smaller one came in all hopping to get something. This provide hours of photo opportunities without having to move very far.

That evening with the snow coming down there was a fireworks show in town to kick-of the Olympic Torch Ceremonies for the next day. This was the first time I have ever seen fireworks in the snow and from what I heard the it was the first time for many of the local residents too. The next morning I had just enough time to watch the Olympic Torch come through town before having to head to the airport for my return flight. Upon reaching Winnipeg a maintenance issue with the plane caused the flight to be cancelled and I ended up spending the night there.

While I enjoyed Churchill and would have loved to have stayed longer, I was tired of the artic cold and all the extra work that goes into getting dressed and un-dressed to go outside. Upon arriving in Tampa the overcast sky made home seem just like Churchill except quite a bit warmer.

If you want to photograph Polar Bears in Churchill you will be best to find someone running a trip that charters the entire Tundra Buggy for the group and keeps the group size small (eight or so). If you are on a buggy mixed with general tourists you may be with thirty or so people on a buggy and your photo opportunities will be severely limited. Chas runs his trips this way and each person had a whole row on the buggy to themselves which allowed us to shoot out of either side of the buggy or on the back deck depending on what the situation was.