Royals, Kings and Elephants on Macquarie

Day 9. Sunday 19 January – Macquarie Island

Noon position: Latitude 54^o33.97’South; Longitude 158^o55.72 East

Air temperature: 7^oC, Water temperature: 8^oC

At 8am we were positioned roughly mid-way down the length of Macquarie Island and opposite Mt. Law, one of several high points on the plateau. The strong westerly was whipping over the top and from around both ends of the island, creating a choppy sea with white caps. A beautiful Light-mantled Sooty albatross was cruising around the ship and penguins were swimming past the ship. 

The vessel steamed back to Buckles Bay so the staff from the ANARE Station on the Island could come out to the ship to brief us about going ashore, if that was possible in the conditions. By 10am there were spells of rain, the sea was still rough and in places spray was shooting up rock faces. We assembled in the lecture room for a briefing and met the four staff who had been brought to the ship from. (Chris Howard a Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service ranger; Vicki Heinrich from the Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne; Josh Tomasetti the station plumber and John Hodgson the station electrician).

 Thankfully the sea conditions eased enough so that by 11am the first Zodiac was heading for Sandy Bay, just south of the settlement at Buckles Bay. This was a wet landing and Rodney again stood waist high as he helped the driver maneuver the Zodiac for disembarking over the stern. 

We spent three hours watching the wildlife.

There was a continual coming and going of various penguin species, surfing in on the waves, then parading along the beach to and from their respective colonies: Royals, Kings and Rockhoppers. Many stopped to look curiously at the invading species pointing lenses at them. 

(Dr Eric with his cannon Camera)

The young males in the group of Elephant Seals were sparring and attempting to bite each other, or being content to lie on the beach while others sprawled on top of them. 

We all walked up the short boardwalk to a platform overlooking the large Royal Penguin colony with 11-14,000 breeding pairs. Some of the birds had young chicks and the noise and smell was extraordinary, as birds entered the territory of others during their commuting to or back from the narrow stream that took them to the beach. 

It was great to see that Ron and his helpers were able to push Christine’s wheel chair up the boardwalk to watch the colony.

There were no nests so fluffy chicks huddled together waiting, waiting for their special call by their parent bringing food. 

As each adult entered the colony they called until they found their mate or chick, and then performed an elaborate greeting ritual. And skuas patrolled the edges of the colony ready to pounce on the weak and helpless. 

Looking back to the beach from the boardwalk

 Huddled in small groups on the edge of the beach were some bedraggled adult King penguins forced to stay ashore until they had finished moulting.

 Further north along the beach was another large colony of hundreds of King Penguins. Not a lot of ground space here either and they too were maintaining a continual cacophony. 

It was late in the season so most chicks had almost lost their fluffy brown plumage. 

Some adults had the brood flap of vascularised tissue that folded down and over the small young or unhatched eggs.

 The birds did not take too kindly to an Elephant Seal in the midst of the colony, eventually harassing it enough for it to move to the water’s edge. A hut once used for field work with its roof covered in grass, appeared to be built from an early aircraft crate.

 The only way for parents and chicks to locate each other in the crowd was to call to each other, recognizing each other; voices. As each adult emerged from the sea and made its distinctive call to its chick, all others remained silent, waiting their turn to call.

The water was also seething with penguins, standing on small rocks or swimming around. A few elephant seal were also enjoying a bath, some young males still sparring.  

 Although we could have had enjoyed more time with the amazing penguins, the wind chill was starting to penetrate, resolving us to put on more thermal layers for the next shore trip that afternoon.