At sea, South Atlantic Ocean
As our journey takes us further south, we have left the tropics, and we have left Brasilian waters as this afternoon we entered Uruguayan waters.
The frigatebirds and boobies of the tropics are behind us, and there are new seabirds to watch for from the bridge. We have now seen Magellanic penguins, and since our first albatrosses close to Rio de Janeiro, sightings are now more frequent. Today we have seen three species of albatross, two of which are pictured. The yellow-nosed albatross (right) breeds in the remote South Atlantic archipelago of Tristan da Cunha while the black-browed albatross (left) is most likely from the Falkland Islands. The third species, the shy albatross, is even further from home as it only breeds in Australia and New Zealand. That seabirds from such diverse places should converge with our path today is remarkable enough. Even more remarkable then is the presence of Manx shearwaters from British waters, skuas from the Arctic and white-chinned petrels from South Georgia. All of these seabirds find the shallow continental shelf waters here to be a rich feeding ground worth travelling thousands of miles to reach.
The mastery of flight by albatrosses, travelling thousands of miles across the oceans with apparently little effort, is much admired. However, the oceans are no longer a safe domain for these birds. Albatross populations are declining throughout the worlds oceans. When scavenging for an easy meal around fishing vessels, the birds become entangled in gear or caught on hooks and drown. There are simple solutions to these problems, and these measures are slowly being adopted by fishing fleets. Whether the pace of change will be fast enough to save the albatrosses remains to be seen, but we hope that future generations will be able to enjoy sharing the oceans with these elegant birds as we have.
As our journey takes us further south, we have left the tropics, and we have left Brasilian waters as this afternoon we entered Uruguayan waters.
The frigatebirds and boobies of the tropics are behind us, and there are new seabirds to watch for from the bridge. We have now seen Magellanic penguins, and since our first albatrosses close to Rio de Janeiro, sightings are now more frequent. Today we have seen three species of albatross, two of which are pictured. The yellow-nosed albatross (right) breeds in the remote South Atlantic archipelago of Tristan da Cunha while the black-browed albatross (left) is most likely from the Falkland Islands. The third species, the shy albatross, is even further from home as it only breeds in Australia and New Zealand. That seabirds from such diverse places should converge with our path today is remarkable enough. Even more remarkable then is the presence of Manx shearwaters from British waters, skuas from the Arctic and white-chinned petrels from South Georgia. All of these seabirds find the shallow continental shelf waters here to be a rich feeding ground worth travelling thousands of miles to reach.
The mastery of flight by albatrosses, travelling thousands of miles across the oceans with apparently little effort, is much admired. However, the oceans are no longer a safe domain for these birds. Albatross populations are declining throughout the worlds oceans. When scavenging for an easy meal around fishing vessels, the birds become entangled in gear or caught on hooks and drown. There are simple solutions to these problems, and these measures are slowly being adopted by fishing fleets. Whether the pace of change will be fast enough to save the albatrosses remains to be seen, but we hope that future generations will be able to enjoy sharing the oceans with these elegant birds as we have.
