Good Evening everyone
As most of you know I headed
down to Antarctica on the 2nd of Dec with all the news that we would
probably not make land due to the Mertz's Glacier Tongue which had broken
off 2 years ago after being hit by a huge iceberg coming out of the Ross
Sea. This tongue was at least 90nm long and it drifted to the east side of
Commonwealth Bay and grounded it's self there for a period of 2 years, alas
a couple of weeks before our trip it moved to the West side of Commonwealth
Bay and grounded it' self into 2 pieces and has lodged there ever since. The
result of this was that the ice that comes out of the Ross Sea banked up
behind the Tongue like a dam wall and we encountered the sea ice 220nm off
Cape Dennison and we followed a lead into 160 NM but as the sea ice was
moving and huge icebergs were trapped and moving as well it was not safe to
continue and so we hung around for 4 days before heading back to NZ. Most of
you would have been following the news and here is a link to the latest
piece about Mawson's Expedition Centenary
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/mawson-centenary-ceremony-to-go-ahead/sto
ry-e6frfq80-1226245218906 I was able to photograph at the 160 NM point
Adelie Penguin and Emperor as well as Southern Fulmar, Antarctic and Snow
Petrel as well as Arctic Tern. Unfortunately for me I have picked up a nasty
little bug on the trip and I am only just recovering from it now and will
start to put some photos up on my website soon.
As for my goal of 700 birds photographed in 5 years I have ended up with 703
species and technically that is what I have achieved even though 5 of them
were down in Antarctica. It has taken a considerable amount of time, money
and effort and I have loved every minute of the journey and my next 50
species will be all the more memorable for me.
I have started off fairly ignorant of the birding community but a lot of
people have educated me along the way and I am truly grateful for that, and
for those who are armchair birders get out there and take a look around
Australia it is a marvellous place and the birds and their habitat are so
diverse you would not believe it!
Happy New Year
Geoff Jones
Barraimaging
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